A US federal appeals court says St George Warehouse Inc owes back pay to former forklift operator Leonard Sides and warehouseman Jesus (Jesse) Tharp from a 1999 union organising case.

An administrative law judge in 2000 ordered St George to rehire Sides and Tharp after determining that the company had discriminated against them, placed them under surveillance and fired them in March 1999 for union activities.

Each declined an offer of rehiring in September 2000, and St George paid a portion of their pay due. The administrative law judge ordered St George to make additional payments. The case proceeded through a number of complex appeals involving the independent US National Labor Relations Board, which investigates unfair labour practices.

In 2007, a supplemental NLRB decision and order remanded the matter to another administrative law judge, who held hearings in early 2008. Those led to the NLRB ruling in favor of the organizers and specifying awards of USD26,447 to Sides and USD14,646 to Tharp's estate.

On 23 June, the Philadelphia-based appeals panel of Chief Judge Theodore McKee and Judges Anthony Joseph Scirica and Leonard Garth ordered enforcement of the NLRB order and denied St George's cross-petition for review.

With New York roots, St George Warehouse operates nine US locations and, through affiliations with 71 US customs bonded facilities, offers the largest such network in North America.