In the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Scrivener, DBA AA Electric Co., 1971, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The dispute arose when an employee was fired for writing and circulating a letter among his coworkers criticizing their employer's business practices. The NLRB argued that this action constituted protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which guarantees employees "the right to self-organization, to form, join or assist labor organizations...and to engage in other concerted activities for mutual aid or protection." However, Scrivener contended that because only one person wrote and circulated the letter it did not qualify as 'concerted' activity. In its decision, however, the Supreme Court clarified that individual actions intended to initiate group action are also covered by Section 7 protections. Therefore they held that firing an employee for such actions violated NLRA provisions against unfair labor practices.

In the dissenting opinion for the National Labor Relations Board v. Scrivener case, Justice Black expressed his disagreement with the majority's interpretation of Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act. He argued that this section was intended to protect employees' rights to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid or protection, not to shield them from being fired for misconduct at work. In his view, an employee who secretly records conversations with their employer without consent is engaging in conduct that could be reasonably considered disloyal and damaging to a company's interests. Therefore, he believed such behavior should not be protected by labor laws designed primarily to safeguard collective bargaining rights and other forms of group action among workers.