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* Contractor's referral-based hiring policy not biased against unions. Affirming a decision by the NLRB, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit found that Brandt Construction Co. of Milan, Ill. did not illegally refuse to hire or consider pro-union applicants because of their union affiliation. Even though the company displayed some anti-union animus, it showed it would not have hired the pro-union applicants because it was adhering to its non-discriminatory hiring policy, which is to first look at former employees and referrals from trusted sources; it attempts to fill any open positions with these "preferred" applicants before considering applications filed by an unknown or walk-in job applicant. The court noted: "Brandt's preferential hiring policy did not prevent the pro-union applicants from being considered for employment with the company. Their applications were doomed by their decision to apply as walk-ins, an applicant pool of last resort for the company."