HILO >> A federal Appeals Court has upheld a National Labor Relations Board’s decision that two reporters fired from a Hilo newspaper should be reinstated with back pay.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today denied the Hawaii Tribune-Herald’s appeal of a NLRB decision that reporters Dave Smith and Hunter Bishop were illegally fired. Bishop was fired after a 2005 confrontation with Editor David Bock over a union matter where Bishop was accused of insubordination. Smith was fired in 2006 for secretly recording a meeting with Bock.

Bock and Publisher Ted Dixon didn’t immediately return calls for comment.

Smith says as a freelancer writer, he’s considering the option to return to the paper. Bishop, now deputy director of the county Department of Environmental Management, says he hasn’t yet reviewed the decision.