Five employees of a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., will be allowed to participate in a National Labor Relations Board hearing on whether their February vote rejecting unionization should be voided and done over. The United Auto Workers, which lost the election then petitioned the board to have the results thrown out, had sought to bar the workers from participating in the case.

In a decision released Wednesday, the board said that “due to the unique circumstances of the case” the plant workers had a right to participate and offer evidence that they really meant it when they voted against the UAW. The vote was 712-626 with 89 percent of eligible workers participating.