Source: https://m.openjurist.org/396/us/258
Timestamp: 2019-09-21 23:55:03
Document Index: 421150877

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 6', '§ 1005', '§ 555', '§ 10', '§ 160', '§ 1005', '§ 160', '§ 1009', '§ 706']

396 US 258 National Labor Relations Board v. Jh Rutter-Rex Manufacturing Company | OpenJurist
396 U.S. 258 - National Labor Relations Board v. Jh Rutter-Rex Manufacturing Company
396 US 258 National Labor Relations Board v. Jh Rutter-Rex Manufacturing Company
90 S.Ct. 417
24 L.Ed.2d 405
J.H. RUTTER-REX MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Inc., et al.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 24, 1970.
On review, the Court of Appeals found that the Board had been guilty of 'inordinate' delay, in violation of § 6(a) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 60 Stat. 240, 5 U.S.C. § 1005(a), now 5 U.S.C. § 555(b) (1964 ed., Supp. IV), and to the prejudice of the company, which had been 'lulled into the belief that the Board was satisfied and that no further action was to be expected.' J.H. Rutter-Rex Mfg. Co. v. NLRB, 399 F.2d 356, 363 (C.A.5th Cir. 1968). Arguing that the purpose of back-pay awards is to 'deter unfair labor practices,' id., at 364, and believing that a substantial award of back pay would be sufficient to achieve such deterrent effect, the court modified the Board order to eliminate all back pay accruing after July 1, 1959, thus reducing the awards of some 37 strikers who had not yet received complying offers of reinstatement by that date. We granted certiorari to consider the propriety of this modification,2 393 U.S. 1117, 89 S.Ct. 993, 22 L.Ed.2d 122 (1969), and we reverse the judgment below.
We start with the broad command of § 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 61 Stat. 147, 29 U.S.C. § 160(c), that upon finding that an unfair labor practice has been committed, the Board shall order the violator 'to take such affirmative action including reinstatement of employees with or without back pay, as well effectuate the policies' of the Act. This Court has stated that the remedial power of the Board is 'a broad discretionary one, subject to limited judicial review.' Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. NLRB, 379 U.S. 203, 216, 85 S.Ct. 398, 406, 13 L.Ed.2d 233 (1964).
The Court of Appeals justified the modification as a proper balancing of the interests of the company, which it found was prejudiced in litigating the back pay claims by the Board's delay, and the interests of the employees in full restitution. It found statutory support for the company's position in what it took to be the Board's violation of its duty under the Administrative Procedure Act to 'proceed with reasonable dispatch to conclude any matter presented to it.' 5 U.S.C. § 1005(a). Thus, the Court of Appeals reasoned, the case fell within the admonition that reviewing courts in labor cases not 'rubber-stamp their affirmance of administrative decisions that they deem inconsistent with a statutory mandate or that frustrate the congressional policy underlying a statute.' NLRB v. Brown, 380 U.S. 278, 291, 85 S.Ct. 980, 988, 13 L.Ed.2d 839 (1965).
The Universal Camera case concerned the scope of judicial review of orders of the Board. Prior to that decision, many courts had conceived their function of review as an extremely narrow one; some courts looked only for evidence which, when viewed in isolation, substantiated the Board's findings. Congress registered its dissatisfaction with this restricted scope of review by stating the proper test in the Taft-Hartley Act as one of 'substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole.' 61 Stat. 148, 29 U.S.C. § 160(e). This meant that the courts of appeals were to 'assume more responsibility for the reasonableness and fairness of Labor Board decisions' than had been in practice of many of these courts in the past. 340 U.S., at 490, 71 S.Ct., at 465.
Section 10(e)(A) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 1009(e) (A), now 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) (1964 ed., Supp. IV), provides that courts shall 'compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed.'