Source: https://m.openjurist.org/510/us/317
Timestamp: 2019-12-07 10:22:45
Document Index: 127965337

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 160', '§ 8', '§ 158', '§ 160', '§ 17008', '§ 26']

510 U.S. 317 - Abf Freight System Inc v. National Labor Relations Board
510 US 317 Abf Freight System Inc v. National Labor Relations Board
The question we granted certiorari to review is a narrow one.8 We assume that the Board correctly found that ABF discharged Manso unlawfully in August 1989. We also assume, more importantly, that the Board did not abuse its discretion in ordering reinstatement even though Manso gave ABF a false reason for being late to work. We are concerned only with the ramifications of Manso's false testimony under oath in a formal proceeding before the ALJ. We recognize that the Board might have decided that such misconduct disqualified Manso from profiting from the proceeding, or it might even have adopted a flat rule precluding reinstatement when a former employee so testifies. As the case comes to us, however, the issue is not whether the Board might adopt such a rule, but whether it must do so.
ABF submits that the false testimony of a former employee who was the victim of an unfair labor practice should always preclude him from winning reinstatement with backpay. That contention, though not inconsistent with our appraisal of his misconduct, raises countervailing concerns. Most important is Congress' decision to delegate to the Board the primary responsibility for making remedial decisions that best effectuate the policies of the Act when it has substantiated an unfair labor practice. The Act expressly authorizes the Board "to take such affirmative action including reinstatement of employees with or without back pay, as will effectuate the policies of [the Act]." 29 U. S. C. § 160(c). Only in cases of discharge for cause does the statute restrict the Board's authority to order reinstatement.9 This is not such a case.
When Congress expressly delegates to an administrative agency the authority to make specific policy determinations, courts must give the agency's decision controlling weight unless it is "arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute." Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 844 (1984). Because this case involves that kind of express delegation, the Board's views merit the greatest deference. This has been our consistent appraisal of the Board's remedial authority throughout its long history of administering the Act.10 As we explained over a half century ago:
E. Carl Uehlein, Jr., Joseph E. Santucci, Jr., Stephen A. Bokat, Robin S. Conrad, and Mona C. Zeiberg filed a brief for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States et al. as amici curiae.
ABF at this time had three dockworker classifications: those on the regular seniority list, nonpreferential casuals, and preferential casualsABF Freight System, Inc., 304 N. L. R. B. 585, 589, n. 10 (1991). A supplemental labor agreement ABF negotiated with the union in April 1988 created the preferential casual dockworker classification with certain seniority rights. Id., at 585-586.
The policy required preferential casuals—though not other dockworkers—to be available by phone prior to a shift in case a foreman needed them to work. A worker who did not respond risked disciplinary action for failing to "protect his shift"; two such failures authorized ABF to discharge the workerId., at 597. ABF issued a written warning to Manso on May 6, 1989, after he failed to respond to such a call. On June 19, a supervisor again asked a regular dockworker to summon Manso to work just prior to 6 a.m. for the 8:30 a.m. shift. When Manso did not answer, the employee who had dialed his number asked to dial it again, fearing he had misdialed. The supervisor denied permission and instead had the employee sign a form verifying that Manso had not responded. Manso was then discharged. The ALJ found that the special call policy discriminated against preferential casual dockworkers as a class, id., at 598, 600; both the ALJ and the Board concluded that it was discriminatorily applied to Manso, id., at 600, 589, n. 11.
Manso told ABF management that his car had overheated on the highway, that he had to phone his wife to pick him up and take him to work. Manso also said a deputy sheriff stopped him for speeding in his ensuing rush. A plant manager who looked for Manso's overheated car on the highway found nothing, however, and the officer who Manso said issued him a warning for speeding told ABF officials—and later the ALJ—that Manso had been alone in the car
Specifically, the ALJ held that the dismissal violated §§ 8(a)(1), (3), and (4) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 452, as amended, 29 U. S. C. §§ 158(a)(1), (3), and (4)
304 N. L. R. B., at 590. The Board found that the record in this case unequivocally established that ABF did not treat Manso's dishonesty "in and of itself as an independent basis for discharge or any other disciplinary action."Ibid.
ABF's public policy argument relies on several decisions refusing to enforce reinstatement orders where the employee had engaged in serious misconduct. See,e. g., Precision Window Mfg. v. NLRB, 963 F. 2d 1105, 1110 (CA8 1992) (employee lied about extent of union activities and threatened to kill supervisor); NLRB v. Magnusen, 523 F. 2d 643, 646 (CA9 1975) (employee padded time card and lied about it under oath); NLRB v. Commonwealth Foods, Inc., 506 F. 2d 1065, 1068 (CA4 1974) (employees engaged in theft from employer); NLRB v. Breitling, 378 F. 2d 663, 664 (CA10 1967) (employee confessed to stealing from employer).
We limited our grant of certiorari to the third question in the petition: "Does an employee forfeit the remedy of reinstatement with backpay after the Administrative Law Judge finds that he purposefully testified falsely during the administrative hearing?" Pet. for Cert. i
"No order of the Board shall require the reinstatement of any individual as an employee who has been suspended or discharged, or the payment to him of any back pay, if such individual was suspended or discharged for cause." 29 U. S. C.§ 160(c)
SeeVirginia Elec. & Power Co. v. NLRB, 319 U. S. 533, 539-540 (1943). We stated in Virginia Electric that such administrative determinations should stand "unless it can be shown that the order is a patent attempt to achieve ends other than those which can fairly be said to effectuate the policies of the Act." Id., at 540.
I join the opinion of the Court and agree as well with the concerns expressed by JUSTICE SCALIA. Our law must not become so caught up in procedural niceties that it fails to sort out simple instances of right from wrong and give some redress for the latter. At the very least, when we proceed on the assumption that perjury was committed, the Government ought not to suggest, as it seemed to do here, that one who violates his testimonial oath is no worse than the student who claims the dog ate his homework. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 42.
It is ordinarily no proper concern of the judge how the Executive chooses to exercise discretion, so long as it be within the scope of what the law allows. For that reason, judicial dicta criticizing unintelligent (but nonetheless lawful) executive action are almost always inappropriate. The context changes, however, when the exercise of discretion relates to the integrity of the unitary adjudicative process that begins in an administrative hearing before a federal administrative law judge and ends in a judgment of this or some other federal court. Agency action or inaction that undermines and dishonors that process undermines and dishonors the legal system—undermines and dishonors the courts. Judges may properly protest, no matter how lawful (and hence unreversible) the agency action or inaction may be. Such a protest is called for in the present case, in which the Board has displayed—from its initial decision through its defense of that decision in this Court—an unseemly toleration of perjury in the course of adjudicative proceedings.
Michael Manso, the employee to whom the Board awarded backpay and reinstatement, testified in this case before Administrative Law Judge Walter H. Maloney the week of January 8, 1990. He was placed under oath—presumably standing up, his right hand raised, to respond to the form of oath set forth in the NLRB Judges' Manual § 17008 (1984):
He then proceeded to lie to the administrative tribunal, as he had earlier lied to his employer, concerning the reason he reported an hour late for work on August 17, 1989. He said that his car had broken down; that he called his wife, who came in her pajamas to pick him up; that he drove the rest of the way to work, with his wife, and was stopped for speeding along the way. The employer produced the officer that stopped him, who testified with assurance that Manso was all alone; that Manso mentioned no car trouble as an excuse for his speeding, but simply that he was late for work; and that the officer himself observed no car trouble. Hearsay evidence admitted (without objection) at the hearing showed that an ABF official, after Manso told his breakdown story on August 17, drove out to the portion of the highway where Manso said he had left the disabled vehicle, and found it not to be there. Administrative Law Judge Maloney found that "Manso was lying to the Respondent when he reported that his car had overheated and that he was late for work because of car trouble"—which meant, of course that he was also lying under oath when he repeated that story. ABF Freight System, Inc., 304 N. L. R. B. 585, 600 (1991). The ALJ did not punish the false testimony, but his finding that the dismissal on August 17 was for cause had something of that effect, depriving Manso of reinstatement.
". . . having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify . . . truly, . . . willfully and contrary to such oath states... any material matter which he does not believe to be true . . .
United States Attorneys doubtless cannot prosecute perjury indictments for all the lies told in the Nation's federal proceedings—not even, perhaps, for all the lies so cleanly nailed as was the one here. Not only, however, did the Board not refer the matter for prosecution, it did not impose, indeed did not even explicitly consider imposing, another sanction available to it (and not generally available to federal judges): denying discretionary relief because of the intentional subversion of the Board's processes.
Denying reinstatement would not, as the Court contends, involve the "unfairness of sanctioning Manso while indirectly rewarding [ABF] witnesses' lack of candor." Ibid. First of all, no "indirect reward" comes to ABF, which receives nothing from the Board. There is a world of difference between the mere inaction of failing to punish ABF for lying (which is the "indirect reward" that the Court fears) and the beneficence of conferring a nonmandated award upon Manso despite his lying (which is the much greater evil that the Court embraces). The principle that a perjurer should not be rewarded with a judgment—even a judgment otherwise deserved—where there is discretion to deny it, has a long and sensible tradition in the common law. The "unclean hands" doctrine "closes the door of a court of equity to one tainted with inequitableness or bad faith relative to the matter in which he seeks relief, however improper may have been the behavior of the defendant." Precision Instrument Mfg. Co. v. Automotive Maintenance Machinery Co., 324 U. S. 806, 814 (1945) (denying relief because of perjury). See H. McClintock, Principles of Equity § 26, p. 63, and n. 75 (2d ed. 1948). And the Board itself has sometimes applied this sanction in the past. See, e. g., D. V. Copying & Printing, Inc., 240 N. L. R. B. 1276 (1979); O'Donnell's Sea Grill, 55 N. L. R. B. 828 (1944). In any case, there is no realistic comparison between the ABF managers' disbelieved testimony concerning motivations for firing and Manso's crystalclear lie that he was where he was not. The latter is the stuff of perjury prosecutions; the former is not.
The Court is correct that an absolute rule requiring the denial of discretionary relief for perjury "might force the Board to divert its attention from its primary mission and devote unnecessary time and energy to resolving collateral disputes about credibility." Ante, at 325. But intelligent and conscientious application of the Board's supposed rule permitting denial of discretionary relief for perjury would not have that effect—and such application should probably have occurred, and should surely have been considered, in an obvious case such as this. Nor am I as impressed as the Court is by the Board's assertion that "ordering effective relief in a case of this character promotes a vital public interest." Ibid. Assuredly it does, but plenty of effective relief was ordered here without adding Manso's reinstatement, including (1) the entry of a cease-and-desist order subjecting ABF to severe sanctions if it commits similar unfair labor practices in the future, (2) the award of backpay to Manso for the period from his unlawful discharge on June 19, 1989, to the date of his subsequent reinstatement, and (3) the posting of a notice on ABF's premises, reciting its commitments under the cease-and-desist order, and its commitment to give Manso backpay. All of this would have made it clear enough to ABF and to ABF's employees that violating the National Labor Relations Act does not pay. Had the posted notice also included, instead of ABF's commitment to reinstate Manso (which is what the Board ordered), a statement to the effect that Manso's reinstatement would have been ordered but for his false testimony, then it also would have been made clear to ABF and to ABF's employees that perjury does not pay.