Source: https://usasupreme.clubjuris.com/388/26/case.php
Timestamp: 2020-07-07 19:29:33
Document Index: 566052666

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 301', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 7', '§ 8']

US Supreme Court Decisions On-Line> Volume 388 > NLRB V. GREAT DANE TRAILERS, INC., 388 U. S. 26 (1967)
1. While there is little question that the refusal to pay vacation benefits to strikers was discrimination, and that such discrimination had a potential for discouraging union membership and activity, § 8(a)(3) normally requires proof that the discriminatory conduct was motivated by an anti-union purpose. American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board, 380 U. S. 300. Pp. 388 U. S. 32-34. clubjuris
The issue here is whether, in the absence of proof of an anti-union motivation, an employer may be held to have violated §§ 8(a)(3) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act [Footnote 1] when it refused to pay striking employees vacation benefits accrued under a terminated collective bargaining agreement, while it announced an intention to pay such benefits to striker replacements, returning strikers, and nonstrikers who had been at work on a certain date during the strike. clubjuris
The respondent company and the union [Footnote 2] entered into a collective bargaining agreement which was effective, by its terms, until March 31, 1963. The agreement contained a commitment by the company to pay vacation benefits to employees who met certain enumerated qualifications. [Footnote 3] In essence, the company agreed to pay specified vacation clubjuris
The agreement was temporarily extended beyond its termination date, but on April 30, 1963, the union gave the required 15 days' notice of intention to strike over issues which remained unsettled at the bargaining table. Accordingly, on May 16, 1963, approximately 350 of the company's 400 employees commenced a strike which lasted until December 26, 1963. The company continued to operate during the strike, using nonstrikers, persons hired as replacements for strikers, and some original strikers who had later abandoned the strike and returned to work. [Footnote 4] On July 12, 1963, a number of the strikers demanded their accrued vacation pay from the company. The company rejected this demand, basing its response on the assertion that all contractual obligations had been terminated by the strike and, therefore, none of the company's employees had a right to vacation pay. Shortly thereafter, however, the company announced that it would grant vacation pay -- in the amounts and subject to the conditions set out in the expired agreement -- to all employees who had reported for work on July 1, 1963. The company denied that these payments were founded on the agreement, and stated that they merely reflected a new "policy" which had been unilaterally adopted. clubjuris
A petition for enforcement of the order was filed in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That court first dealt with the company's contention that the Board had lacked jurisdiction and that the union should have been relegated either to the bargaining table or to a lawsuit under § 301 of the Act, [Footnote 6] since the basic question was one of contract interpretation and application. It noted that the company's announced policy relating to vacation pay clearly concerned a "term or condition of employment"; since it was alleged that the company had discriminated between striking and nonstriking employees in regard to that term or condition of employment, the complaint stated "an unfair labor practice charge in simplest terms" and the Board had properly exercised its jurisdiction. [Footnote 7] clubjuris
Believing that the possibility of the existence of such motives was sufficient to overcome the inference of an improper motive which flowed from the conduct itself, the court denied enforcement of the order. 363 F.2d 130 (1966). We granted certiorari to determine whether the treatment of the motivation issue by the Court of Appeals was consistent with recent decisions of this Court. 385 U.S. 1000 (1967). clubjuris
The unfair labor practice charged here is grounded primarily in § 8(a)(3), which requires specifically that the Board find a discrimination and a resulting discouragement of union membership. American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board, 380 U. S. 300, 380 U. S. 311 (1965). There is little question but that the result of the company's refusal to pay vacation benefits to strikers was discrimination in its simplest form. Compare Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793 (1945), with Teamsters Union v. Labor Board, 365 U. S. 667 (1961). Some employees who met the conditions specified in the expired collective bargaining agreement were paid accrued vacation benefits in the amounts set forth in that agreement, while other employees [Footnote 8] who also met the conditions but who had engaged in protected concerted activity were denied such benefits. Similarly, there can be no doubt but that the discrimination was capable of discouraging membership in a labor organization within the meaning of the statute. Discouraging membership in a labor organization "includes discouraging participation in concerted activities . . . such as a legitimate strike." Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U. S. 221, 373 U. S. 233 (1963). The act of paying accrued benefits to one group of employees while announcing the extinction of the same benefits for another group of employees who are distinguishable only by their participation in protected concerted activity surely may have a discouraging effect on either present or future concerted activity. clubjuris
But inquiry under § 8(a)(3) does not usually stop at this point. The statutory language "discrimination . . . to . . . discourage" means that the finding of a violation normally turns on whether the discriminatory conduct was motivated by an anti-union purpose. American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board, 380 U. S. 300 (1965). It was upon the motivation element that the Court of Appeals based its decision not to grant enforcement, and it is to that element which we now turn. In three recent opinions, we considered employer motivation in the context of asserted § 8(a)(3) violations. American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board, supra; Labor Board v. Brown, 380 U. S. 278 (1965), and Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., supra. We noted in Erie Resistor, supra, at 373 U. S. 227, that proof of an anti-union motivation may make unlawful certain employer conduct which would in other circumstances be lawful. Some conduct, however, is so "inherently destructive of employee interests" that it may be deemed proscribed without need for proof of an underlying improper motive. Labor Board v. Brown, supra, at 380 U. S. 287; American Ship Building Co. v. Labor Board, supra, at 380 U. S. 311. That is, some conduct carries with it "unavoidable consequences which the employer not only foresaw but which he must have intended," and thus bears "its own indicia of intent." Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., supra, at 373 U. S. 228, 373 U. S. 231. If the conduct in question falls within this "inherently destructive" category, the employer has the burden of explaining away, justifying or characterizing "his actions as something different than they appear on their face," and if he fails, "an unfair labor practice charge is made out." Id. at 373 U. S. 228. And even if the employer does come forward with counter explanations for his conduct in this situation, the Board may nevertheless draw an inference of improper motive from the conduct itself and exercise its duty to strike the proper balance between the asserted clubjuris
Applying the principles to this case, then, it is not necessary for us to decide the degree to which the challenged conduct might have affected employee rights. As the Court of Appeals correctly noted, the company came forward with no evidence of legitimate motives for its discriminatory conduct. 363 F.2d 134. The company simply did not meet the burden of proof, and clubjuris
The Court begins by stating that vacation benefits had "accrued" under the contract, and implies that striking employees had a contractual right to such benefits which was arbitrarily disregarded by Great Dane in order to punish those employees for engaging in protected activity. Were these the properly established facts of the case, I would have little difficulty in concurring in the result reached by the majority. Employer action which undercuts rights protected by § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 61 Stat. 140, and has no inferable, legitimate business purpose has been held a violation of §§ 8(a)(3) and (1). Republic Aviation clubjuris
363 F.2d 130, 133. (Emphasis in original.) clubjuris
The Court attempts to resolve this issue as well as the contractual one. In the Court's view, an employer must "come forward with evidence of legitimate and substantial business justifications" whenever any of his actions are challenged in a 8(a)(3) proceeding. Prior to clubjuris
The "legitimate and substantial business justifications" test may be interpreted as requiring only that the employer come forward with a nonfrivolous business purpose in order to make operative the usual requirement of proof of anti-union motive. If this is the result of today's decision, then the Court has merely penalized Great Dane for not anticipating this requirement when arguing before the Board. Such a penalty seems particularly clubjuris
In my opinion, the Court of Appeals correctly held that this case fell into the category in which independent evidence of anti-union motive is required to sustain a violation. As was pointed out in the Court of Appeals opinion, a number of legitimate motives for the terms of the vacation policy could be inferred, 363 F.2d 134, clubjuris