Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/265/855/63103/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 18:01:48
Document Index: 327148545

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

National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Beth E. Richards D/b/a Freightlines Equipment Company, Respondent, 265 F.2d 855 (3d Cir. 1959) :: Justia
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National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. Beth E. Richards D/b/a Freightlines Equipment Company, Respondent, 265 F.2d 855 (3d Cir. 1959)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - 265 F.2d 855 (3d Cir. 1959)
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Frederick U. Reel, Atty., N.L.R.B., Washington, D. C. (Jerome D. Fenton, Gen. Counsel, Thomas J. McDermott, Associate Gen. Counsel, Marcel Mallet-Prevost, Asst. Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., Washington, D. C., on the brief), for petitioner.
"The language of § 8(a) (3) is not ambiguous. The unfair labor practice is for an employer to encourage or discourage membership by means of discrimination. Thus this section does not outlaw all encouragement or discouragement of membership in labor organizations; only such as is accomplished by discrimination is prohibited. Nor does this section outlaw discrimination in employment as such; only such discrimination as encourages or discourages membership in a labor organization is proscribed." Radio Officers' Union of Commercial Telegraphers Union, A.F.L. v. N.L.R.B., 1954, 347 U.S. 17, 42, 74 S. Ct. 323, 337, 98 L. Ed. 455.
An employer can discriminate without being guilty of an unfair labor practice so long as he does not thereby intend to encourage or discourage union membership or activity. But it is recognized that proof of certain types of discrimination is sufficient proof of intent to encourage or discourage union activity; this "* * * is but an application of the common law rule that a man is held to intend the foreseeable consequences of his conduct." Radio Officers' Union of Commercial Telegraphers Union, A.F.L. v. N.L.R.B., supra, 347 U.S. at page 45, 74 S. Ct. at page 338.
Sometimes an employer cannot avoid discriminating among his employees; for instance, business conditions frequently dictate a contraction in the size of a labor force. When an employer lays off some employees while retaining others in such a situation, he is acting discriminatively. If his criterion for selecting those to be laid off is intended to discourage or encourage union activity, he commits an unfair labor practice. N. L. R. B. v. Quality Art Novelty Co., 2 Cir., 1942, 127 F.2d 903. But if his criterion is, for example, individual employee efficiency or seniority, then something more would be necessary for showing an unfair labor practice. See Martel Mills Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 4 Cir., 1940, 114 F.2d 624. It is possible that the criterion adopted, though alone reasonable enough, may have the foreseeable result of affecting union activity, in which case the employer commits an unfair labor practice. Cf., Republic Aviation Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 1945, 324 U.S. 793, 65 S. Ct. 982, 89 L. Ed. 1372; Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. v. N. L. R. B., 7 Cir., 1947, 162 F.2d 435.
It has not been urged, nor could it reasonably be, that there has been no discrimination against the newer drivers in favor of the former ones. See N. L. R. B. v. Local 542, International Union of Operating Engineers, 3 Cir., 1958, 255 F.2d 703, 705. That the employer's sole idea was to avoid possible economic loss from threatened union reprisals does not excuse the discrimination and its readily foreseeable concomitant of encouragement to union membership. True, the immediate encouragement is not to those who were discharged, since they had been refused effective membership, at least so long as they occupied positions coveted by the union. But it is not necessary for the persons encouraged to be those who were discriminated against. It is enough that those who are already union members be encouraged by the employer's discrimination to retain their membership. See Radio Officers' Union of Commercial Telegraphers Union, A.F.L. v. N. L. R. B., supra, 347 U.S. at page 51, 74 S. Ct. at page 341. And the inducement could react also upon those discriminated against since conceivably they may be reemployed after all the former drivers have been accommodated.
Reduced to simplest concepts, the case is one of an employer discharging employees in order to replace them with men favored by the union. The situation in reverse where union employees are discharged in favor of men belonging to another or no union is a well recognized unfair labor practice. N. L.R.B. v. Waterman S.S. Corp., 1940, 309 U.S. 206, 60 S. Ct. 493, 84 L. Ed. 704. The only difference between the two situations is that in the latter the result is to discourage union activity on the part of the remaining and new employees, while in the former that activity is encouraged. Both results are prohibited to the employer by § 8 (a) (3).
The concurrence of discrimination and enocuragement to union membership proscribed by § 8(a) (3) is also an interference with and a restraint upon employees' rights (in the absence of a collectively-bargained contract) not to be members of a union. Therefore, a violation of § 8(a) (1) is also made out. Yet that section's incorporation by reference of § 7 of the Act is insufficient justification for including in the order a restraint of other acts within the ambit of § 7 but without any other relation to this proceeding. In these circumstances paragraph 1(b) of the order, which is drawn in the sweeping language of § 7 of the Act will be denied enforcement. N.L.R.B. v. Express Publishing Co., 1941, 312 U.S. 426, 61 S. Ct. 693, 85 L. Ed. 930; N.L.R.B. v. Local 369, International Hod Carriers' Bldg. and Common Laborers' Union, 3 Cir., 1957, 240 F.2d 539.