Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/400-f-3d-920-603368946
Timestamp: 2019-02-22 02:31:28
Document Index: 116729889

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

400 F.3d 920 (D.C. Cir. 2005), 03-1323, Federated Logistics and Operations, a Div. of Federated Corporate Services, Inc. v. N.L.R.B. - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 603368946
400 F.3d 920 (D.C. Cir. 2005), 03-1323, Federated Logistics and Operations, a Div. of Federated Corporate Services, Inc. v. N.L.R.B.
Docket Nº: 03-1323, 03-1357.
Citation: 400 F.3d 920
Party Name: FEDERATED LOGISTICS AND OPERATIONS, A Division of Federated Corporate Services, Inc., Petitioner v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent UNITE, AFL-CIO-CLC, Intervenor
Case Date: February 25, 2005
400 F.3d 920 (D.C. Cir. 2005)
FEDERATED LOGISTICS AND OPERATIONS, A Division of Federated Corporate Services, Inc., Petitioner
UNITE, AFL-CIO-CLC, Intervenor
Nos. 03-1323, 03-1357.
Argued Sept. 14, 2004
The Union lost the October 6, 2000 election by a vote of 81 to 60. The Union filed objections to the election with the Board on October 13, 2000. On March 14, 2002, an administrative law judge ("ALJ") held that Federated violated NLRA § 8(a)(1), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), by (1) maintaining a no-solicitation rule prohibiting solicitation in work areas during nonworking time; (2) interrogating employees about their union activities; (3) creating the impression among employees that their union activities were under surveillance; (4) soliciting an employee to attend and report back on a union meeting; (5) soliciting employee grievances with the implied promise to remedy them; (6) promising employees unspecified benefits if they defeated the union; and (7) threatening employees that supporting the Union would be futile, that they would lose benefits if the Union were elected, and that their wages would be frozen. Federated Logistics & Operations, 340 N.L.R.B. No. 36, slip op. at 20
(2003) ("ALJ Decision"). The ALJ additionally found that Federated had violated NLRA § 8(a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), by (1) withholding a wage increase from employees because of their involvement in the election; and (2) disciplining two employees because they engaged in union activities. Id. at 20-21. The Board adopted the ALJ's findings over Petitioner's objections. As a remedy, the Board imposed a broad cease-and-desist order on Federated with respect to all the above-mentioned violations, ordered the employer to supply the Union with the names and addresses of employees for two years or until a certified election had been held, and ordered Federated to take various affirmative actions to repair the effects of its no-solicitation rule, unlawful disciplining of employees, and withheld wage increase. The Board also directed that a Federated official or a Board agent in the presence of such an official read a Notice of Violation included in the Board opinion to an assembly of the Tampa employees.
Of the Board's findings, Federated appeals only the determinations that it unlawfully threatened the Tampa employees with the futility of unionization, withheld wage increases, and disciplined employees in violation of NLRA § 8(a)(1) & (3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1) & (3). (Federated does not dispute the Board's adoption of the ALJ's finding that it committed the other six abovementioned unfair labor practices.) The Employer further challenges the Board's imposition of what it characterizes as an "extraordinary" remedy, as unwarranted by the facts of the case.
Under the NLRA, the Board's findings of fact are conclusive "if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole ...." 29 U.S.C. § 160(e). "Substantial evidence means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Evergreen America Corp. v. NLRB, 362 F.3d 827, 837 (D.C.Cir.2004) (internal quotations omitted). This means that we must uphold the Board's decision even if we would have reached a different result upon de novo review. See Perdue Farms, Inc., Cookin' Good Div. v. NLRB, 144 F.3d 830, 834-35 (D.C.Cir.1998). We appreciate our dissenting colleague's recitation of the evidence which serves to well illustrate the volume of substantial evidence upon which the Board relied. However, our colleague's proposals as to how her findings would have differed from the Board's on that evidence are not consistent with our limited role in review.
B. Unlawful threats
Federated's first challenge is that the Board erred in finding that comments made by Vella and Hart amounted to unlawful threats of the futility of unionization in violation of NLRA § 8(a)(1), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), which forbids an employer from "interfer[ing] with, restrain[ing], or coerc[ing] employees in the exercise" of their statutory rights under the Act.
The Board accepted these findings, characterizing them as follows:
During employee meetings on October 2, and 4, ... Vella and Hart stated, with regard to what would happen to employees' wages and benefits if the Union were selected, that "[they] would start from zero and would negotiate from that," that the Union would strike, and that if a strike occurred the operation could be shut down and moved to another of the Respondent's facilities in 3 days, and that employees could lose their 401(k) plan.
Id. at 1. Reviewing these comments "in context, to determine whether they 'effectively threaten employees ... [,]' " id. at 2, the Board agreed with the ALJ that the comments "reasonably would be understood by employees as threats that benefits would be lost and that selecting union representation would be futile." Id.
254 So.2d 432 (Ala.Crim.App. 1971), 2 Div. 54, King v. State
760 F.2d 390 (2nd Cir. 1985), 889, Proyecfin de Venezuela, S.A. v. Banco Industrial de Venezuela, S.A.