Opinion ID: 715740
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Discriminatory Placement of Kussair

Text: 33 Regarding Kussair, who, it appears, did not participate in the boycott campaign or the efforts to disparage Diamond's product, the Board found that Diamond discriminated against him by placing him in the growers' inspection department instead of offering him a seasonal loader job. We cannot agree, however, that substantial evidence supports the Board's finding that in Kussair's case the General Counsel established discrimination and a resulting discouragement of union membership necessary to trigger a section 8(a)(3) violation. Great Dane, 388 U.S. at 32, 87 S.Ct. at 1796; American Ship Bldg., 380 U.S. at 311, 85 S.Ct. at 963-64; Brown, 380 U.S. at 286, 85 S.Ct. at 985. Although Diamond was not aware that Kussair wanted a loader job, it took into account his status as a striker in making his job assignment and therefore discriminated within the meaning of the Act. But in light of the facts that Kussair did not initially ask for a loader job and was offered the job when he asked for it, the discrimination was trivial and could not have had even a comparatively slight tendency to discourage union membership, Brown, 380 U.S. at 287, 85 S.Ct. at 986. See Boilermakers Local 88, 858 F.2d at 761-62 (It is clear that the Supreme Court intended the phrases 'inherently destructive' and 'comparatively slight' to encompass the universe of employer actions that have any non-trivial, adverse effect on employee rights.) (emphasis added). 34 Diamond decided not to assign any crossover employee to a loader position, fearing that it might give rise to an unfair labor practice charge: the position is a particularly arduous one (requiring, for example, the stacking and unstacking of 30-pound boxes and 55-pound bags throughout the work day) and one its employees often complained about. JA 114, 28. The ALJ found that the loader position by any objective scale is more onerous and less desirable than the position to which Kussair was assigned, JA 28, and the Board added that the job is shunned by most employees, Diamond Walnut, 316 N.L.R.B. at 39. Nevertheless the Board concluded that Diamond should have offered Kussair that position because it paid more than the one he was assigned. Kussair did not initially ask for a loader job on returning to work in September 1993. Within one week of returning, however, he did ask his supervisor, Lexie Whiteman, for a loader job within his department; when Whiteman told him that there were no vacant loader jobs in the department and asked if he wanted to transfer to a different department with a loader vacancy, Kussair declined. JA 24, 169. About a week later Kussair asked Wendy Heinze if he could transfer to a loader job. Heinze told Kussair that the company would accommodate him but Kussair quit before the transfer could take place. Diamond Walnut, 316 N.L.R.B. at 37. On these facts we conclude that the Board's finding that Diamond's treatment of Kussair constituted discrimination that discouraged Union membership is not supported by substantial evidence. 11 35