Opinion ID: 12483
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Request for Health Plan Information

Text: Eljer asserts that it did not violate section 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act when it failed to provide health plan costs in response 11 to the union's request. Eljer contends that because it had previously provided the union with information in August 1991, it was thus not compelled to provide any more information concerning the health plan, and, alternatively, the union's request was overly vague and broad. It is an unfair labor practice for an employer to refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of his employees.... 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(5). Under this duty to bargain, an employer has a duty to provide information that is needed by the bargaining representative for the proper performance of its duties. NLRB v. Leonard B. Hebert, Jr. & Co., Inc., 696 F.2d 1120, 1124 (5th Cir.1983) (quoting NLRB v. Acme Indus. Co., 385 U.S. 432, 435-36, 87 S.Ct. 565, 568, 17 L.Ed.2d 495 (1967)). An employer's refusal to furnish information relevant to a union's negotiation or administration of a collective bargaining agreement may constitute a breach of the employer's duty to bargain in good faith. Id. The key inquiry is whether the information sought by the union is relevant to its duties. Id. Among the union's requests was the following statement: The union must have all pertinent information with respect to present and projected [insurance] cost to both the company and the employees. As we have explained before, the Supreme Court has adopted a liberal, discovery-type standard by which the relevancy of the requested information is judged. Id. Even assuming a proper production request and the presumptive relevance of insurance costs generally, Eljer rebutted any presumption of relevance for the 12 requested information by responding to the union's request with the fact that the information had already been disclosed eighteen months previous and thus no additional information should be needed by the union; any such information was irrelevant. The union failed to show how its duties were impaired by the lack of any more current information that may have been available, i.e., that any existing information was indeed relevant to the bargaining issue. See Id. at 1124. Therefore, we find unreasonable the Board's determination that Eljer's previous production of insurance information did not satisfy the union's request and was thus an unfair labor practice. B. Eljer's Withdrawal of Recognition of the Union and Unilateral Changes Eljer contends that the Board erred by finding that it violated section 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act by withdrawing recognition from the union, by unilaterally making changes in the contractual grievance and arbitration procedure, and by implementing a health insurance copayment requirement. Eljer asserts that it had a good faith doubt as to the union's status in representing the unit employees following the decertification election and thus its actions were consistent with the Act. The Board counters that Eljer unlawfully withdrew recognition of the Union, and that Eljer failed to meet its statutory bargaining obligation when it unilaterally changed its employees' terms of employment. It is a well-accepted rule that an employer has no duty to bargain when it has a good faith and reasonable doubt of a union's 13 continued majority status. See, e.g., Dow Chem., 660 F.2d at 65657. The employer must demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence, NLRB v. A.W. Thompson, Inc., 651 F.2d 1141, 1143 (5th Cir.1981), its good faith belief, founded on a sufficient objective basis, that the union no longer represented a majority of the employees. United Supermarkets, Inc. v. NLRB, 862 F.2d 549, 554 (5th Cir.1989). Because the Board was unreasonable in its findings of unfair labor practices, as we have explained in the preceding discussion, the Board could not reasonably conclude that Eljer violated sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act by withdrawing recognition from the union and subsequently instituting the copayment and grievance procedure. The election results provided Eljer with a sufficient objective basis for its good faith doubt that the union no longer represented the majority of the employees, and thus it was relieved of its duty to bargain under the Act. See Dow Chem., 660 F.2d at 654, 656-57 (holding that employees' statutory right to free choice under section 7 of the Act would be abrogated by requiring a continued duty to bargain after union lost fair decertification election and restating rule that employer has no duty to bargain when it has a good faith and reasonable doubt of union's continued majority status); see also Hood Furniture, 941 F.2d at 328 (noting strong presumption that ballots cast under specific NLRB procedural safeguards reflect employees' true desires).