Opinion ID: 458754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Applying the Bill Johnson's test.

Text: 11 In Bill Johnson's Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB, 461 U.S. 731, 103 S.Ct. 2161, 76 L.Ed.2d 277 (1983), the Supreme Court held that an employer's prosecution of a retaliatory suit against picketing employees constitutes an unfair labor practice under section 8(a)(1) if the suit 1) is filed with an improper motive and 2) lacks a reasonable basis in law. Id. at 744, 103 S.Ct. at 2171; see Sure-Tan, Inc. v. NLRB, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 2803, 2811, 81 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984). Although Bill Johnson's only involved a section 8(a)(1) retaliatory lawsuit, its language was sufficiently broad, see 461 U.S. at 744, 103 S.Ct. at 2171 (the prosecution of an improperly motivated suit lacking a reasonable basis constitutes a violation of the Act that may be enjoined by the Board), that the few decisions thus far applying Bill Johnson's have extended the holding beyond the section 8(a)(1) context. See Local No. 355, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association v. NLRB, 716 F.2d 1249, 1258-64 (9th Cir.1983) (applying Bill Johnson's to a section 8(b)(1) retaliatory suit brought by a union); Local 1115, Nursing Home and Hospital Employees Union and Smithtown General Hospital, 275 N.L.R.B. No. 45 at 9 (April 26, 1985) (applying Bill Johnson's to find that union violated section 8(b)(1)(A) by seeking to confirm arbitrator's award). We therefore employ Bill Johnson's improper motivation/reasonable basis test to determine whether the union committed a section 8(b)(4) unfair labor practice in seeking to enforce the arbitrator's award. 12 The Board held that the union's bringing of payment-in-lieu grievances and its filing of a section 301 suit to enforce the arbitrator's decision were improperly motivated, 461 U.S. at 744, 103 S.Ct. at 2171, by a desire to circumvent the Board's section 10(k) decision and obtain the proceeds of work which the union was not entitled to perform. The Board further held that the second prong of Bill Johnson's was satisfied: the union's suit lacks a reasonable basis because the Board's section 10(k) determination precludes the arbitrator's contrary award of in-lieu payments. We must uphold these legal conclusions unless they are arbitrary and capricious. NLRB v. United Association of Journeymen & Apprentices of the Plumbing & Pipefitting Industry, Local 741, 704 F.2d 1164, 1166 (9th Cir.1983). 13