Opinion ID: 406424
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the individual discharges

Text: 31 As already noted, 11 strikers were fired for various incidents which occurred during the strike. The General Counsel challenged the discharges of only Timothy J. Vannatten, Anthony Senchak and Fred Main. The ALJ recommended that Vannatten and Senchak's discharges be upheld and that Main be reinstated. The board unanimously endorsed the ALJ's recommendation as to Main, unanimously rejected Senchak's discharge, and split 2 to 1 in favor of reinstating Vannatten.
32 Fred Main was fired because Garrett alleged that he, along with another striker, had attempted to flatten the tires of a truck with a board embedded with nails. The evidence was clear that the other striker did attempt to flatten the tires but that Main was 5 to 10 feet away from the truck when the incident occurred. Furthermore, a film of the incident made by Garrett apparently showed Main holding a board without nails in it. Inasmuch as the only charge against Main was that he attempted to flatten the truck's tires and the evidence clearly demonstrated that Main did not participate in the incident, we will enforce the Board's finding of an unfair labor practice against the company for discharging Main. 6
33 Senchak was fired for allegedly threatening to get a member of Garrett's management and for attempting to run a truck off the road after it had left Garrett's plant. The Board rejected the ALJ's recommendation that Senchak's dismissal be upheld after concluding that there was no evidence on the record to support the ALJ's conclusion. We do not agree. There is more than substantial evidence to support the ALJ's conclusion and we decline to enforce the Board's order insofar as it requires the reinstatement of Senchak. 34 The ALJ found that as the truck left Garrett's premises, Senchak followed it on his motorcycle. In the words of the ALJ, Senchak and two other strikers on motorcycles drove in front of and around the truck and the car (containing members of Garrett's management personnel) in such a fashion as to impede and interfere with their safe use of the highway, finally causing the truck and the car to pull off the road at a commercial establishment.... The police were called, but before they could arrive Senchak and the other motorcyclists left. 35 The ALJ heard testimony from the driver of the truck and from the Garrett employees following in the car. Senchak also testified. The ALJ, after weighing the credibility of all the witnesses, concluded that Senchak's misconduct was serious and that his asserted justification was neither relevant nor credible. 7 36 We fail to see how the Board could conclude that there was no evidence in the record on which the ALJ could rely to support his conclusion. We recognize that the Board is not obligated to accept an ALJ's findings of fact when there is substantial conflicting evidence on the record in derogation of the ALJ's findings. NLRB v. Duquesne Electric and Manufacturing Co., 518 F.2d 701, 704 (3d Cir. 1975); NLRB v. Treasure Lake, Inc., 453 F.2d 202, 204 (3d Cir. 1971). Nevertheless, if the Board declines to follow an ALJ's finding and makes a contrary finding, the Board's finding must be supported by substantial evidence. Duquesne Electric, 518 F.2d at 704. As the Supreme Court noted in Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 496, 71 S.Ct. 456, 468, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951): 37 We do not require that the examiner's findings be given more weight than in reason and in the light of judicial experience they deserve. The substantial evidence standard is not modified in any way when the Board and its examiner disagree. We intend only to recognize that evidence supporting a conclusion may be less substantial when an impartial, experienced examiner who has observed the witnesses and lived with the case has drawn conclusions different from the Board's than when he has reached the same conclusion. 38 The Supreme Court's admonition is particularly applicable here. The ALJ carefully marshalled and weighed the evidence, including the demeanor and credibility of the witnesses, and reached a sound conclusion. The Board in rejecting the ALJ's findings has arrived at a result that is not supported by substantial evidence on this record.
39 The matter of Vannatten's discharge is more difficult. The ALJ found that during the strike Vannatten and another striker were involved in a rock-throwing incident with a number of strike replacements hired by Garrett. The company discharged Vannatten but did not discipline the other striker or its own employees. The General Counsel argued that Vannatten was singled out because he held a position on the union bargaining committee. The company asserted it was sheer inadvertence that saved the other striker and, as to its own culpable employees, it had no knowledge of their participation in the incident. 40 The ALJ found that both sides were throwing rocks. The ALJ rejected the General Counsel's anti-union animus theory and found no bad faith or pretext in Vannatten's discharge. Because Vannatten clearly threw rocks and because he had a clear avenue of escape which he did not take, the ALJ concluded that even assuming the replacement employees threw first, rock throwing is not protected activity. The Board, with one member dissenting, rejected the ALJ's recommendation and concluded that the discharge constituted an unfair labor practice. The entire discussion of Vannatten's discharge is contained in a footnote to the Board's opinion. The apparent basis for the Board's reinstatement order was Garrett's failure to fire the employees involved in the rock-throwing incident. 41 We agree with the underlying rationale of the Board's conclusion, that is, if the company knew its employees were equally culpable of misconduct and chose to discipline only the strikers then an unfair labor practice charge would be founded. However, company officials deny that they had knowledge of their own workers' participation in the incident and there is no evidence in the record indicating otherwise. Under these circumstances, we will decline to enforce the Board's order reinstating Vannatten as it is not supported by substantial evidence.
42 The final issue to be resolved is whether the Board erred in ordering back-pay to the date of Main's unlawful discharge. 8 The company argues that Main, as a striker, was receiving no pay and would receive none while he continued on strike. Consequently, the back-pay remedy should be limited to the date on which the strike was ended and Main would have been available for work. The Board, consistent with its opinion in Abilities and Goodwill, Inc. and Abilities and Goodwill Association of Professional Employees, 241 NLRB 27 (1979), enforcement denied on other grounds, 612 F.2d 6 (1st Cir. 1979), rejected the company's argument. 43 Abilities and Goodwill changed the longstanding Board rule that a discriminatorily discharged striker had to request reinstatement before the employer's back-pay obligation was triggered. The Board's rationale for changing the rule is set forth in the following passages from Abilities and Goodwill : 44 The issue is whether an unlawfully discharged striker, unlike an unlawfully discharged employee, must unconditionally request reinstatement in order to trigger an employer's backpay obligation. We believe that the equities and policies of the Act compel a negative answer. It is, of course, well settled that a discriminatorily discharged employee is entitled to reinstatement and backpay from the date of the employer's unlawful action. There is no requirement that such employee first request reinstatement. Indeed, such a request, in all likelihood, would fall upon deaf ears when one considers that the employer has just fired the employee. In this connection, the Board has frequently said that it will not require a person to perform a futile act. Furthermore, since it is the employer who has acted unlawfully in discharging the employee, the burden is on that employer to undo its unfair labor practice by offering immediate reinstatement to the employee, and by reimbursing the employee for all losses suffered from the date of its discriminatory action. 45 The foregoing rationale is, in our view, equally applicable to employees who are unlawfully discharged while engaged in a lawful strike. A discharged striker is a discharged employee, and is entitled to be treated as such, for there is nothing peculiar to a strike which justifies dissimilar treatment. The nature of the employer's unlawful conduct is not changed by the fact that the employee happens to be a striker at the time of discharge. Furthermore, to require a discharged striker to request reinstatement would be no less futile than it would be for a discharged employee. Thus, no logical reason presents itself for treating the two categories of employees differently. In both cases, the employer has acted in violation of the Act in terminating the employee, and in both cases the burden rightfully rests on the employer to remedy the situation. Accordingly, we now hold that a discharged striker is entitled to backpay from the date of discharge until the date he or she is offered reinstatement. To the extent that this holding represents a departure from prior policy, that policy is hereby overruled. 46 241 NLRB at 27. 47 Abilities and Goodwill specifically addressed the argument that a back-pay award to the date of discharge may result in a situation where a striker is compensated for a period of voluntarily withheld labor. The Board's answer was as follows: 48 The problem in resolving the issue herein is that the discharge of a striker creates an ambiguous situation. When discharged strikers withhold their services after the date of the unlawful discharge, one cannot really be certain whether their continuing refusal to work is voluntary, i.e., a result of the strike, or whether the reason for not making application for reinstatement is that the employer, by discharging the employees, has mistakenly impressed on them the futility of making such an application. Thus, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether the employees would have continued to strike and, if so, for how long, had the opportunity to return to work been available. This uncertainty could, of course, be resolved if the employees immediately apply for reinstatement, and, one might say, as our dissenting colleague does, that a showing of such an application is not an unduly burdensome condition for establishing entitlement to backpay. However, because the uncertainty is caused by the employer's unlawful conduct, we will not indulge in the presumption that the discharge itself played no part in keeping the employees out of work. Rather, it seems to us more equitable to resolve the ambiguity against the wrongdoer and presume, absent indications to the contrary, that the discharged strikers would have made the necessary application were it not for the fact that the discharge itself seemingly made such application a futility. 49 Id. at 28 (emphasis added). 50 The Board's shift of position by placing the burden on the wrongdoer is a type of decision allowable for an agency which has the primary responsibility for formulating remedies designed to minimize the impact of unfair labor practices. As we observed in NLRB v. Eagle Material Handling, Inc., 558 F.2d 160, 163-64 (3d Cir. 1977), our role is to determine whether the remedy ordered was within the Board's broad discretion, keeping in mind that the order should not be disturbed 'unless it can be shown that (it) is a patent attempt to achieve ends other than those which can fairly be said to effectuate the policies of the (National Labor Relations) Act.'  Quoting Virginia Electric & Power Co. v. NLRB, 319 U.S. 533, 540, 63 S.Ct. 1214, 1218, 87 L.Ed. 1568 (1943). Even if on policy grounds, we might have let the old rule stand, we will not intrude on the administrative process so deeply that the agency is precluded from formulating or changing standards in an effort to implement its responsibilities under the Act. The basic difference between the old rule and the new is that in the latter the burden is shifted to the wrongdoer. Since the new rule creates only a rebuttable presumption in favor of the discriminatee, we reject Garrett's efforts to shift the burden on to the victim of the unfair labor practice. Accord NLRB v. Lyon and Ryan Ford, Inc., 647 F.2d 745 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 391, 70 L.Ed.2d 209 (1981); NLRB v. Trident Seafoods Corp., 642 F.2d 1148 (9th Cir. 1981). In this case, the company was free to but produced no evidence of Main's unwillingness to return to work after he was unlawfully discharged, nor did it show that he would have refused an offer of reinstatement if it had been tendered. Consequently, we will enforce the Board's order of back-pay to the date of the unfair labor practice discharge.