Opinion ID: 499420
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: 18 The law regarding voluntary recognition is straightforward. In Linden Lumber Division v. NLRB, 419 U.S. 301, 95 S.Ct. 429, 42 L.Ed.2d 465 (1974), the Supreme Court held that an employer does not commit an unfair labor practice by refusing to accept evidence of majority status proffered by a union through some means other than a Board election. Thus, when confronted with a request for recognition based upon a check of authorization cards, an employer has the right to refuse and insist that the union seek a Board election. 19 In a line of cases stretching back to Snow & Sons, 134 N.L.R.B. 709 (1961), enforced, 308 F.2d 687 (9th Cir.1962), however, voluntary recognition has been found to have occurred when an employer agrees to recognize a union through a card check or some other procedure and subsequently confirms the union's majority status through that procedure. Thus, the Board has held that an employer may commit an unfair labor practice if it corroborates a union's majority status pursuant to an agreed-upon procedure, and then reneges on its promise of recognition. While these cases are fact-specific, there is a common thread--in each case the Board has found abundant evidence that the union's majority status was in fact verified according to the agreed-upon procedure. In Cam Industries, Inc., 251 N.L.R.B. 11 (1980), enforced, 666 F.2d 411 (9th Cir.1982), for example, the employer signed an agreement in which it promised to grant recognition after an official from the state conciliation service checked the authorization cards furnished by a union and determined that they represented a majority of the employees in the unit at issue. A state conciliator then compared the cards with the employer's payroll records and W-2 forms. See also Without Reservation, 280 N.L.R.B. No. 165 (July 31, 1986) (clergyman checked cards). 21 20 By contrast, in the instant case, neither the ALJ nor the Board found any evidence that Rosenbloom or his agent, Chatilovicz, actually verified the Union's majority status according to the agreed-upon procedure--a comparison of the 17 authorization cards with the Hotel's payroll records. Indeed, the General Counsel conceded at oral argument that there is not one iota of evidence in the record that suggests otherwise. Yet, the ALJ (and the Board by adopting the ALJ's findings) somehow inferred that a card check was performed from the mere fact that Chatilovicz and Richardson orally agreed to a private election, and then memorialized this agreement in the March 23 letter. 22 This finding is quite extraordinary, because it totally defies both logic and common sense. 21 This court is obligated to affirm the decision below if it is supported by substantial evidence in the record considered as a whole. See Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456, 464, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951); NLRB v. Gateway Theatre Corp., 818 F.2d 971, 974 (D.C.Cir.1987). However, in this case, because we are unable to find a shred of evidence to support the Board's rationale, we have no choice but to reverse the decision under review. It simply does not follow that, because the Hotel agreed to a private election and created an employee list, Rosenbloom or Chatilovicz had checked the authorization cards. Moreover, it defies common sense to argue that Rosenbloom or Chatilovicz could not have prepared the eligibility list without first checking the names on the cards. 23 Thus, unlike Cam Industries, Inc. and Without Reservation, in this case the Board is unable to point to any evidence in the record to suggest that verification, the critical prerequisite to recognition, ever occurred. 24 22 To support the ALJ's conclusion, one would have to believe that human nature instinctively led Rosenbloom or Chatilovicz to check the cards against the payroll list. This view is untenable; indeed, the facts of this case suggest just the opposite, since Chatilovicz' immediate reaction was to instruct Rosenbloom that he should not check the cards. Moreover, a human nature approach would result in a rigid rule whereby in any case in which an employer receives cards from a union, it must always be assumed that the employer will attempt to verify that the names on the cards are legitimate and represent a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit. To our knowledge, the Board has never enunciated such a rule to guide its judgments in cases of this sort, and the General Counsel has not explained why this court sua sponte should adopt this proposition. See Darr v. NLRB, 801 F.2d 1404, 1408-09 (D.C.Cir.1986) (Board must articulate a theory to justify its decision). 23 If we focus on the credited evidence in this record, we are left with a simple situation in which Rosenbloom reneged on his promise to verify that the names on the cards represented a majority of the housekeeping employees. The Board's only relevant precedent, United Buckingham Freight Lines, 168 N.L.R.B. 684 (1967), directly supports the Hotel's position that an employer is free to repudiate a voluntarily agreed-upon verification procedure and to insist on a Board election, so long as the employer makes this choice prior to actually verifying the Union's majority status. 25 The General Counsel has not offered any arguments for why a different rule should apply in this case. See Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Int'l Union v. NLRB, 806 F.2d 269, 273-75 (D.C.Cir.1986) (enforcement of orders denied due to Board's unexplained departure from precedent). 26 24 In short, the Union in this case had nothing more than signed cards from a majority of the housekeeping employees. That alone was not enough to achieve bargaining status, absent recognition by the Hotel. See Linden Lumber Division, supra. But, as the Board found, the Hotel management gave only a conditional promise to recognize the Union if Rosenbloom personally verified that the names on the cards appeared on the Hotel's payroll records and represented a majority of the housekeeping employees. When Rosenbloom subsequently declined to seek this verification, the condition could not be met and recognition could not be achieved without an election. See id.; United Buckingham Freight Lines, supra. Since the Hotel lawfully declined to recognize the Union and did not otherwise violate the Act, the Board had no basis upon which to find a refusal to bargain.