Opinion ID: 397163
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Illegal Discharges

Text: 16 On the morning of June 28, three truck drivers-Thomas Waugaman, David Clousing, and Eric Myers-signed union authorization cards. Waugaman and Clousing also solicited cards from other drivers.
17 The Company threatened to discharge Thomas Waugaman. Justak (the owner) told him, You may get a union in here but you will not be here. Kritch told Clousing that Waugaman was on his way out. On June 29, the day before Waugaman's alleged misconduct that was the ostensible basis for his discharge, Kritch told Waugaman that he would try to get him for work related infractions. 18 On June 30, the Company asserts that Waugaman failed to respond when paged. The credited testimony shows, however, that: (1) Waugaman was called in and worked most of Saturday; (2) he was told he could leave by the job site supervisor; (3) the supervisor said that he would telephone the Company and have Waugaman paged if he was needed further; and (4) Waugaman was not paged that day to return to the job site. 19 The Company relies on discredited testimony without showing exceptional circumstances that warrant overturning the Administrative Law Judge's credibility resolutions. See NLRB v. Pittsburgh S. S. Co., 337 U.S. 656, 659-60, 69 S.Ct. 1283, 1285-86, 93 L.Ed. 1602 (1949); Electri-Flex Co. v. NLRB, 570 F.2d 1327, 1331-32 (7th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 911, 99 S.Ct. 280, 58 L.Ed.2d 256. For example, the Company claims that Waugaman lied to the job site supervisor on June 30 by telling him that his shift had ended. The Company, however, never called the supervisor as a witness to rebut Waugaman's uncontradicted testimony that the supervisor told Waugaman he could leave. Cf. International Union, UAW v. NLRB, 459 F.2d 1329, 1336-39 (D.C.Cir.1972). 20 The Board's finding that Waugaman was discharged for anti-union reasons had substantial support in the record.
21 Clousing too was threatened. He was warned of a plant shutdown, told he was being fired for soliciting cards, and rehired on the condition he destroy the cards that he had in his possession. 22 On June 28, the day Clousing was observed soliciting authorization cards, the Company inserted a warning in his personnel file for taking an overly-long lunch break. The credited testimony, however, shows that Clousing did not take a one-hour lunch break, was never told of the purported infraction and was never shown the warning. On July 2 the Company issued another warning to Clousing for arriving late for work. The credited evidence shows, however, that Clousing actually arrived at work early that day when he drove Myers to work. Moreover, as with the June 28 warning, Clousing was never told of the infraction or shown the warning. 23 Three weeks later the Company discharged Clousing. The Company asserts that Clousing quit voluntarily. The credited evidence shows, however, that Clousing was actually discharged because of his pro-Union activities. 24 We repeat that a reviewing court generally will not overturn the Administrative Law Judge's credibility resolutions. NLRB v. Walton Mfg. Co., 369 U.S. 404, 405, 82 S.Ct. 853, 854, 7 L.Ed.2d 829 (1962). The Administrative Law Judge based credibility findings on the demeanor of the witnesses and on the inconsistencies in the testimony of Kritch and Justak. Kritch gave three different versions of Clousing's discharge, while Justak gave yet another. Clousing, on the other hand, testified consistently about the events surrounding his discharge. Furthermore, as noted, the two warnings in Clousing's file are suspicious. We see no basis for overturning the Administrative Law Judge's credibility resolutions or the inferences drawn therefrom. 25 The Company asserts further that it would have justifiably discharged Clousing because he falsely told the Company that he missed work on July 24 because he had to take a sick child to the doctor. This contention lacks merit. The Company has contended all along that Clousing was not discharged. It was only after the Company's evidence was discredited that it argued that it would have discharged Clousing for lying. The evidence shows overwhelmingly that the Company suspected that Clousing was at the union hall on the day in question and that this suspicion was the actual reason for his discharge. In these circumstances Clousing's misconduct is no defense for the Company.
26 The Company discharged a third truck driver, Eric Myers, who had signed an authorization card on June 28. 27 The Company asserts that it discharged Myers for failing to answer a second beeper while enroute to the Company and for taking too long to report to the yard after the first page. The credited evidence shows, however, that Myers was not paged a second time. Moreover, Myers told Justak when he responded to the first page that it would take him a while to come in, and Justak replied, That's OK .... Make it as soon as you can. Once again, we are presented with no basis for overturning the Administrative Law Judge's credibility resolutions. 28 Moreover, even if Myers' testimony is not believed, there is no credible evidence showing that his conduct was treated uniformly by the Company as a dischargeable offense. The record does not support the Company's contention that it had a consistently-applied policy of automatic termination for beeper violations. Moreover, witnesses did not testify that truck drivers were told to answer a page within a specific time or that they were told to stay within a specific distance from the Company. 29 The Board's order relating to all section 8(a)(3) violations is enforced.