Opinion ID: 710103
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discrimination Against Certain Strikers

Text: 38 The ALJ and the Board found that vacancies did not occur in the pre-strike jobs held by Casias, Coca, L. Cordova, W. Cordova, Jones, Montoya or Sanchez, or in substantially equivalent jobs. However, while the ALJ held that Medite committed no violation of the Act in failing to allow them to bid on job vacancies posted in the plant, the Board held that Medite violated the Act by failing to allow L. Cordova, H. Jones, F. Casias, and M. Sanchez an opportunity to bid on vacancies posted by [Medite] that were open to bidding by all of its employees regardless of their current job or, as in the case of the strikers, their past jobs. Id. at 1145. 4 39 The Board has held that an employer's obligation to reinstate former economic strikers extends only to vacancies created by the departure of replacements from the striker's former jobs and to vacancies in substantially equivalent jobs, but not to any other job which a former striker is or may be qualified to perform. Rose Printing Co., 304 NLRB 1076, 1991 WL 197152 (1991). However, an employer may not discriminate against former strikers: strikers who have unconditionally offered to return to work are to be treated the same as they would have been had they not withheld their service. They are therefore entitled to return to those jobs or substantial equivalents if such positions become vacant, and they are entitled to nondiscriminatory treatment in their applications for other jobs. Id. at 1078 (emphasis added). 40 The Board made the following findings concerning Medite's hiring practices: 41 [Medite] fills job vacancies in two ways. Vacancies in certain job groups are filled by automatically promoting employees within a set progression. The remaining vacancies are filled through a bid procedure in which the vacancy is posted on a bulletin board for 5 days and any full-time active employee is permitted to bid for the job. Employees are allowed to bid on, and have been awarded, less skilled and lower paying jobs. The jobs are usually awarded to the most senior applicant, although the applicant's qualifications are also considered. The successful applicant is given a 30-day trial period in the new position, and, if he is not performing satisfactorily, [Medite] will either agree to extend the trial period or will move the employee back to his former position. 42 Medite of New Mexico, Inc., 314 NLRB at 1147. 43 Former strikers were not allowed into the plant, except for escorted access to pick up personal belongings. Medite did not notify them of posted job vacancies. The Board held that, under Rose Printing, Medite's failure to allow the former strikers to bid on the vacancies posted for bid--a right extended to all other of its employees--constituted a form of discrimination against the former strikers. Id. at 1148. To avoid such discrimination, Medite must give former strikers who have unconditionally offered to return to work notice of job postings and ... an opportunity to bid on, and be fairly considered for, those posted jobs. Id. The Board thus appears to have required Medite to either notify the strikers of posted job vacancies, or permit them access to the plant where such vacancies are posted. 44 Medite argues this is contrary to Board precedents, because it imposes a new duty to seek out and inform strikers of nonequivalent openings. Pet'r's Br. at 27. Medite overstates the scope of the Board's order. The Board does not require Medite to affirmatively seek out all former strikers and notify them of each job vacancy. The Board has simply acknowledged that, as former strikers, all of whom tendered unconditional offers to return to work, they were entitled to be treated the same as other employees. 5 Other employees had access to posted job vacancies; these particular employees (the former strikers) did not. 6 That different treatment constitutes discrimination, prohibited under Rose Printing.