Opinion ID: 387150
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Interrogation of Employees Fox and Myles.

Text: 8 1. At the hearing before the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), employee Richard Fox, a pathologist assistant, testified that Diller approached him while he was in the hospital cafeteria distributing memos that publicized the June 19 union meeting. Diller asked for one of the memos and after reading it, told Fox that he felt (Fox) was working too hard in the matter. Fox also testified that, on the day of the union meeting, Diller told him something to the effect that a union would never survive in that hospital and that we were fools and troublemakers for trying to bring one in. Diller also asked Fox for the names of persons who were on the committee. Fox divulged the names, and later, committee members Richard Hopkins and Theresa Siminski told Fox that Diller had called them to his office and questioned them. Also on the day of the union meeting, Fox spoke to Administrator Steadman. Steadman said that he felt sorry for (Fox) because (he) was under a lot of pressure and that (Fox) had to watch every move (he) made because Mr. Diller was watching (him). Finally, a couple of weeks after the union meeting, Fox encountered Diller. Fox told him that his involvement in union activities was over. Diller replied, That's good, because (I'm) still watching (you). The ALJ credited the testimony of Fox because Steadman's testimony was too vague and uncertain to credit and because Diller did not testify at the hearing. The ALJ found that the statements by Diller and Steadman were derogatory and repressive antiunion comments, and thus § 8(a)(1) had been violated. But, according to the ALJ, the statements failed to indicate that the Hospital had engaged in surveillance of its employees or created the impression that the employees were under surveillance, as alleged in the Complaint filed by the Regional Director. The Board agreed that § 8(a)(1) had been violated, but substituted its own finding that the comments amounted to threats of reprisal, and further created the impression that Fox's union and other protected concerted activities were under surveillance. 9 2. Jacqueline Myles, a secretary in the engineering department, was asked by Diller on the day after the union meeting whether she had attended that meeting. Diller also asked her for the names of those people in her department who attended. In a separate incident in late September of 1978, Myles was transferred at her request from engineering to the X-ray department. The day after her transfer, Myles's replacement in engineering quit and she was transferred back to her old department. Myles went to Assistant Administrator Sy Zafrani to protest. During their conversation, Zafrani asked her, How do you feel about the Union? Myles's testimony was credited because neither Diller nor Zafrani testified at the hearing. The Board upheld the ALJ's finding that the questioning of Myles by Diller and Zafrani was in violation of § 8(a)(1). 10 3. Interrogation of employees by the employer violates Section 8(a)(1) when that interrogation carries a threat of reprisal against the employee or when it forms a pattern of coercive conduct tending to inhibit the exercise of Section 7 rights. NLRB v. Silver Spur Casino, 623 F.2d 571, 584 (9th Cir. 1980), pet. for cert. docketed, No. 80-660 (filed Oct. 11, 1980). (T)he test is whether, under all the circumstances, the interrogation reasonably tends to restrain or interfere with employees in the exercise of their protected rights. Penasquitos Village, Inc. v. NLRB, 565 F.2d 1074, 1080 (9th Cir. 1977). 11 In this case the record amply supports the Board's conclusion that both Fox and Myles were subjected to coercive interrogation by superiors. We note that neither Fox nor Myles was assured by the interrogators that no reprisals would be taken against them. In addition, Diller and Zafrani failed to communicate to the employees whether they had a valid purpose for asking the questions. And finally, Diller, who held the highest position in the hospital management hierarchy, asked both employees specifically for names of individuals who were involved in the organizational activities, reasonably creating an impression that he sought information upon which to base actions against individual employees. All of the aforementioned factors are relevant in weighing the lawfulness of interrogations by management. See NLRB v. Ayer Lar Sanitarium, 436 F.2d 45, 49 (9th Cir. 1970), citing NLRB v. Varo, Inc., 425 F.2d 293, 298 (5th Cir. 1970). Finding substantial evidence on the record as a whole, we uphold the Board's decision as it relates to the interrogation of these two employees. 12