Opinion ID: 1545493
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reinstatement and Back Pay Order

Text: The Board's findings and its petition in this court include the subject of reinstatement and back pay for a group of named individuals, former employees of the respondents. These persons were found by the Board to have been discharged because of their union activity; reinstatement and back pay are directed for them. Respondents deny that any or all of these workers were discharged because of union activity and allege that the termination of their services was for cause sufficient to justify discharge. Each of the cases is made subject for discussion in the respondents' briefs. We have examined both the argument and the record with regard to each of the employees whose discharge is in dispute, bearing in mind that here, as elsewhere, our task is not to make the finding of fact, but only to determine whether the finding made by the agency designated by law is supported by substantial evidence. Conclusions to be drawn from conflicting testimony and fact inferences to be drawn from evidence presented is likewise not within our province. National Labor Relations Board v. Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, Inc., 1938, 303 U. S. 261, 270, 58 S.Ct. 571, 82 L.Ed. 831, 115 A.L.R. 307. Our function ceases with determining whether facts and inferences so drawn have substantial support. We turn then to the consideration of the individual cases. 1. Edward Hughes. This employee, head of the group known as checkers in Condenser's plant, was discharged December 16, 1936. He secured employment elsewhere soon thereafter. The reason given to Hughes for his discharge by his supervisor, in the presence of Mr. Beyer, Cornell's secretary and treasurer, was the failure of Hughes to punch the time card, as company rules required, and which failure was admitted by Hughes himself. The records of the company note the reason for the discharge as inaccuracies in the records for which he was responsible. The Board finds, however, that Hughes was discharged because of his action in attempting to obtain increased wages for checkers under his supervision and that this was a restraint and coercion of employees in the exercise of rights secured by § 7 of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 157. That Hughes had discussed the problem of such increased wages and the desirability of union organization with his supervisor in the plant is not disputed. The question now in issue reduces itself to a fact concerning human motives, namely, the real reason for the discharge of Hughes. His case, like that of other discharged employees for that matter, was considered by the Board as part of the entire litigation in the course of which the attitude of the respondents toward labor organizations in their South Plainfield plant had been developed. The finding with regard to Hughes is supported by substantial evidence and will not be disturbed. 2. Lawrence Dowling. 3. Joseph Russo. 4. John Spisso. 5. Joseph De Sepio. The cases of these men can be considered together. The sole question with regard to them is whether they were discharged in violation of their rights under the statute. The Board does not dispute the contention that the employee may be discharged by the employer for a good reason, a poor reason, or no reason at all, so long as the terms of the statute are not violated. Burk Bros. v. National Labor Relations Board, 3 Cir., 1941, 117 F.2d 686. But it does not follow from that undisputed proposition of law that a failure to give a reason, or giving evasive or contradictory reasons by management may not be considered in determining the question of fact as to the real motive for the discharge. These employees, checkers in the department where Hughes had been employed, all attended a meeting at the home of one Peterson, another employee, following the discharge of Hughes, for the purpose of protesting to Condenser against the discharge. The next day they were all let go, the orders being given by Chait, Hughes' successor as head checker. Spisso and De Sepio were subsequently rehired through the intervention of Diana, whose activity in connection with the company's affairs has already been mentioned. When they subsequently manifested their disinclination to go along with Diana in the formation of an independent union and expressed their desire to adhere to United, which by that time they had already joined, they were almost immediately discharged. Respondents assigned reasons of inefficiency and rule breaking. In their cases, however, the chain of circumstances which prompted the Board's conclusion that the reason for the discharges was organizational activity of a sort disapproved by the employer, is such as to support that conclusion with substantial evidence too strong, even on examination of a paper record, to be resisted. Dowling and Russo were not rehired and their cases do not have the added support of a second hiring and discharge. As said above they did attend the informal protest meeting. Respondents maintain that the sole basis of the Board's finding concerning the reason for the discharge of these two men is the inference drawn from the presence at the meeting of one Zieborak, another checker, but at the same time an employee of a private investigating agency. Even disregarding any significance in Zieborak's presence at the meeting, [4] there is, nevertheless, substantial evidence in the record which supports the Board's conclusion that there is considerably more than a coincidental connection between their attendance at the meeting on one night and their discharge the following afternoon. The Board's findings as to these four employees stand. 6. Theodore D'Addario. This employee, who first held the position of a checker, was discharged January 8, 1937. He was subsequently rehired and came back as one of the group in whose reinstatement Mr. Diana had become interested. He, too, was one of those who, upon being reemployed, manifested his adherence to United, with which he had become affiliated. He had attended the informal discussion and subsequent organization and other meetings of the United. The Board's conclusion that the real reasons for his first dismissal were not the alleged reasons of inefficiency given by the employer at the hearing is supported by the circumstances of the second discharge almost immediately following Diana's failure to get D'Addario, along with the group whose reinstatement he had secured, to go along with him in the effort to form an independent organization. The Board's conclusion is sustained. 7. Herbert Peterson. This man, once employed as a checker, was discharged December 23, 1936 by the then head checker, Chait. The Board finds the discharge was because of activity on the employee's part looking toward union organization. The respondent contends it was for inefficiency. The Board found that Chait told Peterson that he liked his work but was compelled to discharge him. Peterson's activity with regard to promoting, by talk at least, the start of employee organization is clear. It was at his home that the first two meetings were held. While his case is not so strong as that of some of the others, D'Addario for instance, we cannot say that the Board's finding is not supported by substantial evidence. 8. Vincent Binicasso. 9. William Wolf. 10. Harry Burr. 11. John Mazza. Three of these four, Binicasso, Burr and Mazza, were among the Diana group already referred to. Wolf and Binicasso were alleged by the company to have been discharged because of the violation of the No Smoking rule. Wolf had never been discovered smoking before; Binicasso once. Except for these two no employees were ever discharged for the offense and there was some evidence to the effect that, at least so far as the men's room was concerned, (where these two were caught smoking) the rule was honored more in the breach than the observance. The alleged reason for Burr's discharge was inefficiency; that of Mazza, lack of work. Mazza's employment record lists unsatisfactory work as the cause and the Board points out that at the time he was let go his identification button was lifted, which was the custom in the case of discharge rather than temporary layoff. As would be expected in such cases the testimony and argument present both conflicting facts and conflicting theories. The three cases mentioned of the men dismissed, rehired and again discharged following the Diana incident have the same added measure of support as that found in those already reviewed. Wolf's case does not have this and is not, therefore, quite so strong. But the Board finds, as a fact, that the real reason for the discharge in all four cases is that these employees were making beginnings of collective activity. This finding has support and it therefore must stand. 12. Lucy Dell'Olio. This employee's job was to stamp on finished condensers certain information which it was her duty to secure from the proper specification sheet. Respondents contend that, as a result of using the wrong specification sheet, she improperly stamped a quantity of condensers intended for filling a rush order; and that she was therefore discharged. Her explanation is that between the time she first inspected the information sheet and the time she looked at it again after having been informed of her error, another sheet had been slipped into the book over the one originally there. From this the Board draws the conclusion that the entire episode was engineered in order to provide an excuse for her discharge. This seems reasonable in view of the fact that the day before she was let go she had been warned by the assistant foreman, according to her testimony, that the company would find a good excuse to dismiss anyone who had joined the union. She nevertheless had on that very night attended United's second mass meeting and had been elected secretary, the news of which was published in the local paper. She had previously been seen by another supervisor leaving a United mass meeting and had been warned to stay away if she valued her job. The evidence is clearly sufficient to support the Board's finding. 13. Gladys Del Pappa. This employee was discharged January 21, 1937. The Board finds the cause to be the fact that she joined and assisted United. She, with Dell'Olio had been warned as she left the United meeting of January 14, to keep away from that group under penalty of losing her job. The following day, along with other employees, she was transferred from the department where they had been working to different work. This transfer, however, cannot be the basis for a conclusion unfavorable to the company because it affected many employees in the same department as Del Pappa. She was, however, assigned to particularly disagreeable work in which she had no previous experience and to which only one other employee was transferred. When, later on, the girls were being transferred back to their original tasks Del Pappa asked to be returned likewise. There was some dickering and she expressed a desire to be temporarily laid off rather than continue doing the objectionable work. She was forthwith discharged. It is a point not without significance that while the operating supervisors recommended her retransfer the veto power was exercised by the personnel manager, Mrs. Leary. It may be borne in mind also that it was at this time that the effort to promote the Independent was going forward vigorously. The evidence is not so compelling as in the case of Dell'Olio, just discussed, but we cannot say that the Board's conclusion does not have substantial foundation and it is, therefore, upheld. 14. Katherine Kane. 15. Augusta Kane. 16. Beatrice Mundy. These three women employees had joined United. The company had posted a notice stating that neither failure to join a union nor joining one was a condition of employment. Nevertheless, Mr. Diana had been permitted, during working hours on February 1, to address the workers upon the advantages of joining Independent. Membership cards were passed around for signatures. These three girls refused to sign application cards for Independent and reiterated their adherence to United. That day they were discharged. There is countervailing testimony tending to show that they were discharged or more euphemistically, laid off, because of slackness of work and frivolous behavior while at work. The issue was purely one of fact and there is substantial evidence to support the Board's conclusion that they were discharged in violation of their rights under the statute. 17. Marion Panzarella. This employee was discharged February 1, 1937. He had joined United, but there is no suggestion that this membership had anything to do with his dismissal. A group of the solderers, of which he was one, had, on the Friday prior to the discharge, decided they wanted an increase in compensation and had directed one of their number to act as spokesman. The latter presented their claim to their foreman who promised to see the plant superintendent and to report his answer the following Monday. The foreman was unable, however, to see his superior by the latter date but promised the solderer's spokesman that he would do so sometime on Monday. On that morning, however, the solderers came to the plant, checked in and stood idle at their benches. They were persuaded to continue work during the morning; following the noon recess they again stood idle, saying that they would not work until their demands were met. Thereupon they were discharged. The operation in which the solderers were engaged was an initial one in this particular department and the interruption here necessarily affected the work of the others. The Board concludes that the discharge of Panzarella under these circumstances was a violation of rights under § 7 of the statute and argues that our decision in Southern Steamship Co. v. National Relations Board, 3 Cir., 1941, 120 F.2d 505, covers the case. We think to the contrary. In that case the employer had refused recognition of a bargaining agency voluntarily chosen by the employees. Here the plant superintendent had promised the men a discussion at the close of the day's activities. The Board found this as a fact. Yet, in the face of this, the men stopped work in the middle of the day. We do not think that under the circumstances the statute prevents their discharge. Cf. C. G. Conn, Ltd., v. National Labor Relations Board, 7 Cir., 1939, 108 F.2d 390, 397. Employees cannot insist that their demands be met in the middle of a working day, when the employer has promised to deal with them as a group at the end of the day. No promises had been broken; there was nothing to indicate that this particular promise would not have been kept. Panzarella and his associates were not denied rights under the Act. The order for reinstatement and back pay in his case is, therefore, refused. 18 to 31 inclusive. This group of cases involves fourteen employees: John Sedon, Michael Santoro, Fred Vitto, Katherine Dolce, Mary Schumacher, Arthur Chippendale, John DiVico, Ann Jacobs, Caroline Callecchio, Tessie Appezzatio, Michael Sabino, Herbert Rydberg, Katherine Fedoruk, Francis Prohodka. These cases present no disputed question of fact. In accordance with the closed shop contract made with the Brotherhood February 19, 1937 these employees were discharged because of their suspension by the Brotherhood for pro-United activities. If the contract with the Brotherhood was not in violation of the statute, it follows, as the respondents urge, that their discharges were proper. The Board urges that the contract was in violation of the statute and that it is thus clear, as a matter of law, that the fourteen discharges were likewise. The Board's conclusion that the closed shop contract made with the Brotherhood was improper is supported elsewhere in this opinion. The conclusion follows and the action of the Board is upheld as to these cases. 32. Frank La Vecchia. This employee had joined both United and the Brotherhood, the latter ostensibly in order to keep his job because of the closed shop contract between respondent and the Brotherhood. He was discharged on March 31 for engaging in and inducing other employees to participate in a stoppage of work on that day. He testified that he and two others had previously discussed this strike with United officials and had received indirect orders to proceed. As is apparent from other discussion in this opinion respondents had actively committed unfair labor practices both by supporting Independent (later the Brotherhood) and by the discharges outlined immediately above as being discriminatory because of United activities. This strike which produced La Vecchia's discharge was the employees' answer to this illegal activity on the part of the respondents. It is thus quite different from the case of Panzarella, already discussed. The attitude and behavior of the respondents at the time of this strike was such as to justify, at least with reference to the question of cause for discharge, this action on the part of La Vecchia and the other employees. The request, at the start of the strike, that they step outside and discuss the matter peaceably was only a gesture and does not serve, in the face of known facts, as an offer to bargain collectively. Cf. International Ass'n of Machinists, etc., v. National Labor Relations Board, supra. The Board's finding, therefore, that this employee was discharged in violation of his rights under § 7 of the Act is sustained. 33. Ann Mae Therney. 34. Cecilia Dowling. 35. Mary Lane. 36. Margaret Gibbs. One common element in these last four cases is that of time. Their discharges came subsequent to those previously discussed and following the rise in power of the Brotherhood in respondents' plant. The other common factor is the dispute as to cause of discharge, whether for activity on behalf of United, as the Board has found, or slack work, incompetency, irregular attendance, and insubordination, as respondents contend. The argument invites us to substitute our conclusion for those of the Board in believing some witnesses and disbelieving others. This we do not do. There is testimony which, if believed, is ample to support the Board's findings. What credence is to be given one witness over another is not within our province. We find in all of these cases the Board's conclusion is supported by substantial evidence and is upheld.