Opinion ID: 186604
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Appropriate Remedies

Text: 36 There is little question that the Board's order to reinstate and make whole the six discharged employees is an appropriate remedy, as is the Board's cease and desist order. The Board's affirmative bargaining order is another matter, however. The law of this circuit, which the Board flouted, compels reversal of the Gissel bargaining order. In some cases involving a disputed bargaining order, we will remand the case to the Board for further consideration. In this instance, however, a remand would be fruitless, because the record in this case cannot support a bargaining order. 37 Cogburn tells us that, were we to remand the case, the Board would find that, at least as of 2004, only 21 of the 82 members of the proposed bargaining unit who signed authorization cards are still employed by the Company. It would also learn that, as of 2004, Steve Roberts and Suzanne Hughes were no longer running the day-to-day operation of the Company. And it would learn that Prentiss Smith, whose presence the Board found significant in its denial of Cogburn's first motion to reopen the record, has been replaced as the acting administrator. We need not credit these additional changed circumstances, however, in order to justify a reversal in this case. 38 As noted above, the Board's decision rejecting Cogburn's motion to reopen the record gave no hint of reasoned decisionmaking and it was wrong as a matter of law. Indeed, the Board made it clear that it had no intention of following the law of this circuit. The telling point here is that more than a decade has passed since a majority of employees in the unit signed authorization cards, making it nearly impossible for the Board to determine whether a majority of today's workforce at Cogburn desires Union representation. At this late stage, only a new election can accomplish that goal.