Opinion ID: 1469066
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Immediately Reinstate Workers

Text: Forty-eight employees struck without either calling in or responding honestly to Special Touch's survey. When they returned to work, they were not all immediately reinstated to their prior positions, which the NLRB held was unlawful. See Special Touch II, 351 N.L.R.B. No. 46, 2007 WL 2963267, at . Special Touch argues on appeal, inter alia, that the employees lost the protections of the law by failing to call in before missing their shifts. Thus, the first disputed issue in this case is whether employees of a health care institution who violate a non-discriminatory call-in rule lose the protections of the NLRA even though the relevant union has given the notice required by Section 8(g) thereof. This is a question of first impression in this Circuit. Because we are of the opinion that the NLRB should address this issue as an initial matter, we deny the petition for enforcement in principal part and remand the case for further proceedings. Both Special Touch and the NLRB insisted at argument that Section 8(g) and the plant rule doctrine do not overlap. However, as we discuss below, this case is a manifestation of that intersection. The plant rule doctrine permits an employer to enforce neutral reasonable rules covering the conduct of employees on company time. Republic Aviation Corp. v. NLRB, 324 U.S. 793, 803 n. 10, 65 S.Ct. 982, 89 L.Ed. 1372 (1945) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Board expounded on the plant rule doctrine in Terry Poultry Co., 109 N.L.R.B. 1097 (1954). In that case, two employees walked off a production line to convey a grievance to management regarding working conditions. Id. at 1098. The NLRB held that this was not protected conduct because the employees failed to follow a rule adopted by the company, well known to its employees, requiring them to notify their foreman or fellow employees when they desired to leave the production line. Plainly, such a rule is necessary to insure orderly and efficient operation of the production line. It is not, nor could it be, contended, that this rule was adopted for a discriminatory purpose.... [T]he Respondent's rule was not designed to limit an employees' union or concerted activity but simply to control absences from the production line.... In these circumstances, and considering the legitimate business interests of the Respondent and the statutory rights of its employees, we find that the Respondent's rule is not an unreasonable impediment to the employees' right to engage in concerted activities.... Id. Similarly, other cases recognize the right of an employer to enforce nondiscriminatory rules. See, e.g., La Mousse, Inc., 259 N.L.R.B. 37, 49-50 (1981), enforced, 703 F.2d 576 (9th Cir.1983); Gen. Chem. Corp., 290 N.L.R.B. 76, 83 (1988); Wilshire at Lakewood & Lisa Jochims, 343 N.L.R.B. 141, 144 (2004), rev'd on other grounds, Jochims v. NLRB, 480 F.3d 1161 (D.C.Cir.2007). Thus, on its face, this case would seem to be governed by the plant rule doctrine: Special Touch had a neutral plant rule in effect requiring employees to call in before missing a shift; those who struck without notifying Special Touch violated that rule; and it can be posited that the Company therefore did not engage in unfair labor practices by failing to immediately reinstate them. However, the plant rule cases emphasize factors that are not present in this case, making them slightly inapposite. For example, Republic Aviation discusses plant rules in the context of employees on company time,  324 U.S. at 803 n. 10, 65 S.Ct. 982 (emphasis added and internal quotation marks omitted), and it is not clear whether these forty-eight employees were on company time when they failed to call in. Some rules the NLRB has upheld relate to the need to protect an employer's property, see, e.g., Terry Poultry, 109 N.L.R.B. at 1098; Gen. Chem. Corp., 290 N.L.R.B. at 83, whereas the primary risk of harm here was to Special Touch's clients. Special Touch cites La Mousse, in which the NLRB upheld a plant rule requiring workers to call in one hour in advance if they were going to miss their shift or be late, similar to the rule here. 259 N.L.R.B. at 49. However, the NLRB only reached the issue of whether the adoption of the rule was an unlawful unilateral change of the terms and conditions of employment, see id. at 49-50; the Board did not pass on the substantive validity of the rule itself. In any event, to the extent that the NLRB upheld the call-in rule in La Mousse, the workers did not miss work to strike or otherwise engage in protected activity, id., and thus La Mousse is inapposite. Furthermore, a plant rule requiring notice cannot be immediately reconciled with cases which have held that individual employeesincluding in the medical contextneed not give notice before going on strike. For example, in Montefiore Hospital, we held that doctors who engaged in a sympathy strike did not render their conduct unprotected by failing to give notice: In this case, although prior notice by Drs. Gould and Fisher would have been more considerate and in keeping with their ethical duties ..., we cannot say that their failure to give it created such danger or risk of harm to patients as to justify depriving them of the Act's protection. This was not a case in which patients were left lying on the operating table, emergency room personnel walked off, or people in need of immediate treatment were left to fend for themselves. Montefiore Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 621 F.2d 510, 516 (2d Cir.1980). Thus, we rejected the argument that Section 8(g) requires individual employees to give notice beyond what is required by statute. We said such an interpretation would require us to disregard the ordinary meaning of plain language, id. at 514 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted), and would in effect be rewriting [§] 8(g), id. at 516. 29 U.S.C. § 158(g), by its own terms and as we emphasized in Montefiore Hospital, applies only to labor organizations and not to individual employees. Certain plant rule cases come to a similar conclusion, namely, that no individual notice is required. See, e.g., NLRB v. Wash. Aluminum, 370 U.S. 9, 16, 82 S.Ct. 1099, 8 L.Ed.2d 298 (1962) (Nor can we accept the company's contention that because it admittedly had an established plant rule which forbade employees to leave their work without permission of the foreman, there was justifiable `cause' for discharging these employees....); NLRB v. Pratt & Whitney, 789 F.2d 121, 131 (2d Cir.1986) (requiring employees to call in every day of a strike and give a reason for absence is an unfair labor practice). However, both Washington Aluminum and Pratt & Whitney are distinguishable, as the plant rule in the former required workers to receive permission of the foreman to leave work, and the rule in the latter required workers to call in and indicate the reason why they were missing work, e.g., to strike. Moreover, in Montefiore Hospital, we noted in a dictum: When, as in this case, a union has given notice of its intention to strike, the hospital would be well-advised to inquire of the rest of its employees whether they plan to stay out in sympathy. An employee who strikes after promising to show up may well forfeit protection under the Act. 621 F.2d at 515. Here, Special Touch conducted such a survey. Possibly relying on the dictum from Montefiore Hospital, it believed those who struck without responding honestly to the survey would not be protected. In this case, over 1300 employees did not say they would miss work during the week of June 7, 2004, and did not call in before their shift. If Special Touch could not rely on the survey or the neutral call-in rule, the Company (not to mention its clients, many with serious needs) could be in a state of limbo, with somewhere between zero and 1300 aides potentially going on strike. Special Touch's conclusion that those who did not either respond affirmatively to the survey or call in would lose the NLRA's protections is thus arguably reasonable. However, it seems equally reasonable for the Union to instruct employees (correctly) that they need not give individualized notice to the Company because the Union had already given the notice required by Section 8(g). As discussed above, we have held that Section 8(g) places a burden only on labor organizations, not individual employees. Therefore, it appears both parties reasonably relied on separate doctrinesthe Union relying on Section 8(g) and Special Touch on the plant rule doctrineand these rules came into conflict with each other. No other case, either at the NLRB or in the federal courts, involves the intersection of both doctrines. Montefiore Hospital, for example, was only a Section 8(g) case, while Terry Poultry and General Chemical only involved plant rules. Thus, even if the plant rule and notice cases were directly on point (and they are not, as described supra ), it remains that they do not speak to the implications, if any, of Section 8(g). This case illustrates the intersection between the two, and it is proper for us to remand to the NLRB to address this intersection in the first instance. Cf. Sure-Tan, Inc. v. NLRB, 467 U.S. 883, 900 n. 10, 905-06, 104 S.Ct. 2803, 81 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984) (explaining that when a court of appeals determines that the NLRB erred in adopting a remedy, the proper course is to remand); NLRB v. Quinnipiac College, 256 F.3d 68, 81 (2d Cir.2001) (remanding to NLRB for determination of proper remedy in the first instance); Ewing v. NLRB, 732 F.2d 1117, 1122 (2d Cir.1984) (remanding when the relevant legal issues were not properly developed at the Board level). Thus, on remand, the NLRB should determine where the law stands in light of the intersection between Section 8(g) and the plant rule, i.e., whether Special Touch may enforce its call-in rule and mandate compliance with its survey, reasonably relying on the results of both, in light of Section 8(g)'s requirement that only unions and not individual employees are required to give notice to health care employers. This is not to say that the case law provides no guidance. First, as noted in Republic Aviation, employees' rights are not unlimited in the sense that they can be exercised without regard to any duty which the existence of rights in others may place upon employer or employee. Opportunity to organize and proper discipline are both essential elements in a balanced society. 324 U.S. at 798, 65 S.Ct. 982. This signals that there is some weighing of interests involved when it comes to the NLRB's application of the relevant doctrines. Second, Montefiore Hospital implicitly exemplifies this kind of balancing. This was a Section 8(g) case in which we held that employees, even in the health care context, are not required to give individual notice in the event of a strike. Yet we intimated (but did not hold) that notice might be required if failure to give [notice] created such danger or risk of harm to patients as to justify depriving them of the Act's protection. 621 F.2d at 516. This suggests that Section 8(g) may not be the end of the inquiry; even if the Union gave the required 8(g) notice, and even though there is no general requirement that employees give individualized notice, a high risk of harm to patients might nonetheless depriv[e employees] of the Act's protection. Thus, on remand, the NLRB should consider the several interests that must be balanced in resolving this issue. Although the case law does not answer the precise question posed, it highlights certain themes that should guide the NLRB. These include (1) the employer's attempt to maintain a properly regulated workforce, (2) the employees' interest in striking (including their interest in not having to decide in advance that they wished to participate), and (3) the risk to the clients, including the nature of the care provided by the aides. For example, if Special Touch's aides were administering medication to treat a life-threatening illness, their actions could be analogous to leaving patients lying on the operating table, Montefiore Hosp., 621 F.2d at 516, which we have suggested might be unprotected activity. Conversely, if the aides were monitoring clients who had no serious medical needs and were in no danger, their actions might retain the NLRA's protections. Ultimately, the NLRB need not provide a broad analysis of the modern state of the plant rule doctrine or even the factors a court should consider in applying the doctrine. Instead, it need only decide the degree to which the plant rule doctrine is affected by Section 8(g) and whether, in this case, after Special Touch was informed of the strike by the Union, Special Touch's employees are still entitled to labor law protection given their failure to comply with the call-in rule or honestly answer Special Touch's survey. In particular, the NLRB should explore, in light of Montefiore Hospital, how the limited scope of Section 8(g) should apply in a case where the relevant labor organization may have instructed employees that they need not inform the employer of their absence. The ALJ did discuss these issues in his opinion, albeit briefly. See Special Touch II, 351 N.L.R.B. No. 46, 2007 WL 2963267, at  (plant rule), -13 (Section 8(g)). However, that analysis was lacking to the extent that it did not recognize the intersection of the plant rule and Section 8(g). Because our review of the NLRB's analysis is highly deferential, and we defer to the Board's legal conclusions so long as they have a reasonable basis in law, even if we might decide otherwise ourselves, the Board should address the issue in the first instance. See Int'l Union, United Auto., Aerospace, & Agric. Implement Workers of Am. v. NLRB, 520 F.3d 192, 196 (2d Cir.2008). As the Supreme Court has written in another context, The Congress has committed to the [NLRB] the task of striking the appropriate balance among the interests of hospital employees, patients, and employers, a role familiar to the Board in other contexts. NLRB v. Baptist Hosp., Inc., 442 U.S. 773, 779, 99 S.Ct. 2598, 61 L.Ed.2d 251 (1979). The Board should strik[e] the appropriate balance here. Because we find that the Board did not adequately analyze the intersection of the plant rule doctrine and Section 8(g), we do not reach Special Touch's indefensible conduct, permanent replacement, and legitimate business justification defenses.