Opinion ID: 762539
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1994 Dissolution of G.B. Motel

Text: 57 Thalbo contends that, even if it is liable to pay some backpay, that obligation should have been found to end in August 1994 when G.B. Motel, the entity that had operated the Hotel's bar during DiMilta's employ, was dissolved and Thalbo contracted out the Hotel's bar/restaurant operations to Carol Davino Enterprises, Inc. (Davino), a company unrelated to Thalbo. Thereafter, none of the employees at the bar were on Thalbo's payroll, and Davino had complete discretion to hire employees of its choosing. 58 The ALJ rejected the contention that these events ended the backpay period, noting that Thalbo itself remained obligated to offer [DiMilta] a substantially equivalent position of employment at other jobs at the hotel. Thalbo III, 323 N.L.R.B. at 637. In addition, noting testimony by a Thalbo official that Davino had in fact hired some of G.B. Motel's restaurant and banquet employees and both of G.B. Motel's bartenders, the ALJ found it probable that had DiMilta not been discriminatorily terminated by [the Company], ... she would have been hired by Davino after Davino began operating ... the bar, where DiMilta had been employed. Id. The record supports these findings, and we see no error in the refusal to cut off the backpay period in 1994. 59 Thalbo's reliance on Williams Motor Transfer, Inc. v. Larose, 284 N.L.R.B. 1496 (1987), is misplaced. That case involved an original employer that had violated the NLRA, and the issue for that opinion was whether a successor employer was liable for the original employer's violation, see id. at 1504; the decision did not deal with the extent of the original employer's backpay obligation, see id. at 1497 (question of appropriate scope of the backpay period reserved for future compliance proceedings). The present matter is entirely different. There is no question as to any alleged liability of Davino, which took over G.B. Motel's operations. Further, Thalbo and G.B. Motel were, for NLRA purposes, a single entity, see Thalbo I, 314 N.L.R.B. at 367 & n. 3, and only G.B. Motel was dissolved. Thalbo remains in business and remains responsible to answer for its violations of the Act.