Opinion ID: 627393
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Coercive Statements and Threats to LPNs at the July 19, 1990 Meeting

Text: 37 On July 18, the Home circulated the following memorandum to all employees: 38 THIS IS TO ADVISE YOU THAT THE NLRB HAS TENTATIVELY SET A HEARING ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 25TH, TO DECIDE WHO CAN VOTE IN A UNION ELECTION. OUR POSITION IS SUPERVISORS, RNs, AND LPNs CANNOT VOTE. WE WILL KEEP YOU ADVISED. 39 On July 19, the Home held a mandatory meeting for all RNs, LPNs, and supervisors. The Home's Administrator, Albert Wimer, Home attorney, Joseph Yocum, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Home's affiliated hospital, Dan Colby, conducted the meeting. Yocum told the nurses that, in the Home's opinion, all RNs and LPNs were supervisors who could not vote in the upcoming election but must remain loyal to the Home. When asked by LPN Michelle Sands, a union supporter, what he meant by loyalty, Yocum replied that all RNs and LPNs were prohibited from engaging in union activities. 40 LPN Amy Feldpouch, also a union supporter, then asked if LPNs could be fired before the NLRB had determined whether or not they were supervisors. Yocum, according to Feldpouch, said yes, adding that LPNs found to be engaging in union organization could be discharged. When asked by Sands why the Home opposed the union, Yocum responded, Well, for one thing, they cost too God damn much money.... [D]o you think those dues come out of thin air? Feldpouch recalled that near the end of the meeting Yocum added, Now don't get me wrong, we're not going to fire anybody. Administrator Wimer testified before the ALJ that the Home considered LPNs to be supervisors who could be discharged for engaging in union activity, though he did not recall any statement at the July 19 meeting to the effect that LPNs could be discharged before the NLRB determined their status. 9 41 The Board concluded that the Home, through attorney Yocum, violated Sec. 158(a)(1) by telling LPNs present at the meeting that they could not vote in the upcoming union election or participate in union activities, and that engaging in such activities could subject them to dismissal. Threatening employees with discharge, discipline, or other reprisals for engaging in union activity violates Sec. 158(a)(1) because these actions reasonably tend to coerce employees in the exercise of their rights, regardless of whether they do, in fact, coerce. Northern Wire Corporation v. NLRB, 887 F.2d 1313, 1317 (7th Cir.1989). See also NLRB v. Del Rey Tortilleria, Inc., 787 F.2d 1118, 1122-23 (7th Cir.1986); Berger Transfer & Storage Company, 678 F.2d at 690-91. 42 The Home contests the Board's findings, arguing that, as a result of the filing of a union election, it was properly concerned about the status of the LPNs and whether or not they were supervisors whose loyalty to the Home could be compelled. The July 19 meeting, the Home insists, was called merely to advise RNs and LPNs of the Home's legal position with regard to their status. The Home does not specifically deny that Yocum made the statements attributed to him, nor does it seriously challenge the testimony of LPNs Sands and Feldpouch. Rather the Home submits that Yocum's remarks, considered as a whole, do not amount to a violation of the NLRA. The Home points to Yocum's declaration, near the close of the meeting, that the Home was not going to fire anyone as evidence that his talk was intended neither to threaten nor coerce. The Home also claims that, before the ALJ, Administrator Wimer testified that he heard none of the allegations stated [by the nurses] in this matter at the meeting, rather he heard statements to the effect that 'if' any employee was found by the Board to be a supervisor[,] the rights to engage in protected union activities and vote in an election would be lost. 43 The circumstances of the meeting support the Board's conclusion that Yocum's statements went beyond merely announcing the Home's legal position on the status of certain employees. Yocum's assurances that the Home was not going to fire anyone undercut the argument that his previous statements were not the equivalent of threats against employees who engaged in union organization activities. If Yocum had not earlier conveyed the impression that union supporters could lose their jobs, such a statement would have been unnecessary. Finally, as the Board found, Yocum's afterthought did not result in his total withdrawal or repudiation of his earlier statements that employees could be disciplined for union activities. 44 Furthermore, nothing in Wimer's testimony alters the conclusion that the meeting was intended to coerce the Home's LPNs in the exercise of their right to self-organization. Contrary to the Home's summary of his testimony, Wimer stated that, in the Home's view, the LPNs were supervisors and that supervisors could be discharged for engaging in union activities. Moreover, he stated only that he did not remember any statement being made that LPNs were told they could be discharged before a final determination of their status by the NLRB. 10 At best, Wimer's testimony was a weak rebuttal to the testimony of Feldpouch, and the Board's decision to credit her on this point will stand. See Richmond Recording Corporation, 836 F.2d at 295. Substantial evidence supports the Board's finding that Yocum's statements violated Sec. 158(a)(1) of the NLRA.