Opinion ID: 186380
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disciplining of Employees

Text: 45 The final Board finding that Federated challenges, again for lack of substantial evidence, is that Federated violated § 8(a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), by issuing discriminatory warnings to and suspending Tampa employees Emmanuel Williams and Sandra Lewis for engaging in § 7 activity. ALJ Decision at 3. Federated maintains that it suspended the employees — both active in the unionization effort — for harassing two Haitian workers on account of their country of origin. However, a memo kept by the human resources manager responsible indicated that her first and primary motive was disciplining the two employees for violating the Employer's no-solicitation policy. ALJ Decision at 18-20. 46 Once again, the ALJ's conclusion that the disciplinary actions violated the NLRA came down to a credibility determination in the face of conflicting testimony. ALJ Decision at 20. In crediting the word of Williams and Lewis over that of management, the ALJ relied not only on their testimonial evidence that they were disciplined for union solicitation, but also on the human resources memos relating that the reason management first confronted the two employees was to speak about their violation of the solicitation ban, see id. at 18. This evidence is therefore sufficient to support the Board's adoption of the ALJ's conclusion that Federated violated the Act in the manner in which it disciplined Williams and Lewis. Shamrock Foods Co. v. NLRB, 346 F.3d at 1134; Evergreen America Corp., 362 F.3d at 837.