Opinion ID: 778104
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Accusing Kukla of Theft

Text: 60 On Friday, February 6, the Fountain Center received a donation of 95 carpet samples. On Saturday, while in the Fountain Center preparing for classes, Kukla and her teaching assistant discovered the carpet samples and took several to her classroom to replace the old carpet. They placed the old samples in the basement, along with the remaining new samples. 61 Later that afternoon, April Foley, a Head Start supervisor, arrived at the Fountain Center and found that several of the carpet samples were missing. She also noted that Kukla had been at the Fountain Center that day, and noticed that Kukla had used some of the new carpet samples. Foley phoned White, who told Foley to follow company policy and call the sheriff. The sheriff asked Foley whether she saw any signs of forced entry, and if she knew if anyone else had been in the building that day. Foley replied that it looked like Kukla had been in the building. Foley immediately had the locks changed on the building. 62 The next day, a sheriff's deputy went to Kukla's home to question her about the missing carpet samples. Kukla told the deputy that she had used some of the carpet samples, and that she had placed the remainder in the basement. She offered to show the deputy where she left the samples; however, when they arrived at the Fountain Center, the locks had been changed, and Kukla was unable to enter using her key. On Monday, February 11, the deputy returned to the Fountain Center, concluded that the samples were mostly accounted for, and did not pursue the matter any further. Kukla was not made subject to any formal disciplinary action by FiveCAP. 63 When Kukla returned to work on Monday, Foley notified Kukla that she must leave her door open at all times when children were not present, so that Foley could keep an eye on her. Foley testified that this was because the classroom teachers often congregated in Kukla's classroom to chat and would not get their work done. The General Counsel alleged, however, that this measure was meant to humiliate Kukla for the investigation of the alleged theft. 64 We find that the NLRB correctly concluded that FiveCAP violated the NLRA, both by essentially reporting Kukla to the authorities and by forcing her to leave her classroom open. We agree with the Board that Foley acted with unreasonable haste upon finding the carpet samples missing. Foley testified that she realized that Kukla had been in the Fountain Center earlier that day and had used several of the carpet samples. This fact seems to indicate that Foley could easily surmise the location of the carpet samples by speaking with Kukla, and that she had no reason to believe that they had been stolen. Furthermore, even though Foley did not directly tell the sheriff's office that she thought that Kukla stole the carpet samples, this was certainly the implication of her telling the sheriff that Kukla was the only person to have been in the building that day. Moreover, the NLRB found incredible White's testimony that FiveCAP policy mandated that they contact the police for any theft. These facts cumulatively constitute substantial evidence that FiveCAP acted unlawfully. 65 We find no error in the Board's conclusion that Foley's insistence that Kukla leave her door was motivated by anti-union animus. Assigning the requisite deference to the ALJ's credibility determination that Foley was disingenuous in stating that the open-door measure was simply intended to reduce the amount of employee chatter, and considering that the measure was instituted the Monday after Foley called the sheriff and would likely humiliate Kukla, it appears that the Board acted on the basis of substantial evidence in concluding that FiveCAP unlawfully harassed Kukla because of her support for the Union.