Opinion ID: 682429
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Disciplinary Write-Ups and Discharge of Pro-Union Employees

Text: 22 Section 8(a)(3) provides that it is an unfair practice to discriminate in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(a)(3). Section 8(a)(3) proscribes employer reprisals against an employee for engaging in Union activity. NLRB v. Delta Gas, Inc., 840 F.2d 309, 311 (5th Cir.1988). Section 8(a)(4) prohibits discrimination against an employee because he has filed charges or given testimony under this subchapter. The NLRB found that the Company violated sections 8(a)(1), (3), and (4) by unlawfully retaliating against Walker, Chisholm, Cole, Temple, Powell, and Jones because of their union activities. 12
23 Walker, a trimmer who testified on behalf of the Union at the representation hearing, was given a disciplinary write-up on April 6, 1990. The write-up was for leaving the line and taking a five-minute bathroom break. Prior to April 1990, Walker had never received a write-up. The Board credited Walker's testimony that on that date she followed Company procedures by asking another employee, Tressie Thomas (Thomas), to find the foreman and ask if she could go to the bathroom. Further, the Board credited Thomas's testimony that she obtained permission from the foreman for Walker to go to the bathroom and then took her place in line. 13 The Board noted that the Company did not have the foreman testify to rebut Walker's and Thomas's testimony. The unrebutted testimony of Thomas and Walker constitutes substantial evidence to support the Board's conclusion that the Company issued Walker a disciplinary write-up in retaliation for her union activities.
24 Chisholm, an employee of the Company from July 1985 to July 1990, was an active Union supporter. For six months prior to his discharge, 14 Chisholm participated in distributing handbills on behalf of the Union and often talked to employees about signing Union cards. Chisholm, who is going blind, stated that over the years of his employment, he often sat in the Company break room or in a relative's car in the Company parking lot waiting for his ride home. Chisholm testified that in May 1990, he was told by Dupre that he could no longer sit in the break room or the parking lot after work. After the warning, Chisholm stated he observed other employees who had finished their shifts sitting in the break room. On May 7, 1990, Chisholm was issued a disciplinary write-up for staying on Company property after getting off work. In addition, to Chisholm's testimony, the Board credited Johnson's statement that he was specifically told to run off pro-Union employees Chisholm, Temple, and Cole from the break room after work. The credited testimony of Chisholm and Johnson constitutes substantial evidence to support the Board's conclusion that the Company unlawfully retaliated against Chisholm, contrary to sections 8(a)(3) and (1), by excluding him from the Company premises and giving him a disciplinary write-up.
25 On April 12, 1990, Temple, a scaler who had been employed by the Company for twenty-two years, was given a disciplinary write-up. Temple testified that she was handed the write-up by Dupre. Dupre informed her that he had received a complaint about her harassing Bonner and bad talking employees. 15 Dupre warned her that if she received three write-ups she would be out the gate. 26 On April 30, Cole and Temple were both given written warnings by Sanders without their knowledge. The write-up was for placing improper dates on the product labels. Cole testified that she remembered having a conversation with Sanders about the labels. She stated that she told Sanders that she could not be held responsible for the incorrect dates since she was no longer allowed to prepare the labels. 16 Temple stated that on April 30 she met with Sanders, Dupre, and Bonner about the inaccurate labels. Temple testified that she also reminded Sanders that Varner had taken this job duty away from her and reassigned it to Bonner. Sanders testified that he had written up the disciplinary notice before he talked with Cole, Temple, and Bonner. He stated that after he talked to them, he decided they were right and did not deserve a write-up. He stated he just put the write-ups in their files as documentation of the incident. 17 27 On May 17, Temple and Cole were both given disciplinary write-ups by Sanders for allegedly weighing boxes of chickens with missing giblets in whole birds. Again the write-ups were placed in Temple's and Cole's personnel files without their knowledge. Sanders testified that the write-ups were not disciplinary, but rather simply memorializations placed in their files for future reference. 28 Other testimony at the ALJ hearing established that (1) Cole and Temple were given substantially reduced hours in comparison to other scalers in March 1990; (2) Cole was threatened by McDonald with discharge due to her Union activities; (3) Johnson had been told by McDonald to find fault with Cole's and Temple's work; and (4) Johnson was told by Dupre to plant Company property on Cole and Temple. 29 We hold that substantial evidence supports the Board's conclusion that the Company unlawfully retaliated against Cole and Temple by giving them disciplinary write-ups due to their union activities.
30 In May 1990, Powell, a thirty-year Company employee, was transferred from her relatively nonstrenuous job of making nets and stapling prices to the more arduous job of making boxes. 18 Powell, who is sixty-three, testified that the boxing job required significantly greater effort and involved the lifting and folding of heavy corrugated boxes. Powell's former supervisor Bobby Boutwell (Boutwell) testified he switched employee Dallas Meyers (Meyers) to the net room and Powell to Meyers' place in the box room based on orders from Sanders. Boutwell stated that on a prior occasion he had been instructed by Varner to get Powell out of the net room but he had not complied. Boutwell testified that he resisted both Varner's and Sanders' instructions to remove Powell from the net room because she did good work and he needed her there. 31 On June 18, Powell was transferred from the box room to the eviscerating line as a heart and liver cutter. This job required constant motion, which soon led to shoulder problems for Powell. Powell's injury caused her to miss work between June 26 and July 5. Upon her return, Powell was reassigned to dirty parts, which caused her pre-existing allergies to flare up. Powell once again left work due to her recurring shoulder pain and her allergic condition. 32 On July 30, Powell returned to work and was reassigned to the washout station, which involved washing out soiled chickens. During that week, Powell asked Dupre if she could return to her net room job. Dupre replied that there was no longer any net room job. Thereafter, Dupre told Powell he was taking her off workman's compensation and stated he was going to tell the workman's compensation doctor, Dr. Conn, that she had said she could do anything in the plant. Powell then informed Dupre she would not return to work until after she saw Dr. Conn. Powell stated that then she was subjected to verbal abuse from Dupre, who told her that she was senile and should think about retiring. 33 Powell left work on August 3 and saw a doctor. The doctor recommended that she seek treatment at Pine Belt Mental Health Services for severe anxiety and depression about her job. Thereafter, Dupre learned of Powell's condition from her daughter. On August 21, Dupre wrote Powell a certified letter asking her to contact him within two weeks about returning to work or she would be considered as having quit. On September 4, Powell's attorney responded to the request by informing the Company that Powell was undergoing treatment for work-related anxiety and depression and that she was temporarily disabled. On September 7, the Company again wrote Powell 19 and told her she should contact them by September 12 or be terminated. Powell, who was still undergoing treatment, did not reply and was terminated. 34 After Powell testified at the representation hearing, she was switched to a more strenuous job based on the orders of Varner and Sanders. Powell's immediate supervisor resisted the efforts of Varner and Sanders to transfer her because he needed her in the net room. Thereafter, Powell was subjected to more unpleasant tasks, which eventually resulted in her leaving her job of thirty years due to mental anxiety and depression. Boutwell testified that the net room job still existed. 35 We hold that substantial evidence supports the Board's finding that Powell was given more strenuous work and constructively forced her out of her job due to her union activities.
36 Jones, a fourteen-year employee, was discharged in June 1990 for having three disciplinary write-ups. She had worked as a heart and liver cutter for seven years. Part of Jones' job as a cutter was to remove the gallbladders of chickens without their bursting. Jones testified that prior to her testimony at the representation hearing she had never been warned about excessive gall bursting. She testified that after the hearing, however, her supervisor, Bill Helton (Helton), was constantly riding her for gall even though her frequency of bursting gall remained unchanged. Jones also testified that an average of ten to fifteen times a day chickens already had gall on them from employees in the line in front of her. Jones stated that she was also warned about cutting and working ahead of her place in line. She testified that cutting line was a common practice for which she had never been reprimanded in the past. Two other employees likewise testified that cutting line was a common practice, one also stating that Jones' replacement cut line more than Jones ever did. 37 On April 10, 1990, Jones was given a reprimand for poor workmanship and bursting too much gall. On June 18, Jones met with Helton, who warned her about bursting gall. Later that day, Jones was called into Dupre's office and told she had three write-ups concerning either bursting gall or cutting line. 20 Dupre then informed her that it was Company policy to terminate employees who had three write-ups within twelve months and discharged her. The Company failed to produce any written memorialization of the rule regarding three write-ups. Evidence at the hearing revealed that, unlike Jones, four other employees had received three disciplinary write-ups within a twelve month period without being discharged. 38 We hold that substantial evidence supports the NLRB's determination that Jones was unlawfully discharged by the Company in retaliation for her union activities.