Opinion ID: 3052717
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Challenge to the Board’s Remedy

Text: The Union argues that the Board incorrectly limited back pay to the seven employees who reported to work on February 23 for the reinstatement delay from January 23 to February 23. The Union argues that back pay should have been awarded to all twenty-four employees who responded to the offer of reinstatement. The NLRA empowers the Board to “take such affirmative action including reinstatement of employees with or without back pay, as will effectuate the policies” of the Act. See 29 U.S.C. § 160(c). A back pay remedy “must be sufficiently tailored to expunge only the actual, and not merely speculative, consequences of the unfair labor practices.” Sure-Tan, Inc. v. NLRB, 467 U.S. 883, 900 (1983). The Board may not impose a back pay award in the absence of “record evidence as to the circumstances of the individual employees” because such an award would be purely conjectural. Id. at 901. The Board enjoys broad discretion and the Union, as the party challenging the remedy, must show that the remedy is “clearly inadequate” in light of the Board’s findings. Teamsters Local Union No. 639 v. NLRB, 924 F.2d 1078, 1085 (D.C. Cir. 1991). The Union has failed to do so. [12] The Act does not require the Board “to order that which a complaining party may regard as complete relief for every unfair labor practice.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The Board here awarded back pay to those who were demonstrably harmed by the labor violation, not those that may have been harmed or may have chosen not to accept the reinstatement position for any number of other reasons. In light of the evidence the Board did not abuse its discretion in limiting the back pay award to only those seven employees who reported for work on February 23.