Opinion ID: 2797368
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Truthfulness of the reply.

Text: Bourne, 332 F.2d at 48. The Bourne factors provide a framework, albeit not a required checklist, to use when assessing a purportedly coercive interrogation. Rossmore House, 269 N.L.R.B. at 1178 n.20; see also United Servs. Auto. Ass’n v. NLRB, 387 F.3d 908, 916 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (“Requiring the Board to address each of the Bourne factors . . . would transform a flexible tool for organizing section 8(a)(1) analysis into a rigid hurdle divorced from its purpose of ensuring that non-threatening interrogation is not deemed an unfair labor practice.”). The factors are useful in 20 assisting the adjudicator to consider the totality of the circumstances, so we hold that the ALJ’s and the Board’s use of the Bourne factors to assess whether a given interrogation is coercive is rational and consistent with the NLRA. Here, notwithstanding that the Board found that three employer-employee interactions constituted unlawful interrogations, it takes just a single coercive interrogation to support the remedy ordered by the Board—namely, a cease and desist order and the posting of a notice that Woodcrest will not coercively interrogate its employees. Because the Order gives only a single remedy for all three violations, as long as at least one of the three interrogations amounted to coercion, we will enforce this part of the Order. The ALJ and the Board’s conclusion that at least one of the interrogations violated § 8(a)(1) is supported by substantial evidence. Specifically, we will not disturb the conclusion that the Monica-Jimenez interrogation constituted a coercive interrogation in violation of § 8(a)(1). The interrogation was initiated by Woodcrest ostensibly to determine whether any supervisors had engaged in improper conduct. Jimenez’s supervisor told him that the Director of Nursing wanted to see him in her office, but, when Jimenez entered the Director’s office, she was not there. Instead, Monica, a lawyer for Woodcrest, was there to conduct an exceedingly formal interview. Monica gave Jimenez a written statement that he was asked to sign. The written statement assured Jimenez that “[t]he only purpose I have in interviewing you is to investigate whether any objectionable conduct occurred in connection with the election held here at Woodcrest . . . and the events leading to that election,” and that “[w]e are not interested in determining whether you are 21 for or against the Union or if, or how, you voted in the election.” However, the lawyer asked him whether he had signed a card for the Union and whether he knew any other unit employees (i.e., election-eligible employees, not supervisors) who were involved in the Union or passing out cards. (J.A. 377.) These unwanted questions upset Jimenez so much that he returned to the office after leaving the meeting and “tore up the document and threw it in the garbage.” (J.A. 376.) Then, approximately five days later, Jimenez’s supervisor again approached Jimenez while he was working and told him to meet with the lawyer in a private conference room. The lawyer told him that “he did not believe Jimenez’[s] answers during their first exchange and wanted to give him a second chance.” (J.A. 377.) He asked Jimenez why he wanted Woodcrest to unionize and whether certain supervisors had campaigned for the Union. Woodcrest argues that the Monica-Jimenez interrogation was found to be coercive solely because Monica asked Jimenez why he wanted a union at Woodcrest. But we disagree. The ALJ and the Board found the interrogation to be coercive based on the totality of the circumstances, properly applying the Bourne factors. Woodcrest’s citations are off-point. Woodcrest cites Hughes & Hatcher, Inc. v. NLRB for the proposition that “[i]nterrogation of employees concerning their membership in the union, membership of fellow-employees, or the general activity of the union, absent interference or coercion, does not violate the Act.” 393 F.2d 557, 563 n.4 (6th Cir. 1968). However, the circumstances here were not so benign. Monica’s questioning of Jimenez regarding topics that Monica was purportedly not to inquire about, along with the accusation that Jimenez had not told the truth, crossed the line. Cf. NLRB v. Prof’l Tape Co., 422 F.2d 22 989, 990 (7th Cir. 1970) (“This was not a mere inquiry to determine Union support. The continuous questioning of Hawkins and Okryesik suggested that the employees were being accused of lying about the union activities and in so doing, the Company created an atmosphere of antagonism toward the Union.”). Indeed, the ALJ and the Board found that the circumstances of Monica’s questioning, taken as a whole, “reasonably tend to interfere with the free exercise of employee rights under the Act” and were coercive. (J.A. 374.) Given the substantial evidence standard, we are not inclined to disturb this conclusion. Moreover, the Monica-Jimenez interrogation has parallels to an interrogation discussed in Graham Architectural, which we held was unlawful. There, the interrogation of David Reisinger by Michael Lehr was “not part of an ordinary casual conversation; rather, Lehr specifically requested Reisinger to come to his office.” Graham Architectural, 697 F.2d at 538. The supervisor also “indicated that he had prior knowledge” of the employee’s union activities. Id. Furthermore, that interrogation involved two mitigating factors that are not present here: the individuals’ “friendship and the occurrence of the conversation in an open plant area.” Id. Yet we, nevertheless, enforced the Board’s order. Id. at 543. Here, Jimenez did not know Monica, and the interrogation occurred first in Jimenez’s boss’s office and then in a private conference room. The Monica-Jimenez interrogation was also similar to a second interrogation found to be unlawful in Graham Architectural—the interrogation of Diana Oberdick by her supervisor, Robert Reichard—which also involved “not a 23 casual inquiry into a co-worker’s feelings, but a request from which a reasonable inference can be drawn that it was aimed at securing specific information concerning the genesis of the union campaign and the identity of the leaders,” making it “not unreasonable for the Board to conclude that under these circumstances Reichard’s question may have conveyed to Oberdick the message that the Company was contemplating retaliation against the union activists who were responsible for the organizing campaign.” Id. at 538-39. Jimenez could easily have assumed that Monica’s question regarding which unit employees were engaged in Union activities indicated that Woodcrest was contemplating taking some action against the pro-Union employees who were responsible for the organizing campaign. Accordingly, substantial evidence supports the Board’s conclusion that this interrogation was unlawful.6 6 Nothing in this opinion should be misinterpreted as indicating that asking employees meaningful questions, including probing for bias and testing credibility, during an internal investigation necessarily violates the NLRA. Internal investigations, especially when conducted by outside counsel, serve an important function, and, in some circumstances, an employer’s legitimate business justification for an interview in connection with an internal investigation may be sufficiently substantial to overcome the coercive effect of an interview on employees’ union activities. See, e.g., Textile Workers Union of Am. v. Darlington Mfg. Co., 380 U.S. 263, 268-69 (1965) (recognizing that a substantial business justification can outweigh the interference with employee’s rights and overcome § 8(a)(1) charges); Jeannette Corp. v. NLRB, 532 F.2d 916, 918 (3d Cir. 1976) (same). We need not engage the argument in this case, however, because no 24 The coerciveness of the remaining two interrogations is less clear, although, as stated above, Woodcrest loses if a single interrogation was coercive. In particular, the conversation between Duggar and Lewis hardly seems coercive. All we know about the Lewis-Duggar conversation is that “sometime after February 5, but before the representation election,” at some unstated place, Lewis asked Duggar “if she was in favor of the Union,” and Duggar replied truthfully that she was not. (J.A. 383.) Lewis “was not a top-level manager,” and “she and Duggar telephoned each other outside of work and are friends.” (J.A. 382-83.) This conversation is analogous to a conversation that we found to be lawful in Graham Architectural—the interrogation of Darlene Stambaugh by Greg Nash. There, a supervisor “called [Stambaugh] over to his desk and asked her whether she was for the Union.” Graham Architectural, 697 F.2d at 539. They then had an extended discussion about “the advantages and disadvantages of the Union.” Id. Like here, “[t]he question itself contained no veiled threat or implication that the Company contemplated reprisals against union supporters.” Id. Here, the only evidence that the ALJ found of coercion was that Lewis reported Duggar’s response to management, yet there is no indication that Lewis gave Duggar any reason to suspect that she would do so. Thus, that fact cannot be relevant to whether the “questioning must reasonably have tended to coerce under the circumstances.” Id. at 537-38. The NLRB’s only case law to the contrary is from another interrogation in Graham Architectural in which we said that, considering all the other indicia of coercion, a such business justification was asserted by Woodcrest before the Board or on appeal. 25 supervisor’s friendly manner is insufficient to overturn the Board’s finding that substantial evidence supports a finding of coercion. See id. at 538-39. But here, there were no other indicia of coercion. The Vijayan-Dolcine conversation falls between these two extremes. Unlike the Lewis-Duggar conversation, the Vijayan-Dolcine conversation involved a “high-level manager,” who approached a unit employee “at her workstation while she was on duty and asked to speak with her privately.” (J.A. 375.) Vijayan gave Dolcine an antiunion flyer and “ask[ed] about her union activities including why she needed a union.” (J.A. 376.) Given the formality of the conversation, the power dynamic, and the fact that Vijayan made it clear to Dolcine (by giving her the antiunion flyer) what Vijayan’s views were and what Dolcine’s answer should be, the Board may well have had substantial evidence to support its conclusion that the interrogation was coercive, although we need not find more than one interrogation coercive for the result here. Because at least one interrogation was coercive, we will affirm and enforce this part of the Order.7 7 We note that the remedy imposed was imprecise. The Board ordered Woodcrest to cease and desist from “[i]nterrogating its employees about their union membership, activities, and sympathies” (J.A. 20, 388), but the Notice to Employees, which the Board required Woodcrest to post, states that Woodcrest “WILL NOT coercively interrogate you regarding your union membership, activities, and sympathies” (J.A. 20, 390 (emphasis added)). To the extent that the remedy could be misconstrued as prohibiting employee 26