Opinion ID: 736859
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: october 14, 1993, final warning to rivera

Text: 9 On October 6, 1993, approximately two weeks after the election, Rivera refused to accept his paycheck from one member of management. In the lunchroom the next day, he berated his foreman in an abusive manner for not giving him the check. Eight days later, and one day after a picture of Rivera and representatives of the Union appeared in a Puerto Rican newspaper of wide distribution, Holsum issued him a final warning for engaging in improper, unacceptable and clearly provocative behavior aimed at disrupting institutional peace and order. Holsum/Seaboard Bakeries Personnel Action re: Carmelo Rivera Rodriguez, dated 10/14/93, reprinted in Appendix at 399. According to Holsum, during the week between the October 6, 1993, incident and the final warning, it followed its usual practice of conducting an investigation of the matter, which included interviewing witnesses, documenting the interviews, and having supervisors record their own recollections. 10 The Board concluded that the October 14, 1993, final warning was an unfair labor practice. It reasoned, inter alia, that Holsum's justification for the disciplinary action was pretextual because the warning was issued just one day after the picture of Rivera and the Union representatives appeared in the newspaper while the incident that allegedly gave rise to the action had occurred more than a week earlier. Holsum, 320 N.L.R.B. at 838. We find that the Board's inference of an anti-union motivation lacks substantial support in the record. Although the timing of the action could have established a prima facie case, Holsum overcame the adverse inference by adequately explaining the delay in the issuance of the final warning. Specifically, it was able to document a practice of investigation and verification of charges of employee misconduct that readily explained the eight-day interval between the offense and the issuance of the warning. Moreover, the disciplinary action in this case was proportional to the level of Rivera's misconduct and consistent with his prior disciplinary record. Two months earlier, on August 12, 1993, Rivera had received a final warning for using obscene language and defaming and denigrating the company's supervisors. 11 Finally, it strikes us as highly unlikely that the publication of the photograph would have caused Holsum to take disciplinary action against Rivera. At the time it was published, Holsum was thoroughly aware of Rivera's pro-union activities. The caption under the picture did not mention Holsum; it did not identify Rivera as an employee of Holsum or as a member of the Union; rather, it merely identified him as a guest at a party celebrating a settlement agreement with an unrelated company.