Opinion ID: 715740
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Substantial and Legitimate Business Justification for

Text: Placement of Miller and Munoz 19 In response to the General Counsel's charge of unlawful discrimination, Diamond argued that it was justified in its placement of Miller and Munoz because of the unusual circumstances of their return and the risks their return raised. As discussed below, the record allows for only one reasonable conclusion: Diamond established substantial and legitimate business justifications for Miller's and Munoz's job assignments.
20 We first emphasize what this case does not present. This is not a failure-to-reinstate case. Nor is it a case involving retribution for strike-related conduct; nor is it about the treatment of a former striker who either seeks reinstatement after the strike is over or withdraws his support of the strike and crosses the picket line in order to earn a living. Rather, the case involves an employer's accommodation of striking union activists who, at the union's direction and with the union lawyer's guidance, sought to return to work temporarily--during the employer's peak season, in the midst of an ongoing strike and shortly before a second representation election--in order to persuade replacement workers to support the union and to monitor the employer's pre-election conduct. 21 With the strike ongoing and the second election imminent, Diamond was greeted by, in the ALJ's words, a union delegation made up of activists led, not by a local official, but by an official of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. JA 22. They handed Diamond management a letter from the Union lawyer giving notice that the activists wanted to cross the picket line to campaign for the Union among replacement workers. Diamond was directed not to communicate directly with the Union emissaries (Diamond's own employees); instead all communications were to go through the Union. The Union lawyer was omnipresent: he drafted the letter, approved Diamond's release form, received reports after the activists returned to work and prepared the form letters of resignation they submitted after casting their votes. In short the returning strikers and the Union spoke with one voice. From the perspective of a reasonable employer in Diamond's shoes the strikers sought temporary access to the work place, and work force, as Union envoys, albeit employees within the meaning of the Act. Cf. NLRB v. Town & Country Elec., Inc., --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 450, 133 L.Ed.2d 371 (1995) (holding that worker can be employee within Act notwithstanding union's simultaneous employment of worker to help organize company). 6 22 Further, the strikers did not cross the picket line to earn a paycheck. For one thing, from the beginning the strikers did not intend to remain past the election. Supra note 2. For another, the letter Diamond received from the Union delegation made clear the purpose of their return: so that replacement workers could have an opportunity to hear from Union sympathizers. Indeed, a local newspaper (The Stockton Record ) contemporaneously ran a story entitled, Diamond strikers to lobby for union vote. JA 672. The story opened with this description of the event: With a crucial vote on union representation just over two weeks away, three striking Diamond Walnut workers will be going back to work ... to keep tabs on the company's campaign tactics and urge replacement workers to vote to keep the union. In that story a Teamsters strike coordinator, who equated the returning strikers to Daniel going into the Lion's den, described the purpose of their return: [W]e [the Teamsters] feel that we need people who can monitor the company's conduct during the election and present the union's side to the replacement workers. Id. 23 From Diamond's perspective the return of the Union activists--immediately before a representation election which threatened the replacement workers' continued employment--presented a high risk of unrest if not renewed confrontation. Strikers had previously physically assaulted replacement workers, verbally attacked and threatened them and vandalized their property, including their residences. See Diamond Walnut Growers, Inc., 312 N.L.R.B. 61, 64-66, 1993 WL 356124 (1993) (detailing incidents occurring earlier during strike and noting that restraining orders had issued against both strikers and replacements). In turn replacement workers had posted in the plant placards critical of the Union and its strikers. Vince Brown, Diamond's Director of Human Resources and one of the officials who decided where to place the returning strikers, testified that, on learning of the return of the Union activists, the replacements were angry and made comments like, [G]ee, what happened if they fell down in the rest room or in the locker room and Boy, I bet you won't send them back to bulk storage. JA 200. Replacement worker Sonja Bubeck testified that her fellow replacements resented the strikers, especially those who came to the plant to campaign for the Union. In fact, Bubeck urged replacement workers to remain calm. 7 24 Diamond further feared that the returning strikers could engage in product tampering, sabotage or otherwise disrupt the company's operation. Miller and Munoz had already participated in a well-publicized cross-country tour urging a national Diamond boycott, a campaign dramatically disparaging Diamond's product. Strikers on the tour distributed leaflets charging that Diamond had hired unqualified replacement workers who allowed contaminated and inedible walnuts--with mold, dirt, oil, worms and debris--to be marketed. 8 Besides its fear that Miller and Munoz might try to make the charges ring true (e.g., by adulterating Diamond's product), Diamond knew Miller's and Munoz's track record of attempting to damage Diamond economically. Consequently Diamond was concerned that once inside the plant the activists could wreak economic havoc by delaying production or otherwise disrupting its operation during peak season. 25 To sum up, Diamond faced multiple risks in deciding whether to reinstate the strikers, employees who, as the Board concedes, had no statutory right to reinstatement in that neither their former positions nor substantially equivalent ones were available. And Diamond had a substantial and legitimate interest in minimizing the risks. To that end the company placed Miller and Munoz in supervised positions (a supervisor could defuse a violent incident) that did not allow them to roam about the plant but that nonetheless gave them access to replacement workers (they could approach replacement workers during breaks or in their own work areas). Although Miller was qualified to fill a vacancy in the quality control department, Diamond had a legitimate reason not to place her there: quality control involved inspecting nuts for defects, the final step in the production process before shipping. An unenthusiastic or inattentive worker there could allow defective or contaminated nuts to be marketed or, worse, deliberately adulterate the product. As for Munoz, although she was qualified to fill a vacancy as a lift truck driver, Diamond legitimately decided not to put her behind the wheel of the 11,000-pound vehicle. Not only did the lift truck driver move about the plant unsupervised, the truck itself, with an inattentive operator, could cause damage inside the plant. In addition, because the lift truck was an integral part of a production process that was constrained by tight shipping schedules, an inattentive operator could cause production delay. 26 Viewing the totality of the circumstances of record, we conclude that Diamond established substantial and legitimate business justifications for its placement of Miller and Munoz. In so concluding, we note the Board's reasoning in Sunland Constr. Co., Inc., 309 N.L.R.B. 1224, 1992 WL 390105 (1992): 27 In our experience, when a company is struck it is not business as usual. The union and the employer are in an economic battle in which the union's legitimate objective is to shut down the employer in order to force it to accede to the union's demands. The employer's equally legitimate goal is usually to resist by continuing production.... Thus, an employer faced with a strike can take steps aimed at protecting itself from economic injury.... Consistent with these principles, we believe that the employer can refuse to hire, during the dispute, an agent of the striking union. Id. at 1230-31. 9
28 The Board painted a different, and incorrect, picture. First, it emphasized the lack of evidence that Miller, Munoz and Kussair personally had attacked or harassed replacement workers or that the replacements were more resentful of Miller, Munoz and Kussair than of other strikers. We do not agree that such evidence is required to create the risk that replacement workers could retaliate against or otherwise vent their anger on the most available Union activists. Especially in light of Brown's and Bubeck's testimony, as well as Bubeck's letter, there is no substantial evidence to support the Board's finding that replacements did not harbor hostility toward the returning strikers. 29 Second, the Board points out that the strike-related violence, threats and vandalism occurred in the early stage of the strike and had long since ceased by the time the activists returned to work in September 1993. Even were we to agree with the Board that strike-related threats and vandalism had ceased long before September 1993, that circumstance in no way took away from Diamond's concern, supported by the record, that replacement workers continued to harbor resentment. The hiatus of calm may have decreased the likelihood that strikers would engage in violence but the record does not support the Board's conclusion that the replacement workers had short memories. In September 1993 the strike was still on and a second representation election was around the corner. 30 Finally, the Board emphasized that Diamond did not supervise Munoz as she campaigned during breaks and did not establish that it supervised the other returning strikers during their breaks. Therefore, the Board concluded, the potential for violence against the strikers by the replacements existed even in the jobs to which they were assigned. Diamond Walnut, 316 N.L.R.B. at 38-39 n. 11. Granted, Diamond did not attempt to reduce the risk of violence to a zero probability. But does the Board really suggest that it would have found Diamond's actions lawful if Diamond had imposed stricter conditions on the returning strikers? Had Diamond done so, it might well have risked an unfair labor practice charge for attempting to influence the outcome of the election. The Board's all-or-nothing approach is of cold comfort to an employer attempting to balance its business interests and the statutory rights of its employees. 31 The Board also discounted the risk of product tampering, sabotage or disruption, concluding that any earlier disparagement of Diamond or its product constituted protected activity under the Act. Id. at 39. Perhaps, and perhaps the disparagement would not have warranted a refusal to reinstate either Munoz or Miller. The issue before the Board, and us, however, is this: in light of their previous efforts to weaken Diamond economically and their continued obeisance to the Union's similar objective, was there a reasonable risk that once inside the plant they might again do something to damage Diamond? If so, could Diamond weigh that risk, together with a risk of violence or other disruption, in determining temporary job assignments within days of the election? We conclude that the clear answer is yes.
32 Because we conclude that Diamond proffered substantial and legitimate business justifications for its assignments of Miller and Munoz, the Board must establish affirmatively with independent evidence (i.e., other than the discriminatory conduct) that Diamond's job-placement decisions were primarily motivated by an anti-union animus. See generally NLRB v. Brown, 380 U.S. 278, 286-90, 85 S.Ct. 980, 985-88, 13 L.Ed.2d 839 (1965); American Ship Bldg. Co. v. NLRB, 380 U.S. 300, 312-13, 85 S.Ct. 955, 964, 13 L.Ed.2d 855 (1965). We see no reason to remand on this issue for, in our view, the record does not allow a finding that Diamond primarily intended to discourage union membership or otherwise discriminate against union members as such. Id. at 312, 85 S.Ct. at 964. Diamond's decisions were made to protect its business interests; indeed, the record contains positive evidence of the employer['s] good faith. Brown, 380 U.S. at 290, 85 S.Ct. at 987. Diamond quickly reinstated the Union activists, who had no statutory right to reinstatement at the time, 10 gave them the opportunity to campaign for the Union in the work place and among replacements and allowed them to monitor activities inside the plant. Diamond even allowed Union officials to tour the plant and post literature as often as twice a day (up to two hours per tour), JA 233-34, while under no legal obligation to do so. See Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB, 502 U.S. 527, 112 S.Ct. 841, 117 L.Ed.2d 79 (1992).