Opinion ID: 380309
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Reinstatement of Rosetta Lyons and Sharon Hunter.

Text: 15 The administrative record fully supports a finding of reasonable cause to believe that the March 27, 1979 discharge of Rosetta Lyons violated § 8(a)(1) of the Act. Several employees testified that Lyons was discharged when she failed to heed the instructions of agents of the employer to cease distributing union literature on company premises during the lunch break. If this testimony is credited, 5 Lyons' discharge almost certainly constituted an unfair labor practice, see Republic Aviation Corp. v. NLRB, 324 U.S. 793, 803 n.10, 65 S.Ct. 982, 928 n.10, 89 L.Ed. 1372 (1945), since the company has articulated no special circumstances adequate to overcome the presumption against restrictions on employee distributions. 6 See Beth Israel Hospital v. NLRB, 437 U.S. 483, 492-93, 98 S.Ct. 2463, 2469-2470, 57 L.Ed.2d 370 (1978); Times Publishing Co. v. NLRB, 576 F.2d 1107, 1109 n.2 (5th Cir. 1978); NLRB v. Orleans Mfg. Co., 412 F.2d 94, 96 (2d Cir. 1969). 16 The record also supports reasonable cause to believe Lyons' discharge violated § 8(a)(1) on the alternative theory that the employer enforced its no-distribution policy in a discriminatory manner. See Head Division, AMF, Inc. v. NLRB, 593 F.2d 972, 977-78 (10th Cir. 1979); Midwest Regional Joint Board v. NLRB, 564 F.2d 434, 446 (D.C.Cir. 1977); Schwarzenbach-Huber Co. v. NLRB, 408 F.2d 236, 256 (2d Cir.), cert. denied., 396 U.S. 960, 90 S.Ct. 436, 24 L.Ed.2d 425 (1969). Prior to the beginning of Local 57's organizing efforts, the employer apparently permitted such activities as the sale of candy by employees during the lunch period. Such a pattern of past acquiescence supports an inference that the employer's application of a no-distribution rule to Lyons and other union organizers was designed to interfere with union organizational activities rather than simply to serve plant efficiency. See NLRB v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 554 F.2d 996, 1000 (10th Cir. 1977); NLRB v. Daylin, Inc., 496 F.2d 484, 488 (6th Cir. 1974); Schwarzenbach-Huber Co. v. NLRB, supra, 408 F.2d at 256. 17 The May 1, 1979 discharge of Sharon Hunter presents a closer question. According to the undisputed evidence, Hunter worked for Richwear for a short period in early February, 1979 and was not recalled until April, 1979, about a month after Local 57 filed a charge alleging that the employer, by laying her off for union activity, had violated § 8(a)(3) of the Act. When Hunter resumed work on April 23, 1979, she was initially assigned to work on the same spooling machine she had operated in February. The next day she was assigned the additional task of placing panties on hangers. Thereafter Hunter and members of the Israel family frequently clashed over whether she was required to stand while doing her work. Finally, on May 1, 1979, the day Hunter's employment with Richwear ended, Isaac Israel approached Hunter and told her, If you don't like the work, why stay here. I'm not going to fire you. According to Hunter, he repeated the first sentence several times, at which point she announced: Yes, you have just fired me, gathered her belongings, punched out, and left the premises. 18 The sequence of events is ambiguous as to whether there was any discharge at all and, if so, whether the discharge was for permissible reasons. The employer contends that Hunter's own testimony establishes that she quit her job and that, in any event, she conducted herself in a manner that would have been cause for discharge. While various inferences were available to the fact-finder, we cannot conclude that Judge Costantino erred in finding reasonable cause to believe that Hunter was discharged in violation of the Act. 19 The effect, not the particular form, of the language used by the employer determines whether an employee has been discharged. See NLRB v. Hale Manufacturing Co., 570 F.2d 705, 708 (8th Cir. 1978); Filler Products, Inc. v. NLRB, 376 F.2d 369, 378 (4th Cir. 1967). In this case, Isaac Israel's final words to Hunter can fairly be viewed as conveying to Hunter the message that her continued presence at the plant was no longer welcome and, despite the simultaneous disclaimer that I'm not going to fire you, as conveying the further message that her employ at Richwear was at an end. Significantly, when Hunter replied, Yes, you have just fired me, Isaac did nothing to disabuse her of that impression, perhaps because it was not a mistaken one. 20 Hunter's testimony suggests that at the time of her final conversation with Isaac Israel on May 1, 1979, she believed that she had been subjected by her employers to a pattern of harassment and discriminatory assignments. This belief, reasonably supported by the record, not only provides further grounds for viewing Isaac Israel's statement to Hunter as a discharge, but also supports an independent finding that Hunter was constructively discharged by the employer's actions, rather than by his words. What must be shown is that the employer, in retaliation for union activities, induced the employee to quit her job through alteration of the employee's working conditions or other forms of harassment. Cartwright Hardware Co. v. NLRB, 600 F.2d 268, 270 (10th Cir. 1979); J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. v. NLRB, 461 F.2d 490, 494 (4th Cir. 1972); NLRB v. Holly Bra of California, Inc., 405 F.2d 870, 872 (9th Cir. 1969). There is at least reasonable cause to believe that Hunter's union activity, and not the quality of her work, motivated her assignment of duties and the insistence that she stand while working. 21 As interim relief, Judge Costantino ordered the employer to offer reinstatement to Hunter and Lyons. The record shows that both employees, particularly Lyons, were active and open union supporters. Their discharges therefore risked a serious adverse impact on employee interest in unionization. In such circumstances, the District Court's order that they be reinstated clearly was just and proper. See Angle v. Sacks, 382 F.2d 655, 661 (10th Cir. 1967); Taylor v. Circo Resorts, Inc., 458 F.Supp. 152, 155 (D.Nev.1978); Seeler v. Williams, 97 LRRM 2764, 2768-69 (N.D.N.Y.1977); Smith v. Old Angus Inc., 82 LRRM 2930, 2937, stay denied, 83 LRRM 2413 (D.Md.1973).