Opinion ID: 2807859
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Board’s Analysis of Quietflex Factors

Text: Four and Seven Under the fourth and seventh Quietflex factors, the Board is to consider whether employees had adequate opportunities to present grievances to management, and whether employees were represented or had an established grievance procedure. Analyzing these factors in its 2009 order, the Board erroneously concluded that the procedure Hilton had in place “addressed only individual complaints and not group grievances.” Fortuna, 354 NLRB at 212. We found that conclusion unsupported by the record, and remanded the matter to the Board to reconsider these factors in light of our holding that the employees had access to Hilton’s “open door” policy, which served as “an established procedure for handling ‘group grievances.’” Fortuna, 665 F.3d at 1302. On remand, the Board found that factor four (opportunity to present grievances to management) weighs slightly in favor of protection given “the context of the repeated assurances given the employees by Samayoa and other managers that they were trying to contact Coonley and Cook on the employees’ behalf.” Fortuna, 2014 WL 2448880, at . The Board gave factor seven (existence of established grievance procedure) “due weight, but not decisive weight.” Id. The Board concluded that the existence of an established grievance 15 procedure is but one factor in the analysis, which may be outweighed by competing factors. See id. Fortuna contends that the Board erred in its analysis of factors four and seven, and the Board failed to give proper weight to the Hilton’s “open door” policy. As Fortuna argues, “[b]ecause an established grievance procedure allows employees to exercise their Section 7 rights without infringing upon the employer’s private property rights, the existence of such a grievance procedure weighs heavily against protecting an on-site work stoppage.” Fortuna Br. 24. Fortuna points to Cone Mills Corp. v. NLRB, 413 F.2d 445 (4th Cir. 1969), and Cambro Manufacturing Co., 312 NLRB 634 (1993), as examples of cases where “on-site work stoppages were held not to be protected in large part because the employees failed to take advantage of an effective existing grievance procedure.” Fortuna Br. 25 (emphasis in original). Fortuna maintains that the employees could have addressed their concerns through availing themselves of the open door policy, or through an off-site strike; either action would have addressed their concerns while respecting the private property interests of Fortuna. Fortuna further contends that the Board erred when it concluded that factor four weighed in favor of protection. In considering this factor, the Board relied on the assurances by management that Coonley or Cook might speak with the gathered employees. This, Fortuna argues, contradicts our statement that Fortuna “had no obligation to inform the employees in the cafeteria that it would hear and consider their concerns in the future.” Fortuna, 665 F.3d at 1302. Fortuna’s argument does not succeed. The Board addressed the terms of the remand and came to a reasoned conclusion that other “factors, taken together, substantially outweigh the significance of the availability of a grievance 16 procedure in the circumstances of this case.” Fortuna, 2014 WL 2448880, at . Nothing in the National Labor Relations Act, the Quietflex test, or judicial and Board opinions analyzing on-site work stoppages mandates that the existence of an alternative group grievance procedure prevails over the other Quietflex factors. On remand, the Board carefully distinguished Cone Mills and Cambro, id. at , showing that the existence of an established grievance procedure was not decisive in those cases, but that “the tribunals relied on a combination of factors in concluding that the work stoppages at issue were unprotected,” id. at . It is true that management “had no obligation to inform the employees in the cafeteria that it would hear and consider their concerns in the future.” Fortuna, 665 F.3d at 1302. The Board’s consideration of factor four, however, was not premised on management’s failure to notify the employees “that a meeting with senior managers was not immediately possible” or failure to offer “a future opportunity to meet.” Id. It was premised on the repeated assurances by Samayoa and other managers that they were reaching out to Coonley and Cook. The Board reasonably determined that “[t]he employees thus reasonably believed that Coonley or Cook might yet meet with them” and this “belief demonstrably contributed to the employees’ decision to persist in the work stoppage for as long as they did.” Fortuna, 2014 WL 2448880, at . This conclusion does not contradict anything in our prior opinion, and there is substantial evidence in the record demonstrating that Hilton management repeatedly assured the gathered employees that there were ongoing efforts to reach Coonley and Cook. See id. at –. While Hilton management had no affirmative obligation to promise a future meeting (or inform employees that there would be no such meeting), once Hilton management induced the gathering employees to stay in the cafeteria with the 17 implication that a meeting was possible, this inducement may favor protection. The Board complied with our remand, and came to a reasoned conclusion supported by substantial evidence, in its analysis of factors four and seven.