Opinion ID: 717843
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Removal of Union Material

Text: 32 Although the Act does not create a right of access to employer bulletin boards, Container Corp. of America, 244 NLRB 318 n. 2 (1979), enf'd in part, 649 F.2d 1213 (6th Cir.1981), once an employer by policy or practice, ... permits employee access to its bulletin boards for any purpose, section 7 of the Act ... secures the employees' right to post union or other organizational materials. Union Carbide Corp. v. NLRB, 714 F.2d 657, 660-61 (6th Cir.1983). Accord NLRB v. Challenge-Cook Bros. of Ohio, Inc., 374 F.2d 147, 153 (6th Cir.1967). Accordingly, an employer's discriminatory removal of union notices from the bulletin board violates section 8(a)(1) of the Act. Union Carbide Corp. v. NLRB, 714 F.2d at 661; Challenge-Cook Bros. of Ohio, Inc., 374 F.2d at 153. 33 In the instant case, it is undisputed that Supervisor Schlichting removed several union fliers from a company bulletin board while leaving antiunion material undisturbed. Despite this fact, AutoZone asserts that by reposting the material with an apology within three hours effectively cured any unlawful infringement of employees' section 7 rights. 34 The Board's standard for effective repudiation is set forth in Passavant Memorial Hospital, 237 NLRB 138 (1978). For a repudiation to be effective, it must be timely, unambiguous, specific in nature to the coercive conduct, and free from other proscribed illegal conduct. In addition, adequate publication of the repudiation to the employees is required, and there must be no proscribed conduct by the employer after the publication. Id. at 138-39. 35 In the instant case, AutoZone's conduct failed to meet the Passavant standards. The record lacks any evidence of AutoZone's giving the employees any assurances that it would not engage in any future interference with their statutory rights. Moreover, AutoZone did not refrain from such proscribed conduct. Instead, AutoZone engaged in further unlawful conduct, including a gag rule prohibiting discussion of unions along with a series of coercive threats of retaliation in the event of unionization. 36 AutoZone argues that the Board should have applied the test as set forth in Atlantic Forest Products, 282 NLRB 855 (1987). In Atlantic Forest Products the Board found that even if the Passavant test was not satisfied, an action that would otherwise have been a breach could be cured. Id. In the Atlantic case, the court relied on six factors: (1) only three employees were told of the restriction, (2) remedial action was taken within one half to three hours, (3) employees were told that it was a mistake to impose the regulation, (4) there was no evidence of further violations, (5) a supervisor testified that he understood that lawful solicitation could occur, and (6) the event occurred on the first day the notice was posted. Id. at 872. 37 AutoZone's timely replacement and apology of the union material, however, still does not satisfy the conditions in Atlantic Forest. Unlike the employer in Atlantic Forest, AutoZone did not convey to employees that it recognized that its behavior was improper. Further, an undetermined number of employees were affected. Finally, AutoZone's behavior did not change after the remedial action. Therefore, the violation was not cured because AutoZone's behavior can be distinguished from the employer in both Atlantic Forest and Passavant. 38