Opinion ID: 442901
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Necessity for a Hearing

Text: 21 Cassidy argues that the Regional Director should have ordered a hearing because there was conflicting evidence concerning the Union's observer's contact with the two employees. 22 A party challenging a representation election is entitled to an evidentiary hearing only when it raises substantial and material factual issues and proffers evidence that establishes a prima facie case for setting aside an election. NLRB v. Howard Johnson Motor Lodge, 705 F.2d 932, 934 (7th Cir.1983); Advertisers Manufacturing Co. v. NLRB, 677 F.2d 544, 546 (7th Cir.1982); cf. Board Rules and Regulations, 29 C.F.R. Sec. 102.69(d) (1984). 23 As our discussion of Cassidy's objections to the election indicates, we do not believe that it ever established a prima facie case that the election should be overturned. Nor did Cassidy, in its exceptions to the Regional Director's report, object to the Director's findings of fact, as distinguished from his legal conclusions. See Magic Pan, Inc. v. NLRB, 627 F.2d 105, 109 (7th Cir.1980); Louis-Allis Co. v. NLRB, 463 F.2d 512, 520 (7th Cir.1972). 24 Moreover, the factual disputes raised by Cassidy in this court clearly show that no substantial and material dispute exists. Cassidy claims there is a dispute about whether the observer actually spoke to the first employee; however, the Regional Director assumed that he had spoken to the employee in making his findings. Cassidy also argues that the extent of the observer's contact with the second employee is unclear. The only inconsistency in the record concerning the second employee was whether the employee, or someone else, asked the observer to get the soft drink. Since the observer's conduct could only have been objectionable if he in fact talked to the employee, 4 the Regional Director assumed that he had done so in making his findings. Thus, all conflicts in the evidence were resolved in favor of the employer's position. Cassidy was not entitled to a hearing.B. Board's Review of the Evidence 25 Cassidy argues that because the Regional Director did not forward the affidavits upon which he relied to the Board, the Board abused its discretion in adopting the Director's report. In urging that we deny enforcement on this ground, Cassidy relies on our decision in NLRB v. Allis-Chalmers, 680 F.2d 1166 (7th Cir.1982), in which we denied enforcement of an NLRB order founded on a Regional Director's ex parte investigation where the Board had not seen the evidence relied on by the Director. Under the Board's former regulations in effect at the time we decided Allis-Chalmers, if the Regional Director determined that no hearing was necessary, he was not required to transmit any of the evidentiary material he considered in reaching his conclusions. Since Allis-Chalmers, and in response to similar decisions by the courts of appeals, the Board has amended its regulations by clarifying the contents of the record and the duties of the parties in no-hearing cases. See 29 C.F.R. Sec. 102.69. The parties in this case are governed by the amended regulations. Section 102.69(g)(1)(ii) now provides for the inclusion in the record in no-hearing cases of documents relied on by the Regional Director, other than witnesses' statements. Witness statements still are excluded from the record materials considered by the Board unless supplied by the parties under Sec. 102.69(g)(3). If an objecting party wishes the Board to review affidavits and other materials it has submitted, it may do so by appending them to its objections. By this method, the parties may supplement the record before the Board with any and all materials previously submitted to the Director. As the Board explained in Summa Corp., 265 N.L.R.B. 343 (1982), aff'd mem. sub nom. NLRB v. Summa Corp., 734 F.2d 21 (9th Cir.1984): 26 The burden is on the objecting party to demonstrate to the Board that the evidence it submitted to the regional director, if credited, would warrant setting aside the election, and that the regional director in the decision overruling the objections resolved substantial and material issues of fact without conducting a hearing. In the absence of such a demonstration we are entitled to rely on the regional director's report or decision, for the material facts in such circumstances are undisputed .... Thus, a regional director's determination that a hearing is unnecessary is a finding that there are no substantial and material issues presented, and our adoption or rejection of this determination rests solely on whether the objecting party has identified evidence to the contrary. 27 Id. at 343-44 (citations omitted). As the Fourth Circuit has recognized, the Board's new regulations put the parties on notice that the affidavits received in the Regional Director's administrative investigation are not part of the record, and that it is the responsibility of the objecting party to file supporting affidavits with the Board. National Posters, Inc. v. NLRB, 720 F.2d 1358 (4th Cir.1983). 5 28 Cassidy did not avail itself of the Board's procedures for supplementing the record. Its objections to the Regional Director's report, moreover, do not contest any of the factual findings of the Director, nor did Cassidy at that time make any claim that the Director erred in not holding a hearing to resolve disputed factual issues. It merely contested the Regional Director's application of Board precedent to the facts found. To require the Board to review the affidavits collected by the Regional Director in a case such as this would force the Board to assume the objecting party's burden and conduct a 'fishing expedition' into the investigatory file for evidence which the objecting party has failed to identify. Summa Corp., supra, at 344. See NLRB v. Michigan Rubber Products, 738 F.2d 111 (6th Cir.1984) (no prejudice from failure to forward record to Board where employer's objections even if true present insufficient grounds for setting aside election). Accordingly, we hold that the Board did not err in adopting the Regional Director's report without reviewing the affidavits.