Opinion ID: 332960
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Timeliness of Filing the Charges.

Text: 7 The preliminary issue raised on this appeal is whether the Company's charge was filed with the Board and served upon the Union within six months of the occurrence of the unfair labor practices as required by § 10(b) of the NLRA. 2 The activities which gave rise to the unfair labor practices occurred on October 17, 1973. The charge was filed with the Board on April 16, 1974, and was sent to the Union by registered mail 3 on April 17. The charge was received by the Union on April 18. The statute is clear in providing that a charge must not only be filed, it must also be served within the prescribed six month period. Old Colony Box Co., 81 N.L.R.B. 1025, 1027 (1949). It is conceded by the parties that the six month period in this case expired on April 17. We are therefore confronted with an issue of first impression in the federal courts--is service pursuant to § 10(b) effective upon mailing the charge by registered mail or is actual receipt of the charge by the respondent necessary. 8 The Union and the Intervenor, Builders Association of Kansas City, contend that the purpose of the 'service' provision is to impart 'actual notice' to the respondent. Therefore, it is alleged that the date of service is the date the charges are received by the respondent. This approach would obviously compel a dismissal of the charge in the present case as being untimely served. 9 The Board alleges that service is effective on the date the charge is mailed to the respondent. Its support for this proposition is derived primarily from its own rules of practice which provide that '(t)he date of service shall be the day when the matter served is deposited in the United States mail or is delivered in person, as the case may be.' 29 C.F.R. § 102.113(a) (1975). Although the Board initially deferred ruling on the issue of whether service was effective on the date of mailing or date of receipt, Luzerne Hide and Tallow Co., 89 N.L.R.B. 989, 990 (1950), it has recently committed itself in adjudicatory proceedings to the principle that service is effective upon mailing as embodied in § 102.113(a) of its rules of practice. Dow Chemical Co., 215 N.L.R.B. No. 139 (1974). The central point of dispute between the parties is whether § 102.113(a) is valid and is to be given effect. 10 The Board is vested with authority to promulgate rules and regulations which 'may be necessary to carry out the provisions of (the NLRA).' 29 U.S.C. § 156. When a party assumes the burden of attempting to nullify a Board rule, he must illustrate that the rule fails to comport with the statutory language and congressional policy of the NLRA. See Wallace Corp. v. N.L.R.B., 323 U.S. 248, 254--55, 65 S.Ct. 238, 89 L.Ed. 216 (1944); N.L.R.B. v. May Department Stores Co., 154 F.2d 533, 536 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 329 U.S. 725, 67 S.Ct. 72, 91 L.Ed. 627 (1946). The Board's broad discretion to establish procedures and safeguards is not to be disturbed unless a rule instituted pursuant to this authority is shown to be 'without justification in law or in reason.' N.L.R.B. v. A. J. Tower Co., 329 U.S. 324, 332, 67 S.Ct. 324, 329, 91 L.Ed. 322 (1946). We review the rule in question, in light of the clear and implicit intendment of the statutory provisions, and assess whether the Board's action in promulgating the rule extended beyond the parameters of permissible administrative latitude. 11 The legislative history of § 10(b) is relatively unenlightening on the issue of when service is effective. The NLRA, popularly characterized as the Wagner Act, was approved by Congress in 1935. Act of July 5, 1935, ch. 372, 49 Stat. 449. The Wagner Act created the National Labor Relations Board and § 10(b) of the Act empowered the Board to issue complaints and conduct hearings upon receiving a charge that a person had committed an unfair labor practice. The major infirmity in this particular provision of the Act was its failure to specify a time limitation within which a charge must be filed. Consequently, inordinate delays between the occurrence of an unfair labor practice and the filing of the charge were often condoned. Phelps Dodge Corp. v. N.L.R.B., 113 F.2d 202, 206 (2d Cir. 1940), modified on other grounds, 313 U.S. 177, 61 S.Ct. 845, 85 L.Ed. 1271 (1941). This procedural deficiency was recognized and corrected by Congress with the passage in 1947 of the Taft-Hartley Act. Act of June 23, 1947, ch. 120, 61 Stat. 136. Section 10(b) of the Wagner Act was amended to add the following proviso: 12 Provided, That no complaint shall issue based upon any unfair labor practice occurring more than six months prior to the filing of the charge with the Board and the service of a copy thereof upon the person against whom such charge is made   . 13 This amendment was deemed necessary by Congress due to the realization that, as a practical matter, '(t)here must be a limitation as to time' in filing unfair labor practice charges. 93 Cong.Rec. 4411 (1947) (remarks of Senator Smith). The six month statute of limitation is intended 'to bar litigation over past events 'after records have been destroyed, witnesses have gone elsewhere, and recollections of the events in question have become dim and confused. Local 1424, International Association of Machinists v. N.L.R.B., 362 U.S. 411, 419, 80 S.Ct. 822, 828, 4 L.Ed.2d 832, 839 (1960), quoting H.R.Rep.No.245, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 40 (1947); accord, N.L.R.B. v. Colonial Press, Inc., 509 F.2d 850, 854 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 833, 96 S.Ct. 56, 46 L.Ed.2d 51 (1975). 14 The six month limitation applies only to the filing of the charge, not to the issuance of the complaint by the General Counsel. 4 The charge only serves the purpose of setting in motion the investigative processes of the Board. N.L.R.B. v. Fant Milling Co., 360 U.S. 301, 307, 79 S.Ct. 1179, 3 L.Ed.2d 1243 (1959). After the charge is filed, the respondent is usually contacted a number of times before formal proceedings are initiated with the issuance of the complaint. The charging party is vested with primary responsibility for serving the charge upon the respondent. However, the Board also serves the respondent as a matter of course. 29 C.F.R. §§ 101.4,102.14 (1975). After filing and service of the charge, the Board initiates its investigation and will generally notify the respondent and ask him to express his position regarding the allegations in the charge. 29 C.F.R. § 101.4. If the Board finds that the charge has merit, informal conferences between the charging party and respondent are generally conducted to seek a compromise or settlement. 29 C.F.R. § 101.7 (1975). It is only after these informal means have failed to resolve the unfair labor practice charge that the General Counsel may decide to initiate more formal adjudicatory proceedings with the issuance of a complaint. 15 Although limitation questions involving one or a few days invariably pose difficult decisions that bring into focus competing equitable and legal principles, we think that the Board's rule prescribing the date of mailing as the date of service is a valid and reasonable exercise of the Board's authority to promulgate rules to implement the NLRA. The rule is at least a permissible interpretation for the Board to make in adopting uniform procedures for the proper and fair administration of the Act. From the foregoing it is clear that the respondent will not be prejudiced if the charge is actually received by it a short period of time after the six month period expires. There is no deprivation of any rights since the filing and service of the charge are following only by informal investigative and settlement procedures. The respondent is afforded several opportunities to be notified immediately after the charges are filed against him. Therefore, no prejudice to the respondent inheres in the procedure adopted by the Board. 16 A rule designating that service is effective on the date of mailing permits the charging party and the Board to effectively control the time and means of service and to gain some assurance that the charge has been actually served within the six month period. Imposing a requirement that the date of receipt constitutes the date of service would create difficulties of proof and would leave service to the vicissitudes and uncertainty of mail service. Obvious and egregious unfair labor practices may go unremedied merely because a charge is rendered untimely due to a minimal and unanticipated delay in the delivery of the charge to the respondent. The establishment of such a requirement might impede access to the machinery of the NLRA since the Board is powerless to remedy unfair labor practices unless a timely charge is filed and served. Restricting access to the Board results in a substantial interference with the broad and remedial purposes of the NLRA. See N.L.R.B. v. Industrial Union of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers, 391 U.S. 418, 424, 88 S.Ct. 1717, 20 L.Ed.2d 706 (1968); Nash v. Florida Industrial Commission, 389 U.S. 235, 238, 88 S.Ct. 362, 19 L.Ed.2d 438 (1967). In the absence of an explicit statutory provision as to when service is effective, the Board may prescribe any rule which is consistent with the statutory purpose and is sufficient to give all parties a fair hearing. See Wallace Corp. v. N.L.R.B., 323 U.S. 248, 254--55, 65 S.Ct. 238, 89 L.Ed. 216 (1944); General Motors Corp. v. N.L.R.B., 222 F.2d 349, 351 (5th Cir. 1955). Section 102.113(a) satisfies both of these requirements. 5 17 The procedural rule adopted by the Board in § 102.113(a) is not novel or unique since it has been explicitly sanctioned in a number of other contexts. Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(b) provides that '(s)ervice by mail is complete upon mailing.' Frierson v. McIntyre, 151 F.Supp. 5 (W.D.Va.1953). Congress has incorporated this rule into various statutory schemes. 15 U.S.C. § 1312(e)(3) (1970) (Antitrust Civil Process); 49 U.S.C. § 1485(c) (1970) (Federal Aviation Program). Moreover, a number of administrative agencies have adopted rules which specify that the date of mailing will constitute the date of service. 6 18 Conceptually, the Board's ruling is in harmony with the practice of many states which provides for the tolling of a statute of limitations by the filing of a suit, the issuance of a summons and delivery of the summons to the proper official with directions for service. E.g., Ark.Stat.Ann. § 27--301 (1962). See generally Annot., 28 A.L.R.2d 236, 243, 258--67 (1953). Iowa, which formerly had adopted the rule that civil actions are commenced only when process is served upon the defendant, Iowa R.Civ.P. 48, 7 had followed the same rationale by permitting the mere delivery of the summons to the serving officer to toll the statute even though actual service had not been consummated before the expiration of the limitation period. Iowa R.Civ.P. 49; see N.D.R.Civ.P. 3; N.D.Cent.Code Ann. § 28--01--38 (1974). See generally Annot., 29 A.L.R.2d 236, 299--304 (1953). It is clear that the drafters of § 10(b) of the NLRA intended the six month provision to be a statute of limitations and not a restriction on the jurisdictional powers of the Board. A. H. Belo Corp. v. N.L.R.B., 411 F.2d 959, 966 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. denied,396 U.S. 1007, 90 S.Ct. 561, 24 L.Ed.2d 498 (1970). It therefore appears reasonable and permissible for the Board to conclude that the mailing of the charge to the respondent constitutes service at least for the purpose of tolling the statute of limitations. 19 We conclude that the charge was timely served under the Board's rules and that this action is not barred by the six month statute of limitations. We now consider the Union's other assignments of error. 20