Opinion ID: 687610
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Christmas Bonus

Text: 10. Thanksgiving Turkey 5 All of these plans shall remain in full force and effect during the term of this Agreement. 6 Consistent with the parties' prior six bargaining agreements, the 1990-1993 Agreement failed to specify a method for calculating the amount of each employee's Christmas bonus. 1 A Company representative, B.F. Wilburn, testified that the parties did not actually discuss the Christmas bonus during the negotiations for the 1990-1993 Agreement and that the subject only arose in conversation on one occasion, when Wilburn commented to Union officials that he disliked Christmas bonuses because rarely did the Company get the recognition during contract negotiations for that type thing. The parties also entered into several Letter Agreements in 1990, addressing a myriad of issues but making no reference to the Christmas bonus. 7 During the previous eighteen years, however, the Company each year had paid its employees a Christmas bonus based on a formula of one hour's pay for each 32-hour week worked, up to a total of 40 hours' pay. Under this formula, each employee had typically received a Christmas bonus of approximately $300 to $400 each year. Furthermore, in March, 1990, shortly after entering into the 1990-1993 Agreement, Bonnell issued an employee handbook to be given to new employees detailing the Company's fringe benefits and stating that the Christmas bonus was calculated in accordance with this formula. In December, 1990, the first Christmas holiday period under the 1990-1993 Agreement, Bonnell paid its employees a Christmas bonus according to the formula employed for the previous eighteen years: one hour's pay for each 32-hour week worked, up to a total of 40 hours' pay. 8 A year later, on November 13, 1991, however, the Company notified its employees that [t]he decision has ... been made to reduce the ... Christmas bonus this year to $100 per employee. On November 15, 1991, the Union advised the Company that it strongly object[ed] to the reduction of the Christmas bonus. Nevertheless, without negotiating to impasse, Bonnell paid each employee a Christmas bonus of $100 for Christmas 1991. The Union filed a grievance over the reduced bonus payment, but the Company refused to arbitrate the dispute. The parties subsequently negotiated to impasse over the amount of the 1992 Christmas bonus, after which Bonnell implemented its final offer by paying its employees a bonus similar to that paid in 1991. 2 9 On July 17, 1992, the Union filed a complaint and notice of hearing against Bonnell with the National Labor Relations Board alleging certain violations of the National Labor Relations Act with respect to the 1991 Christmas bonus. After a hearing on November 6, 1992, an Administrative Law Judge issued a recommended Decision and Order on January 8, 1993, to which both the Union and Bonnell filed exceptions. While the matter was pending before the Board, the Union filed a second complaint on April 22, 1993, alleging similar violations with respect to the 1992 Christmas bonus, after which the Company and the Union filed a joint motion waiving a hearing and requesting a transfer to the Board and a consolidation of the two cases. The Board granted the joint motion on September 16, 1993 and issued a Decision and Order on February 28, 1994, in which it found that Bonnell had violated Sec. 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act by unilaterally reducing the amounts of the contractually mandated employee Christmas bonuses in both 1991 and 1992. Pursuant to 29 U.S.C. Sec. 160, Bonnell filed a petition for review, and the Board subsequently filed a cross-application for enforcement.