Opinion ID: 185134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Board's Remedies

Text: 41 The Board's remedies on behalf of the Union and the unit employees who were adversely affected by Vincent's ULPs included a cease-and-desist order, reinstatement and back pay for the employees who were unlawfully terminated, and an affirmative bargaining order. The Company challenges all of the remedies imposed by the Board on the grounds that the employer did not commit any ULPs. As noted above, we reject this contention as meritless. The Company argues further, however, that even if the Board did not err in finding the aforecited ULPs, there was no basis for the Board to issue an affirmative bargaining order against Vincent. The Company's argument on this point is well taken. 42 The Board approved the ALJ's recommended remedy of an affirmative bargaining order with little explanation. The closest the ALJ came to justifying the order was to observe that the serious and egregious misconduct shown here[ ] demonstrates a general disregard for fundamental rights guaranteed employees by Section 7 of the Act. Vincent Indus., 1999 WL 282397, at . This will not do. This court repeatedly has reminded the Board that an affirmative bargaining order is an extreme remedy that must be justified by a reasoned analysis that includes an explicit balancing of three considerations: (1) the employees' S 7 rights; (2) whether other purposes of the Act override the rights of employees to choose their bargaining representatives; and (3) whether alternative remedies are adequate to remedy the violations of the Act. See Skyline Distribs., 99 F.3d at 410.There is no such reasoned analysis in the instant case. 43 Instead, the Board's counsel was forced to conjure up an argument in an effort to bolster the Board's unsupported position. According to counsel, the Boardneed not justify the imposition of a bargaining order in two types of cases: where the employer has unlawfully withdrawn recognition from the Union; and, as a subset of the first class, where there are explicit Master Slack findings demonstrating a causal connection between unremedied ULPs and a withdrawal of recognition. See Br. for NLRB at 47-55. Counsel's argument in defense of this position was inspired and thoughtful, albeit in vain. The problem here is that counsel's argument is nowhere to be found in the orders under review, so we cannot ascribe it to the Board. The argument therefore constitutes a post hoc rationalization, which carries no weight on review. See International Union of Petroleum & Indus. Workers v. NLRB, 980 F.2d 774, 781 (D.C. Cir. 1992). 44 The Board's stubborn refusal to accept this circuit's position on affirmative bargaining orders is perplexing, for it merely undermines the Board's purported goal of protecting workers against employer violations of the Act. Board decisions, like those from other administrative agencies, are entitled to deference. However, once a court has issued a legal ruling on a disputed issue, the Board is bound to follow the court's judgment unless and until it is reversed by the Supreme Court. The Board, no doubt, will plead innocence, claiming that circuit courts often take different positions on certain legal issues, so the Board is free to adopt a course most to its liking within a maze of disparate courts of appeals judgments. In addition, as counsel pointed out during oral argument in this case, the Board sometimes has no clear idea where a petition for review will be filed, so it cannot always guess right in deciding what circuit law to follow. This latter point is a fair rebuttal, but it is shortsighted in a case such as the instant one. What is so troubling about this case, and others like it, is that the Board could easily follow the law of the D.C. Circuit--i.e., give a reasoned analysis to support an affirmative bargaining order--without ever transgressing the law of any other circuit. Some other circuits may not require as much as does the D.C. Circuit with respect to what is required to justify an affirmative bargaining order, but no circuit will reject a bargaining order if the Board justifies it as this court requires. 45 What is ultimately dissatisfying about this familiar dance is not a sense that this court's institutional integrity is undermined by the Board's refusal to modify its behavior in response to operant conditioning, but that those left in the lurch are precisely those who, in this case, sought protection from the Board. As a result of the Board's failure to justify the imposition of an affirmative bargaining order, relief for the employees represented by the Union will be that much further delayed. Three years passed between the ALJ's decision and the Board's decision upholding the ALJ. Another year has passed since the issuance of the Board decision here on review. We now remand to the Board for an undetermined amount of time. As the Board well knows, in the context of employee representation and collective bargaining, relief delayed under the Act may be relief denied. This makes little sense where, as here, the Board can easily satisfy the commands of this circuit's law without running amok because of a split in the law of the circuits. The Board may persist in its stubbornness, but that will not dissuade this court from fulfilling its role on behalf of parties seeking judicial review. As we have said before when remanding to the Board to justify an affirmative bargaining order, [w]e persist not out of pique but from a sense that it is our duty to ensure that the Board adheres to its statutory mandate. Caterair Int'l v. NLRB, 22 F.3d 1114, 1123 (D.C. Cir. 1994).