Opinion ID: 392983
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Background Facts

Text: 2 Klingler operates a plant in Jackson, Mississippi, to produce electronic wiring boards. The production and maintenance employees at this plant were not represented by a union prior to May 1978, when the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO-CLC (the Union) filed a representation petition with the NLRB, seeking an election for a bargaining unit made up of these employees. 3 At the formal representation hearing held on June 15, 1978, Klingler argued that eight leadperson employees are actually supervisory staff and, therefore, should be excluded from the bargaining unit because they are not employees protected by §§ 8(a)(1) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act). 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1) & (3). Each department of Klingler's plant has one leadperson who exercises a loose and somewhat informal supervision over the ten to twenty employees within the department. The duties of each leadperson vary greatly between the departments and personalities involved, but a leadperson typically receives instructions and design specifications from a Klingler plant supervisor and then assigns employees within his or her department to implement those instructions. At all other times a leadperson usually fills a manufacturing position identical to the other employees within his or her department. 4 The NLRB's acting regional director issued a decision and direction of election on June 30, 1978, finding that the eight leadpersons were not supervisory employees as defined by § 2(11) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 152(11), and scheduling the union election for July 28, 1978. Klingler filed a request with the Board for review of the acting regional director's decision. On the day before the election, the NLRB notified Klingler by telegram that a substantial issue is raised concerning the supervisory status of the eight leadmen. Rather than delay the election, however, the Board chose to allow the leadpersons to vote under challenge, which would allow Klingler to exclude the votes if it subsequently prevailed on this issue. The election was held on schedule and resulted in 32 votes in favor of the Union, 15 against, and 9 challenged ballots. 5 Shortly after the election, Klingler filed timely objections with the Board, claiming that several factors and incidents had destroyed the validity of the election. 1 The acting regional director conducted an administrative investigation of these objections pursuant to the Board's own rules and regulations. No formal hearing was held, but both parties were given full opportunity to submit evidence. Klingler offered several employees to give affidavits, including two plant supervisors and some of the disputed leadpersons. The acting regional director allowed counsel for Klingler to attend the taking of the affidavits from the plant supervisors, but not from the other employees. The acting regional director then took several other affidavits either at the request of the Union or on his own initiative. 6 On September 26, 1978, the acting regional director issued a supplemental decision and certification of the Union, overruling all of Klingler's objections to the election. It bears emphasis that this administrative investigation of Klingler's post-election objections and challenges sought only to determine whether Klingler had raised factual issues that justified a hearing on those challenges. Klingler had the burden of raising specific factual issues that, if proven, could invalidate the election, but all credibility questions were to be resolved in favor of Klingler in deciding whether a hearing was called for. NLRB v. Singleton Packing Corp., 418 F.2d 275, 280 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 824, 91 S.Ct. 47, 27 L.Ed.2d 53 (1970). The acting regional director concluded that it was not. Klingler asked the NLRB to review this supplemental decision, and the Board granted that request in relation to the supervisory status of the leadpersons and their conduct during the election. The Board instructed the acting regional director to investigate all aspects of this objection, accept new evidence from the parties, and issue a second supplemental decision setting forth the new evidence and transferring the case back to the Board for decision. 7 The acting regional director conducted this second investigation on January 3 and 4, 1979, taking additional affidavits on the same terms as the earlier investigation. On January 25, 1979, he issued a second supplemental decision based on this investigation. The decision reviewed the relevant evidence, concluded that the leadpersons were not supervisory employees, and recommended that Klingler's objections be entirely overruled. The Board reviewed the record forwarded by the acting regional director and issued its own decision on May 31, 1979. The decision adopted the findings and recommendations of the acting regional director and certified the Union as the exclusive representative of Klingler employees in the unit. 8 In order to force a review of the Board's decision by this court, Klingler still refused to negotiate with the Union. Accordingly, the Union filed an unfair labor practices charge with the NLRB and the general counsel of the NLRB moved for summary judgment. Klingler responded to the motions by admitting the refusal to bargain and asserting as an affirmative defense its earlier objections to the election. 2 The Board found that all of these issues had been litigated in the previous representation proceedings and, therefore, ordered Klingler to bargain with the Union. It is our responsibility to decide whether to grant enforcement to the Board's order under § 10(e) of the Act. 29 U.S.C. § 160(e). 3 9