Opinion ID: 186589
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Investigate and Progressive Discipline

Text: 39 The Board's final rationale supporting its first-prong decision is that Detroit News both failed to thoroughly investigate the incident leading to Hydorn's suspension and discharge, thereby contravening its own guidelines, and neglected to adhere to its progressive discipline policy. Detroit News, 2004 WL 2203014, at -6. These arguments are red herrings. The Board does its best to paint Taylor's seminar as installing mandatory guidelines for disciplinary review, but that implication is specious. The Board has not cited any agreed-upon termination procedure between the Union and the Company, and puts forth no cogent reason for why Taylor's alleged departure from his written seminar outline is evidence of antiunion animus. Indeed, Detroit News was not obliged to investigate Hydorn's case in any particular way, and further, the Board offers nothing material that the employer would have uncovered had it investigated the matter differently. 40 In addition, there is no evidence that Detroit News promulgated a progressive discipline policy that limited the action that it could take against Hydorn. We made clear in Epilepsy Foundation of Northeast Ohio v. NLRB that 41 [t]he Board does not have authority to regulate all behavior in the workplace and it cannot function as a ubiquitous personnel manager, supplanting its judgment on how to respond to unprotected, insubordinate behavior for those of an employer. It is well recognized that an employer is free to lawfully run its business as it pleases. This means that an employer may discharge an employee for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason, so long as it is not for an unlawful reason. 42 268 F.3d at 1105. 43 In short, the three reasons relied upon by the Board to justify its finding that the General Counsel met its burden under the first prong of Wright Line are not supported by substantial evidence. Without more, they fail to meet the necessary threshold to support a conclusion that antiunion animus was a motivating factor in Hydorn's discharge. 44