Court Opinion

ID: 9471534
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:34:58.838364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:27.339496
License: Public Domain

BREYER, Circuit Judge,,
dissenting.
I disagree with my brethren because I would interpret the agency’s decision somewhat more generously, and, as so interpreted, it complies with the law. The law in respect to settlement agreements is fairly clear. The Board has the power to set aside an unfair labor practice settlement and impose its own remedy. Indeed, section 10(a) ■ of the N.L.R.A., 29 U.S.C. § 160(a), specifically states that the Board’s power to prevent unfair labor practices “shall not be affected by any other means of adjustment or prevention that has been or may be established by agreement, law or otherwise.” See, e.g., NLRB v. South Central Bell Telephone Co., 688 F.2d 345, 352-54 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, _ U.S. _, 103 S.Ct. 1768, 76 L.Ed.2d 342 (1983); E.L. Wiegand Division v. NLRB, 650 F.2d 463, 467 (3rd Cir.1981) (citing International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers v. NLRB, 328 F.2d 723, 727 (3rd Cir. 1964)), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 939, 102 S.Ct. 1429, 71 L.Ed.2d 649 (1982); Lodge 743, International Association of Machinists v. United Aircraft Corp., 337 F.2d 5, 8 (2d Cir.1964), cert. denied, 380 U.S. 908, 85 S.Ct. 893, 13 L.Ed.2d 797 (1965); NLRB v. Walt Disney Productions, 146 F.2d 44, 48 (9th Cir.1944), cert. denied, 324 U.S. 877, 65 S.Ct. 1025, 89 L.Ed. 1429 (1945). Moreover, the *174Board typically follows my brethren’s advice about how to exercise that power: it explains why, in the particular case, the settlement is inadequate. See, e.g., APD Transport Corp., 253 N.L.R.B. 468 (1980), enforcement denied on other grounds, 672 F.2d 323 (3rd Cir.1982); Clear Haven Nursing Home, 236 N.L.R.B. 853 (1978); Finishline Industries, Inc., 181 N.L.R.B. 756, 758-59 (1970), modified in other respects, 451 F.2d 1280 (9th Cir.1971); Wix Corp., 140 N.L.R.B. 924, 943 (1963), enforcement denied on other grounds, 336 F.2d 824 (4th Cir.1964). But see, e.g., E.L. Wiegand Division, 246 N.L.R.B. 1143, 1149 (1979) (no specific explanation offered), enf’d, 650 F.2d 463 (3rd Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 939, 102 S.Ct. 1429, 71 L.Ed.2d 649 (1982); Wooster Division of Borg-Warner Corp., 121 N.L.R.B. 1492, 1494-95 (1958) (same).
The difficulty in this case arises out of the Board’s failure to give any such explanation and the ALJ’s flat statement that a “Union and an employer may not restrict an individual’s right to reinstatement by negotiating more stringent terms of reinstatement for them than those available under existing law.” Were this statement an accurate account of Board policy, I should agree that the Board should at least have to explain why it has adopted so restrictive a rule. But the ALJ’s statement does not seem to state Board policy accurately. Rather, the Board seems to decide the issue of “settlement supplantation” case by case. See, e.g., United Aircraft Corp., 192 N.L.R.B. 382 (1971), enf’d in part on other grounds, 534 F.2d 422, 451 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 825, 97 S.Ct. 79, 50 L.Ed.2d 87 (1976); Finishline Industries, supra; Ideal Donut Shop, 148 N.L.R.B. 236 (1964), enf’d, 347 F.2d 498 (7th Cir.1965); cf. Spielberg Manufacturing Co., 112 N.L.R.B. 1080 (1955) (identifying factors Board will consider in deciding whether to defer to arbitration of unfair labor practice charges). Thus, the issue here is whether the Board must explain in this case, particularly in light of the ALJ’s overstatement, why it has chosen to set aside the settlement.
I would not remand for such an explanation here for the following, somewhat special, reasons. First, the Board’s past cases come close to governing this one. The Board disfavors settlements that do not involve posting notices of unfair labor practices in order to dissipate the adverse effect of the practices among other employees. See APD Transport Corp., supra; Clear Haven Nursing Home, supra; cf. Jeffco Manufacturing Co., 211 N.L.R.B. 787 (1974), enforcement denied on other grounds, 512 F.2d 1248 (4th Cir.1975). And, the Board does not invariably spell out its reasons for overturning a settlement, particularly when the settlement at issue is of a sort covered by previous cases. See, e.g., E.L. Wiegand Division, supra; Erie Resistor Corp., 132 N.L.R.B. 621, 631 n. 31 (1961), enforcement denied on other grounds, 303 F.2d 359 (3rd Cir.1962), rev’d, 373 U.S. 221, 83 S.Ct. 1139, 10 L.Ed.2d 308 (1963), and enf’d on remand sub nom. International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers v. NLRB, supra; Wooster Division, supra. Thus, there is little chance that, on remand, the Board will reach a different result. This likelihood is made smaller by the evidence in the record that suggests the Union/employer “settlement” explicitly left open the possibility that an employee could reject it and follow his “unfair labor practice” remedy on his own (a matter not discussed by the ALJ).
Second, the parties did not focus the Board’s attention here on the need to explain just why this settlement should not be followed. The employer did not argue that the agreement was a reasonable way to settle an unfair labor practice charge. Rather, it rested its argument on the claim that there was no unfair labor practice— that the employees’ conduct justified the discipline provided. A plausible reading of its briefs, both before the Board and before us, suggests that it thereby came close to conceding that, if the employees’ conduct was protected, the settlement was inadequate. See Brief for Petitioner at 22, 28-29; Appendix at 23-24. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Board, having found the strikers’ conduct protected, did not go on to explain why it set aside the agreement.
ALJ’s and Labor Board members are not computers, automatically recognizing every *175possible legal implication of each fact in a case and plugging in the correct set of cases and precedents without fail. Ordinarily they must rely upon the parties to focus the arguments — and to state their objections clearly. Had the parties here clearly pointed the Board down the right legal track, I should agree that remand was proper. But where the facts, as here, resemble those in other cases in which the Board, providing appropriate reasons, set aside settlements and the employer’s arguments did not directly require an answer that would have explained why the settlement was to be set aside in this instance, I would not remand for further explanation. I would find a “waiver” of any requirement of greater precision. But beneath that finding rests my assumption, grounded in past cases, that the Board simply believed that here the union/employer agreement (if it was meant to bind the employees) was too stringent because (1) it deprived them of some back pay, see, e.g., Finishline Industries, supra; Ideal Donut Shop, supra, (2) it did not provide for notice to other employees, see, eg., APD Transport Corp., supra; Clear Haven Nursing Home, supra, and (3) the employees had no hand in negotiating it, see, eg., APD Transport Corp., supra; cf. Spielberg Manufacturing Corp., supra (limits on deference to arbitration); Wertheimer Stores Corp., 107 N.L.R.B. 1434 (1954) (same). The Board, in my view, has adequate power to set aside the agreement for these reasons.
Nor do I believe the Andrades’ finding affords a sufficient basis for remand. As the majority points out, the issue is whether she threatened guests or singled them out for abuse, or rather simply used foul language over the loudspeaker. The company, in its letter discharging Andrades accused her, among other things, of “acting in a threatening way to prevent the guests of the hotel from entering.” But the witness’ testimony, quoted by the majority here as the only evidence of conduct directed at guests, is ambiguous as to whether Andrades used foul language, threatened guests, or both. On the next page of the transcript, the ALJ asks the witness to focus directly on what Andrades said; the witness describes foul remarks aimed at management, but he says nothing about guests. It seems to me that the ALJ could conclude from this testimony (along with the fact that the employer could have sought to pin the witness down further, but failed to do so, see Golden State Bottling Co. v. NLRB, 414 U.S. 168, 174, 94 S.Ct. 414, 420, 38 L.Ed.2d 388 (1973); Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. United States, 306 U.S. 208, 226, 59 S.Ct. 467, 474, 83 L.Ed. 610 (1939)) that Andrades used bad language concerning hotel staff but that the evidence was inadequate to show that she threatened or harassed guests or “hurled” “stones.” And, the ALJ could reasonably have concluded that the use of epithets against management was not sufficient to place Andrades outside the Labor Act’s protection.
As to both issues, the Board might have done better to have provided more detailed explanation. But given the lack of focus of the parties’ arguments, I do not believe it was legally required to do so.