Court Opinion

ID: 9497036
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:42:04.083322+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:58.255039
License: Public Domain

FLAUM, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
I am unable to join the majority’s opinion because I conclude that the Board’s acknowledged election irregularity coupled with City Wide’s allegations of resulting irrational voting behavior are sufficient to support a prima facie showing of objectionable conduct, see NLRB v. Service American Corp., 841 F.2d 191, 195 (7th Cir.1988), and that the Board’s conclusion that an evidentiary hearing was not warranted is not supported by substantial evidence, even in light of our deferential standard of review.
The majority suggests that Board precedent recognizes a prima facie showing of objectionable conduct by a Board agent only in two instances; first, when election irregularities have created the potential for employee disenfranchisement or second, when Board agents have engaged in conduct that creates an inference of Board partiality. I do not read Board precedent to be so limited.
The Board charges itself with creating conditions for elections that are as “ideal as possible,” and it commits itself to maintaining that standard by subjecting questionable elections to searching administrative review. General Shoe Corp., 77 NLRB 124, 127 (1948). According to the Board, election conditions have been sufficiently objectionable when, due to Board malfeasance or nonfeasance, the election undermined the employer’s or employees’ confidence in the Board’s capacity to run an fair election. For example, the Board has found that its conduct has fallen below the General Shoe standard when Board agents have unexpectedly shortened the employees’ opportunity to vote. See Nyack Hosp., 288 NLRB 257, 258-59 (1978) (setting aside election because Board agent was over one hour late in opening the polls); Kerona Plastics Extrusion Co., 196 NLRB 1120 (1972) (setting aside election because the Board agent closed the polls early giving rise to prejudice against the employer which “affected votes cast”); B & B Better Baked Foods, Inc., 208 NLRB 493 (1974) (setting aside election because Board agent opened the polls forty minutes late and may have affected the result of the election). Just as a delayed opening or premature closure of the polls suggests that the Board has failed to comport with the General Shoe standard, so should a complete failure to open the polls on the scheduled election day. The result of an abbreviated election is much like that of a cancelled election, in that the Board agent’s unexpected deviation from the election schedule creates uncertainty and the potential for unsubstantiated rumor. Indeed, the harm resulting from the Board’s combined failure to appear for the November 20 election and failure to inform the employees that City Wide was not responsible for the cancellation is strikingly similar to the harm that the Kerona Plastics Extrusion Company claimed resulted from the Board’s premature closure of the polls: “rumors cre,at[ing] an atmosphere of confusion, bias, and prejudice against the Employer, which affected votes case in the [later election].” Kerona Plastics, 196 NLRB at 1120. As the Board acknowledged in Ke-*664rona Plastics, an election conducted in the wake of Board error, where employees are circulating inaccurate rumors of employer wrongdoing, undermines the appearance of a fair election and should be set aside.
City Wide has alleged that the cancellation of the November 20 election engendered suspicion that City Wide had subverted the election process and that rumors led to irrational voting. Further, City Wide has submitted five affidavits testifying to the prejudice City Wide allegedly suffered due to employee confusion regarding the cancellation. Specifically, the branch manager testified in his affidavit that the employees were shocked, confused, and “pissed off’ due to the postponement of the election. The branch manager’s testimony was confirmed by the affidavits of other City Wide employees: Casillas stated that employees were angry about the delay; Dueñas stated that he and 13 other employees were “confused and/or surprised when we did not have a chance to vote.” In their affidavits, Casillas and Rodriguez stated that some employees changed their votes after the first election was postponed. Helm testified in his affidavit that “[i]t is human nature to think that the company somehow fixed the election process.” Additionally, City Wide has proffered that nine other employees would testify to the presence of rumors if the Board ordered an evidentiary hearing.
In my view, if City Wide could establish at an evidentiary hearing that the Board’s failure to inform City Wide’s employees that their employer had not caused the cancellation of the November 20 election had an effect on the outcome of the November 26 election, City Wide would have demonstrated sufficient objectionable conduct to merit the setting aside of the election. See General Shoe Corp., 77 NLRB 124 (1948); B & B Better Baked Foods, Inc., 208 NLRB 493 (1974); Kerona Plastics Extrusion Co., 196 NLRB 1120 (1972). City Wide has met its burden of “rais[ing] substantial and material factual issues” sufficient to support a prima facie showing of objectionable conduct, see 29 CFR § 102.69(d), and it is my opinion that the Board’s conclusion to the contrary is not entitled to our traditional deferential approach.
Finally, I believe that NLRB v. Lovejoy Indus., Inc., 904 F.2d 397 (7th Cir.1990) is not as instructive as the majority suggests. In Lovejoy, the Board found that no election error had occurred; that is, the Board concluded that the employer’s allegations of voter intimidation were insufficient as a matter of law to state a claim for voter intimidation. Id. at 402. In contrast, in this case, the Board has admitted that it failed to hold a scheduled election, and it has further acknowledged that it did not inform City Wide’s employees that their employer was not to blame for the cancellation. Under Board precedent and the law of this Circuit, a failure of a Board agent to inform employee voters of their employer’s blamelessness when Board error has necessitated a new election is an election error meriting that the election results be set aside. NLRB v. Fresh’nd-Aire Co., 226 F.2d 737 (7th Cir.1955). The Board has continued to recognize the potential influence of Board error on the fairness of elections, as is indicated by the Board’s order in this case that “it would be preferable for Regional Offices to include in any notice of rescheduled election a statement that the election has been rescheduled for administrative reasons beyond the control of the employer or the union.” City Wide Insulation of Madison, Inc. d/b/a Builders Insulation, Inc., 338 NLRB 108 (2003). Therefore, it is my judgment that the Board’s finding that City Wide did not allege “substantial and *665material factual issues” sufficient to support a prima facie showing- of objectionable conduct, notwithstanding the Board’s last-minute cancellation of the election and City Wide’s proffered testimony and affidavits attesting to the resulting irrational employee voting, was in error and was not supported by substantial evidence. I respectfully dissent.