Justia Labor & Employment Law Opinion Summaries

The company seeks review of the Board's decision and order that the company violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (5). The court rejected the company's challenges to three Board rulings, involving the company’s failure to provide the Union with requested information, its unilateral changes to the grievance procedure under the parties’ collective bargaining agreement (CBA), and its failure to process a discrimination complaint as a grievance. Accordingly, the court denied the petition for review and affirmed the Board's cross-application for enforcement of its decision and order. View "Public Service Company v. NLRB" on Justia Law

Kennedy, a D.C. fireman, had a beard. Department policy required him to shave it. Because of a medical condition, he could not do so without discomfort and infection. The Department refused to accommodate his condition. Kennedy sued, alleging 28 counts, including disability discrimination, arguing that his condition was a “disability” as defined by the Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008. The district court dismissed eight counts resting on that definition. Kennedy appealed that order on an interlocutory basis under 28 U.S.C. 1292(b), which provides an appellate court with jurisdiction to review an interlocutory order “if application is made to it within ten days after the entry of the order.” Kennedy filed a notice of appeal in the district court two days after the court denied reconsideration but waited several weeks before filing his application in the D.C. Circuit. The Circuit Court dismissed, rejecting Kennedy’s argument that the notice of appeal and the order denying reconsideration, both of which were transmitted to the Circuit Court within the statutory period, served the same purpose as an application. Even assuming the “functional equivalent” of an application satisfies section 1292(b) and Rule 5 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, the notice and order here did not meet that description. View "Kennedy v. Bowser" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, a 59-year-old African-American, filed suit alleging that he was improperly terminated by his employer in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.; the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. 1981; and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. 621. The court reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Washington Post. The court concluded that a reasonable jury could find that the Washington Post’s proffered non-discriminatory reason – “willful neglect of duty and insubordination” – “was not the actual reason” for plaintiff's termination. Furthermore, a reasonable jury could conclude that, but for the fact that plaintiff was fifty-nine years old, he would not have been terminated. View "DeJesus v. WP Company LLC" on Justia Law

NCR seeks review of the Board's decision and order that NCR violated section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(5) & (1), when it refused to bargain with the Union after a mail ballot election. The court concluded that the Board did not abuse its discretion in rejecting NCR’s objections to the conduct of the election; NCR’s objections to the election stem from a misreading of the Agreement and Notice, and from a disagreement with the Board’s policy on handling late-received ballots; the Board’s adherence to the parties’ stipulated agreements as to phrasing of the instructions and the ballot count date does not constitute an election irregularity; the Board was under no obligation to discuss the decisions on which NCR relies where the grounds for distinction are readily apparent; and absent an election irregularity resulting from the Board’s conduct of the election, the Board’s disenfranchisement precedent is inapplicable. The court also concluded that the Board’s interpretation, based on the balancing of conflicting interests in affording employees the broadest participation in election proceedings while still protecting against “delay and uncertainty,” is consistent with its precedent. Accordingly, the court denied the petition for review and granted the Board's cross-application for enforcement. View "NCR Corp. v. NLRB" on Justia Law

CalPortland seeks review of the Commission's decision ordering CalPortland to temporarily reinstate Jeffrey Pappas, pursuant to section 105(c)(2) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. 815(c)(2), pending final order on Pappas’s underlying discrimination complaint currently pending before the Commission. The court concluded that the Commission’s order directing CalPortland to hire Pappas is immediately appealable pursuant to the collateral order doctrine. Because the Commission’s temporary reinstatement order satisfies the requirements of the collateral order doctrine, the court has jurisdiction to hear this petition for review. The court also concluded that the text and structure of section 105(c)(2) of the Mine Act preclude the Commission from directing an owner or operator to temporarily “reinstate” a complainant who has never been employed by that owner or operator. Because Pappas was an “applicant for employment” who was not eligible for temporary reinstatement pending final order on his complaint, the court granted CalPortland’s petition for review and vacated the Commission’s decision and order. View "CalPortland Co., Inc. v. MSHR" on Justia Law

Heartland successfully petitioned this court to review the Board's order finding Heartland violated its collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) by failing to bargain over the effects of reducing employee hours. Heartland moves here for an award of attorney fees. Because the Board’s actions go beyond whatever limited justification nonacquiescence may have, the court agreed with Heartland that the Board is guilty of bad faith, granted Heartland’s motion for attorney fees, and awarded it $17,649.00. View "Heartland Plymouth Court v. NLRB" on Justia Law

In 1992, OSHA issued the Process Safety Management Standard to protect the safety of those who work with or near highly hazardous chemicals. After a catastrophic chemical explosion at a Texas fertilizer company that qualified as an exempt retail facility, OSHA narrowed the scope of the retail-facility exemption so that the safety standard’s requirements would now apply to formerly exempt facilities like the Texas plant. Petitioners seek review of OSHA's narrowed definition of retail facilities. The court held that, when an action by OSHA corrects a particular hazard, as opposed to adjusting procedures for detection or enforcement, it amounts to a “standard.” Applying that understanding, the court concluded that the agency’s narrowing of the substantive scope of the exemption for retail facilities qualified as issuance of a “standard.” Therefore, the court has jurisdiction to review it and OSHA was required to adhere to notice-and-comment procedures. Consequently, the court granted the petitions for review and vacated OSHA's action. View "Agricultural Retailers Assoc. v. Dept. of Labor" on Justia Law

After a group of DirecTV employees aired their grievances publicly in an interview with a reporter for a local television news station, DirecTV responded by terminating the employees. The Board found that DirecTV committed an unfair labor practice and ordered the employees reinstated. DirecTV and another company involved in the employees' termination (MasTec), seek review of the Board's decision. DirectTV relies on contractors such as MasTec to install satellite television receivers in subscribers’ homes. The court concluded that the Board acted within its discretion when the Board held that the employees' participation in the news segment was protected concerted activity relating to their ongoing dispute about the new pay policy. In the Board’s view, the technicians’ statements in the interview were neither so disloyal and incommensurate with their labor grievances, nor so maliciously untrue, as to fall outside the protection of the National Labor Relations Act, 20 U.S.C. 157. Accordingly, the court enforced the Board's order. View "DirecTV, Inc. v. NLRB" on Justia Law

After Consolidated disciplined several employees for alleged misconduct during a Union strike and eliminated a workplace position held by a union worker, the Board found that both Consolidated's disciplinary actions and its unilateral elimination of a bargaining-unit position violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(1), (3) and (5). The court enforced the portions of the Board’s order determining that Consolidated’s suspensions of Michael Maxwell and Eric Williamson, as well as the company’s elimination of the bargaining-unit position, violated the Act. The court granted, however, Consolidated’s petition for review and denied cross-enforcement for that portion of the order addressing Consolidated’s discharge of Patricia Hudson, and remanded because the Board applied an erroneous legal standard in evaluating Hudson’s strike misconduct. In this case, Hudson did not engage in misconduct punishable under the Act because the Board’s determination rests on a misapplication of the Clear Pine Mouldings standard and the Burnup & Sims burden of proof. View "Consolidated Commc'ns v. NLRB" on Justia Law

This appeal stems from an ongoing labor dispute between OHL and the Union. After OHL refused to bargain with the Union, the Board determined that OHL violated the National Labor Relations Act, 158(a)(3), (a)(1). OHL petitioned for review. The court concluded that the Board did not err in affirming and adopting the ALJ’s articulation of the controlling legal standard; substantial evidence supports the Board’s findings that OHL employee Jennifer Smith never used the alleged racial slur at issue and that it was unreasonable for OHL to believe that she did; and substantial evidence supports the Board’s determination that OHL’s proffered reasons for firing OHL employee Carolyn Jones were pretextual. The court concluded that OHL's remaining arguments lack merit. Accordingly, the court denied OHL's petitions for review and granted the Board's cross-applications for enforcement. View "Ozburn-Hessey Logistics, LLC v. NLRB" on Justia Law