sustaining ALJ’s finding of employer knowledge of union activities on the basis of evidence that "the employees’ discussions about union representation occurred in the main room of the small manufacturing facility during the workday with no real efforL made to conceal these conversations from management and supervisory personnel” and on the basis of the timing of the terminations
How later courts described this case
- sustaining ALJ’s finding of employer knowledge of union activities on the basis of evidence that "the employees’ discussions about union representation occurred in the main room of the small manufacturing facility during the workday with no real efforL made to conceal these conversations from management and supervisory personnel” and on the basis of the timing of the terminations
- affirming the National Labor Relations Board's decision rejecting supervisory status, in part, on the basis that the company's assessment of supervisory status would result in a ratio of one supervisor to two or three employees, which was "'clearly out of balance'"
- rapid replacement of discharged employees, “despite continued economic problems, ... supports a finding that financial woes were not the reason for the discharge”
- one supervisor for every “two or three” employees at a cabinet manufacturer is “clearly out of balance”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part.
I would enforce the Board’s order as to Fox as well as Jacobs and Cox. The record supports the Board’s view that the same anti-union animus that led to the firing of the other two also led the company to fire Fox. Fox had received a raise for his work shortly before being fired. The decision to fire him and the others was made suddenly in mid-week. The faulty welding work on which the company expressly relied occurred the day after the decision to fire him was made. There was evidence of a substantial nature from which the Board could find that all three firings were prompted by anti-union views and that the reasons asserted were pretextual.