American Baptist Homes of the West v. National Labor Relations Board

858 F.3d 612, 2017 WL 2429380, 209 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3101, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 9970
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJune 6, 2017
Docket15-1445 Consolidated with 15-1501
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 858 F.3d 612 (American Baptist Homes of the West v. National Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Baptist Homes of the West v. National Labor Relations Board, 858 F.3d 612, 2017 WL 2429380, 209 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3101, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 9970 (D.C. Cir. 2017).

Opinion

GARLAND, Chief Judge:

American Baptist Homes of the West, which does business under the name Piedmont Gardens, fired a nursing assistant after an internal investigation into allegations that he was sleeping on the job. The assistant’s union requested the names, titles, and statements of witnesses involved in the investigation. Piedmont Gardens refused ■ to provide the requested information.

The dispute then became the subject of an unfair labor practice proceeding before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Board ultimately determined that Piedmont Gardens violated the National Labor Relations Act by withholding certain of the requested information, and it ordered the employer to produce that information to the union and refrain from violating the Act in the same manner in the future. Piedmont Gardens petitioned this court for review, and the Board filed a cross-application for enforcement of its order.

I

Under the National Labor Relations Act, an employer’s duty to bargain with the representative of its employees includes the obligation “to provide information that is needed by the bargaining representative for the proper performance of its duties.” NLRB v. Acme Indus. Co., 385 U.S. 432, 435-36, 87 S.Ct. 565, 17 L.Ed.2d 495 (1967). In determining whether an employer is required to turn over information like witness names, the Board applies the Detroit Edison test, under which it balances the union’s need for the information against the employer’s “legitimate and substantial” confidentiality interests. Detroit Edison Co. v. NLRB, 440 U.S. 301, 315, 318-20, 99 S.Ct. 1123, 59 L.Ed.2d 333 (1979); see Oil, Chem. & Atomic Workers Local Union v. NLRB, 711 F.2d 348, 354 (D.C. Cir. 1983). Applying Detroit Edison in this case, the Board concluded that Piedmont Gardens violated the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (5), by refusing to provide the names and titles of. three individuals who said they witnessed the nursing assistant sleeping on duty. Am. Baptist Homes, 362 N.L.R.B. No. 139, at *8 (2015). Piedmont Gardens does not appeal that determination.

Witness statements are another matter. In Anheuser-Busch, Inc., the Board held that an employer’s “general obligation to honor requests for information” from a union “does not encompass the duty to furnish witness statements themselves.” 237 N.L.R.B. 982, 984-85 (1978) (internal quotation marks omitted). Applying the Anheuser-Busch rule to the witness statements in this case, the Board concluded that Piedmont Gardens’ refusal to produce the statements of two of the witnesses did *614 not violate the Act because the statements were exempt from disclosure under that rule. 362 N.L.R.B. No. 139, at *8. That determination is also unchallenged on appeal.

At issue on this appeal are the statements of a third witness, charge nurse Lynda Hutton. With respect to Piedmont Gardens’ refusal to produce those statements, the Board found that the company violated the Act because they were not “witness statements within the meaning of Anheuser-Busch.” Id. at *1. That was so, the Board said, because Hutton’s statements “were not provided under an assurance of confidentiality.” Id. at *9. Rather, she “gave the statements because it was one of her job duties to do so.” Id.

“We must uphold the judgment of the Board unless, upon reviewing the record as a whole, we conclude that the Board’s findings are not supported by substantial evidence, or that the Board acted arbitrarily or otherwise erred in applying established law to the facts of the case.” Mohave Elec. Co-op., Inc. v. NLRB, 206 F.3d 1183, 1188 (D.C. Cir. 2000). Piedmont Gardens disputes the Board’s finding that Hutton was never given any assurance that her statements would be kept confidential. But substantial evidence in the record supports that finding, as well as the finding that the statements were motivated by Hutton’s job duties and fear of punishment if she failed to report what another nurse had already reported, rather than by any promise of confidentiality. See J.A. 107,110 & n.14.

Piedmont Gardens further asserts that the Board impermissibly departed from Anheuser-Busch by holding that the protection of that decision extends only to statements prompted by an assurance of confidentiality. But the Board reasonably read its subsequent cases as holding that such an assurance must have motivated the witness in order to bring the statement within the protection of Anheuser-Busch, see El Paso Elec. Co., 355 N.L.R.B. 428 (2010), enf'd, 681 F.3d 651 (5th Cir. 2012); N.J. Bell Tel. Co., 300 N.L.R.B. 42 (1990), enf'd, 936 F.2d 144 (3d Cir. 1991), and this Court defers to the Board’s reasonable interpretation of its own precedent, see Ceridian Corp. v. NLRB, 435 F.3d 352, 355-56 (D.C. Cir. 2006). We note that all five Board members in this case, including the two dissenting members, read the Board’s El Paso Electric precedent to require an assurance of confidentiality. 362 N.L.R.B. No. 139, at *9; id. at *10 n.12 (Member Miscimarra, dissenting); id. at *11 n.1 (Member Johnson, dissenting in part).

II

Although the Board applied Anheuser-Busch to resolve the unfair- labor practice charges in Piedmont Gardens’ case, it announced that prospectively it was overruling Anheuser-Busch’s blanket exemption for witness statements. 362 N.L.R.B. No. 139, at *1. “In future cases,” the Board said, “when an employer argues that it has a confidentiality interest in protecting witness statements from disclosure, we shall apply the balancing test set forth in Detroit Edison Co. v. NLRB ... as we do in all other cases involving assertions that requested information is confidential.” Id.

Piedmont Gardens challenges the Board’s decision to overrule Anheuser-Busch, notwithstanding that the decision will apply only in future cases. It acknowledges that a party generally lacks standing to challenge adjudicatory rulings that have not been applied to it. Oral Arg. Recording at 3:12-40; see Am. Family Life Assur. Co. v. FCC, 129 F.3d 625, 629 (D.C. Cir.

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Bluebook (online)
858 F.3d 612, 2017 WL 2429380, 209 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3101, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 9970, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-baptist-homes-of-the-west-v-national-labor-relations-board-cadc-2017.