Challenge Mfg. Co. v. NLRB

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 9, 2020
Docket19-2160
StatusUnpublished

This text of Challenge Mfg. Co. v. NLRB (Challenge Mfg. Co. v. NLRB) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Challenge Mfg. Co. v. NLRB, (6th Cir. 2020).

Opinion

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 20a0332n.06

Case Nos. 19-2140/2160

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Jun 09, 2020 DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk CHALLENGE MANUFACTURING ) COMPANY, LLC, ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW Petitioner/Cross-Respondent, ) AND CROSS-APPLICATION ) FOR ENFORCEMENT OF AN v. ) ORDER OF THE NATIONAL ) LABOR RELATIONS BOARD NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, ) ) Respondent/Cross-Petitioner. ) OPINION )

BEFORE: COLE, Chief Judge; McKEAGUE and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

COLE, Chief Judge. Challenge Manufacturing Company, LLC (“Challenge” or “the

Company”) petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board finding

violations of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). The General Counsel for the

Board cross-applies for enforcement. Because the Board did not contravene any of its rules and

its findings are supported by substantial evidence, we deny the petition for review and grant the

cross-application for enforcement.

I.

Challenge is a manufacturer and supplier of automobile parts. It operates eight

manufacturing plants in the United States, including one in Holland, Michigan. In 2008,

Challenge hired Michael Kiliszewski as a maintenance mechanic at the Holland plant. Case Nos. 19-2140/2160, Challenge Mfg. Co. v. NLRB

Historically, employees at Challenge’s manufacturing facilities were not unionized. In

2013 and again in 2015, employees at the Holland plant engaged in union campaigns, but the

campaigns failed after Challenge actively opposed them. Kiliszewski initiated both campaigns

by contacting the United Auto Workers (“UAW” or “Union”). Kiliszewski also played an

especially visible role in the 2015 campaign: he wore UAW paraphernalia at work, talked to

hundreds of employees about the Union, helped schedule union-organizing meetings, and was

one of the first to sign a letter to management expressing a desire to be represented by the UAW.

In 2016, Challenge decided to take a friendlier stance toward unionization, and on May 1,

2016, it signed a “neutrality agreement” with the UAW. Under the terms of the neutrality

agreement, Challenge agreed to provide the Union with a list of employees at any plant in the

United States upon request, give plant access to Union organizers upon request, and recognize

the Union at any plant where a majority of the employees had signed authorization cards. In

turn, the Union agreed that while a collective bargaining agreement was being ratified at a

previously organized facility, it would not commence campaigns at other Challenge facilities.

Even so, individual employees at all times retained the right to engage in union-organizing

activities.

In April 2017, while Challenge and the UAW were in the process of ratifying a

bargaining agreement at Challenge’s facility in Pontiac, Michigan, Kiliszewski began another

effort to secure UAW representation at the Holland plant. Kiliszewski’s efforts included

soliciting signatures on union authorization cards, holding off-site meetings, wearing UAW

paraphernalia at work, and discussing the UAW with other employees. At some point, a

maintenance supervisor at the Holland plant informed company management—including the

vice-president of human resources, Mike Tomko, and human resources manager Darlene

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Compeau—that Kiliszewski and Carl Leadingham, another supervisor, were involved in union-

organizing activities at the facility. Tomko and Compeau called Leadingham into a meeting on

April 25, asked him to identify other employees who were engaging in union-organizing

activities, and suspended him for five work days. Shortly after being suspended, Leadingham

called Kiliszewski and warned him to “watch his back because supervisors or managers were

watching him and others to see their union activity.” (J.A. 154.)

About two weeks later, on the evening of May 5, 2017, Kiliszewski arrived at around

10:00 p.m. for his regular work shift, which began at 10:30 p.m. He officially punched in at

10:17 p.m. According to Challenge’s policy, however, workers are not allowed on the

production floor and are not paid until their shifts have started. Thus, when Norma Sanchez, a

production supervisor on the shift prior to Kiliszewski’s, approached Kiliszewski several times

between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. and asked him to fix a malfunctioning machine, he communicated

to Sanchez that his shift had not yet started and told her to find a mechanic who was being paid

at the time.

The last of the exchanges between Kiliszewski and Sanchez became particularly heated.

There is conflicting testimony with regard to what exactly happened, but the administrative law

judge (“ALJ”) determined that Sanchez pointed a finger at Kiliszewski and another mechanic

with whom Kiliszewski was conversing, James Eric Mathews, and yelled at them to fix the

malfunctioning machine “right now.” (J.A. 5.) When the two mechanics repeated that they were

not yet on the clock, Sanchez yelled, “You’ll do as I say, when I say.” (Id.) Kiliszewski then

admittedly yelled at Sanchez to “go see your f—king 2nd shift maintenance crew” and to get

either “the hell” or “the f—k” out of his face. (Id.) When Sanchez threatened to go find

Kiliszewski’s supervisor, Kiliszewski encouraged her to do so. According to Sanchez, as she

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was walking away, Kiliszewski said, “F—k you, b—h.” (Id.) Kiliszewski denies making this

last statement. The ALJ declined to credit Sanchez’s allegation, finding that “the record does not

establish that Kiliszewski used the term ‘b—h,’ or, in fact, made any statement to Sanchez as she

was walking away.” (Id.)

Three hours after the exchange, around 1:00 a.m. on May 6, Sanchez sent an email to

various management personnel at the Holland plant relaying her version of the events.

Kiliszewski’s direct supervisor, Larry Boyer, who was copied on Sanchez’s email, provided

Kiliszewski with a copy of the email and told him to avoid Sanchez.

On the morning of May 9, after finishing his shift, Kiliszewski was called into a meeting

with Compeau and Jeff Glover, a maintenance manager, to discuss the incident with Sanchez.

Compeau asked Keith O’Brien, vice-president of operations and the highest ranking person at the

Holland facility, to join the meeting after Kiliszewski refused to look at or speak directly to her.

During the meeting, Kiliszewski shared written notes that he had prepared on a copy of

Sanchez’s email and proceeded to respond largely based on those notes. He admitted to

swearing by referring to the “f—king” second-shift maintenance crew, but denied saying “f—k

you, b—h,” as Sanchez was walking away. Overall, Kiliszewski took the position that, by

issuing “demand[s]” of him and Mathews before their shift had even started, Sanchez was the

“aggressor” and was “out of line.” (J.A. 564–65.) Kiliszewski also expressed the view that

Challenge was targeting him because of his union-organizing activity.

Following the May 9 meeting, Compeau proceeded to investigate further by interviewing

and gathering statements from other employees who were in the vicinity at the time of the

incident. As the ALJ found, “[t]he results of Compeau’s investigatory interviews are notable for

the extent to which those interviewed indicated that Sanchez was the aggressor in the

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