Gaetano & Associates Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

183 F. App'x 17
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMay 16, 2006
DocketNos. 05-2261-ag, 05-3126-ag
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 183 F. App'x 17 (Gaetano & Associates Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaetano & Associates Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 183 F. App'x 17 (2d Cir. 2006).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Petitioner-cross-respondent Gaetano & Associates Inc. (“the Company”) petitions for review of the April 25, 2005 decision and order of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) finding that it violated § 8(a)(1), (3) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (3), (5). Respondent-cross-petitioner the NLRB cross-petitions for enforcement of its order. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts of this case and the issues on appeal.

This case arises out of a unionization campaign by the carpenters’ and laborers’ unions at two of the Company’s construction sites — a multi-family apartment building and a brownstone — in Northern Manhattan in the Spring of 2003. Following a hearing that took place on February 26 and 27 and March 1 and 5, 2004, Administrative Law Judge Raymond P. Green rendered a decision finding that the Company had violated NLRA § 8(a)(1), which prohibits interfering with employees’ rights under the NLRA § 8(a)(3), which prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing or terms and conditions of employment to encourage or discourage membership in a labor organization, and § 8(a)(5), which prohibits an employer’s refusal to bargain collectively with its employees’ representative. See In re Gaetano & Assocs. Inc., 344 NLRB No. 65, 2005 WL 986340, at *21-22 (N.L.R.B. Apr. 25, 2005). The Board adopted the ALJ’s findings, see id. at *1, and made additional findings on incidents not specifically addressed by the ALJ, id. at *3-5. The Board adopted also the recommended remedial order of the ALJ, and ordered the Company to cease and desist from its unfair labor practices, offer to reinstate the employees whom it had laid off in response to union activity and otherwise make the parties whole. See id. at *5. The Company argues that the Board erred in its findings as a matter of law. We disagree.

Our review of NLRB orders is limited. ‘We must enforce the Board’s order where its legal conclusions are reasonably based, and its factual findings are supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole.” NLRB v. Katz’s Delicatessen, 80 [20]*20F.3d 755, 763 (2d Cir.1996) (citing Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951)). “Substantial evidence is more than a mere scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Universal Camera, 340 U.S. at 477, 71 S.Ct. 456 (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). Moreover, we accept an ALJ’s credibility determinations, as adopted by the NLRB, unless the testimony is “incredible or flatly contradicted by undisputed documentary testimony.” Katz’s Delicatessen, 80 F.3d at 763.

1. Mass Lay-Offs

The ALJ found, and the Board agreed, that the Company’s April 16, 2003 mass lay-off of carpenters was motivated by anti-union animus and that the company would not have made the same decision absent the concerted activity and thus that the Company had violated NLRA § 8(a)(1) and (3), 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1) and (3). Contrary to the Company’s argument, temporal proximity can be a sufficient basis from which to infer anti-union animus as a matter of law. See NLRB v. Am. Geri-Care, Inc., 697 F.2d 56, 60 (2d Cir.1982) (holding that an inference of anti-union animus is “proper when the timing of the employer’s actions is ‘stunningly obvious.’”); NLRB v. Porta Sys. Corp., 625 F.2d 399, 404 (2d Cir.1980) (noting that the “abruptness of a discharge and its timing are persuasive evidence as to motivation” even where the employer proffers an economic justification (quotation marks omitted)). To the extent that the Company invites us to view the facts of the mass lay-off differently, we decline to do so. Here, the lay-off occurred at the end of the day on April 16, 2003, in the middle of the workweek on the same day that union representative Byron Schuler called the Company to inform it that its carpenters sought to be represented by his union and the NLRB faxed the Company the union’s petition for a representation election. Immediately after laying off a significant number of its carpenters on April 16, 2003, the Company hired two carpenters to work at the main site and hired three more carpenters to work at that site a week later. The ALJ credited the testimony of a number of employees that at least 20 percent of rough carpentry remained at the time of the lay-off. The testimony is neither so incredible as to defy the laws of nature nor contradicted by documentary evidence, and therefore we do not disturb the ALJ’s finding. See Katz’s Delicatessen, 80 F.3d at 763.

The Company argues further that the Board erred in finding it liable for an unfair labor practice under the two-part test of Wright Line, A Division of Wright Line, Inc., 251 NLRB 1083, 1083-88, 1980 WL 12312 (1980), enforced, 662 F.2d 899 (1st Cir.1981), as clarified by, Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs v. Greenwich Collieries, 512 U.S. 267, 276-78, 114 S.Ct. 2251, 129 L.Ed.2d 221 (1994), because its actions were taken for economic reasons. It relies on cases such as NLRB v. M.H. Brown Co., 441 F.2d 839 (2d Cir.1971), in which we found, on the basis of testimony and corroborating documentary evidence, substantial support for the employer’s proffered business justification for lay-offs that occurred in close temporal proximity to protected activity. See id. at 843. The Company’s reliance is misplaced, however, because it has failed to produce any documentation supporting its proffered economic justifications, and the ALJ found the testimony of the Company’s principals inconsistent with its actions in hiring additional carpenters in April and May. In these circumstances, we find no error in the Board’s rejection of the Company’s affirmative defense.

[21]*21 2. Other Terminations

The Company next challenges the Board’s finding that the Company terminated Paul Valle and Wendell Henderson on account of their support for the union. It asserts that the ALJ erred in rejecting its defense that Valle was terminated for poor workmanship and Henderson for insubordination. Here, the ALJ expressly credited the testimony of Valle and Henderson about the circumstances of their discharge. Moreover, although the Company presented documentary evidence to support its claim that Henderson had been fired for insubordination, it was disputed and, as the ALJ noted, not determinative of the events in question. Accordingly, we defer to the Board’s factual findings. See Holo-Krome Co. v. NLRB,

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Bluebook (online)
183 F. App'x 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaetano-associates-inc-v-national-labor-relations-board-ca2-2006.