Kreisberg v. Stamford Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, L.P.

849 F. Supp. 2d 279, 2012 WL 996609, 193 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2071, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39264
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedMarch 22, 2012
DocketNo. 3:12cv104 (MRK)
StatusPublished

This text of 849 F. Supp. 2d 279 (Kreisberg v. Stamford Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kreisberg v. Stamford Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, L.P., 849 F. Supp. 2d 279, 2012 WL 996609, 193 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2071, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39264 (D. Conn. 2012).

Opinion

RULING AND ORDER

MARK R. KRAVITZ, District Judge.

Petitioner Jonathan B. Kreisberg, on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), seeks a temporary injunction under § 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 160(j), against Respondent Stamford Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, L.P. (“Stamford Plaza”). The requested injunction would reinstate housekeeping and maintenance employees onto the hotel’s payroll pending the resolu[281]*281tion of an unfair labor practice proceeding currently in progress. For reasons offered below, the Court grants the NLRB’s requested injunction.

I.

This Petition arises out of an unfair labor practice complaint brought by the NLRB against Stamford Plaza, where the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 371, began an organizing campaign in June 2011. Targeting the approximately 50 housekeeping, maintenance, front desk, and kitchen employees at Stamford Plaza, the Union was able to collect 38 signed union authorization cards by June 16. Of these, 20 were from members of the housekeeping department (out of approximately 22 total housekeepers), and 4 were from members of the maintenance department (out of 5 total employees).

In meetings beginning on June 24, Stamford Plaza informed its employees that the hotel was subcontracting its housekeeping operations to a firm called Labor for Hire, Inc. (“LFH”) and its maintenance operations to a firm called New York Major Construction (“NYM”). Housekeeping and maintenance employees were given employment applications for these companies. All who applied were hired by the subcontractors; thus employed, they continued doing the same work as before, for roughly the same compensation. Housekeeping and maintenance were the only two departments that were reorganized in this way.

On July 5, the Union filed a certification petition with the NLRB’s Hartford office along with 38 signed authorization cards, including 21 from housekeeping and 4 from maintenance. The union withdrew this petition on July 12. In charges filed on July 1 and July 28, the Union alleged that Stamford Plaza had terminated its housekeeping and maintenance employees and begun using subcontractors in response to its discovery of their organizing activities. On November 30, the NLRB issued a complaint repeating these allegations.

Administrative Law Judge Steven Fish heard testimony regarding the NLRB’s complaint during hearings held on February 7-9, 2012. The NLRB has requested that this Court use the administrative record produced during these hearings to decide the injunction petition. With no objection from Stamford Plaza, the Court GRANTS the NLRB’s Motion [doc. #2] and relies on the administrative record throughout the present opinion. In addition to the facts just canvassed, the Court will provide other facts from the administrative record as needed in its discussion below.

II.

Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (“the NLRA”) gives the NLRB the

power, upon issuance of a complaint ... charging that any person has engaged in or is engaging in an unfair labor practice, to petition any United States district court, within any district wherein the unfair labor practice in question is alleged to have occurred ... for appropriate temporary relief or restraining order.

29 U.S.C. § 160(j). The NLRB filed such a petition with this Court on January 20, 2012. It seeks an injunction, which would last until the administrative proceedings are complete, requiring Stamford Plaza to reinstate its terminated housekeeping and maintenance employees and to refrain from interfering with any employee activities protected under the NLRA.

The Second Circuit has long held that “in order to issue a § 10(j) injunction, the district court must apply a two-prong test. First, the court must find reasonable [282]*282cause to believe that unfair labor practices have been committed. Second, the court must find that the requested relief is just and proper.” Hoffman ex rel. N.L.R.B. v. Inn Credible Caterers, Ltd., 247 F.3d 360, 364-65 (2d Cir.2001). The Court will address each prong of this test in turn.

A.

When considering a petition for a § 10(j) injunction, “[t]he district court does not need to make a final determination whether the conduct in question constitutes an unfair labor practice; reasonable cause to support such a conclusion is sufficient.” Id. at 365. Courts in this Circuit are to give “considerable deference to the NLRB Regional Director” when determining whether reasonable cause exists. Id. “[T]he Regional Director’s version of the facts should be sustained if within the range of rationality, ... inferences from the facts should be drawn in favor of the charging party, and ... even on issues of law, the district court should be hospitable to the views of the General Counsel, however novel.” Kaynard v. Mego Corp., 633 F.2d 1026, 1031 (2d Cir.1980).

Here, the NLRB alleges that Stamford Plaza interrogated its employees about their organizing activities and then discriminatorily subcontracted out the work of its two most pro-union departments, thereby immobilizing the Union’s organizing campaign. In support of these allegations, the NLRB points to evidence in the administrative record that Stamford Plaza’s Food and Banquet Manager, its Housekeeping Director, its Engineering/Maintenance Director, and a Food and Banquet Supervisor all asked employees questions about employees’ organizing activities. Within weeks after those activities began, the hotel subcontracted out its housekeeping and maintenance operations. It made its arrangements with the subcontractors, LFH and NYM, in apparent haste, despite having turned down previous proposals from LFH because of concerns about their service. Stamford Plaza’s subsequently proffered reasons for subcontracting have shifted — which the NLRB says suggests pretext. Finally, in August 2011, Stamford Plaza terminated its contract with LFH and then partnered with the other subcontractor to form a new entity, MySpace Management, and placed its housekeepers there. Testimony in the administrative record suggests that Stamford Plaza wanted to keep its former employees in separate companies at least in part so that they would find it more difficult to unionize as a group. See Tr. [doc. # 26] at 585.

Stamford Plaza responds by arguing that the supervisors who discussed unionizing with their employees do not count as supervisors or agents of the hotel under §§ 2(11) and 2(13) of the NLRA and, thus, do not establish that Stamford Plaza knew about its employees’ union activities prior to its decision to subcontract. Further, the hotel argues that subcontracting was a legitimate business decision. The Court does not need to settle these questions, however; the Administrative Law Judge will do so. For present purposes, it is enough to find that the NLRB’s interpretation of the facts is well within the “range of rationality,” Mego Corp., 633 F.2d at 1031.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
849 F. Supp. 2d 279, 2012 WL 996609, 193 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2071, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kreisberg-v-stamford-plaza-hotel-conference-center-lp-ctd-2012.