Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board v. Acevedo Rosario

78 P.R. 515
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 28, 1955
DocketNo. 40
StatusPublished

This text of 78 P.R. 515 (Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board v. Acevedo Rosario) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board v. Acevedo Rosario, 78 P.R. 515 (prsupreme 1955).

Opinion

Per curiam.

In a proceeding instituted at the instance of Local Union No. 65 of Barrio Campo Alegre of Hatillo, the Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board 1 held that respondent Manuel Acevedo Rosario had engaged in unfair labor practices in violation of § 8(1) (a) and (c) of the Labor Relations Act of Puerto Rico.2 The violations of § 8(1) (a) consisted of [517]*517(1) having indicated to several laborers of his farm, through employee Juan Ramos Garcia, on or about January 8, 1951, that unless they signed a letter repudiating the union he would not give them work on his farm, and compelling some of them to sign the letter; (2) having stated, on or about January 22, 1951, in the presence of several laborers of his farm, that he would not sign a stipulation renewing a collective bargaining agreement, since he would have nothing to do with unions; (3) having helped some of his laborers, through employee Reinaldo Martínez, to write a letter repudiating the union.

The violation of § 8(1) (c) consisted of refusing to employ 18 laborers for the purpose of discouraging membership in a labor organization.

As a consequence, on October 2, 1953, the Board entered an order against respondent requiring him to cease and desist from engaging in such unfair practices and to take a certain affirmative action which in the opinion of the Board accomplished the purposes of the statute. The Board now appeals to us urging that we enforce the order in question, on the authority of the provisions of § 9 (2) (a) of our Labor Relations Act. The respondent appeared in the proceeding to oppose the petition and raises the questions which we proceed to discuss.

I

“The Board erred in concluding from the evidence presented that the acts of Juan Ramos (Garcia) were imputable to respondent Manuel Acevedo Rosario.”

[518]*518The Board held the respondent answerable for certain statements made by Juan Ramos Garcia, an employee of his, to a group of laborers who applied for work on the former’s farm. Those statements were to the effect that the laborers would not be hired unless they signed a document repudiating the union. The Board based its decision on the fact that Juan Ramos Garcia was a supervisory employee and that, therefore, his actions were imputable to the respondent, in the light of the provisions of § 2(2) of our Act.3 Cf. 2 Labor Law Reporter 4024, § 3730.

Our Labor Relations Act contains no definition of the term supervisor. Nor have we found any in our authorities construing the term. However, the cases under the National Labor Relations Act — 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq. — shed enough light on the matter. Until the 1947 amendment, the Act contained no definition of the term supervisor either.4 Prior to the amendment, the National Board ruled that supervisory employees are those who have the power to hire and discharge other employees, or to make recommendations to that effect, or to recommend wage increases, or those whose duties include apportioning work, enforcing discipline, or maintaining productivity. See Ludwig Teller, Labor Disputes and Collective Bargaining, 1940 ed., Vol. 2, § 350, pp. 933, 935-36, and cases therein cited. The nature of the connection with management and not with employees is the guiding principle which determines the supervisory nature of the employment. See op. cit., Vol. 2, § 350, p. 936.

[519]*519In 1947, the Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act) amended the National Labor Relations Act and incorporated the following definition of the term supervisor:

“The term ‘supervisor’ means any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.” 29 U.S.C.A. § 152.

This provision has been construed by the courts to the effect that it is not necessary for the employee to have all the powers listed in that provision to be considered as a supervisory employee. Only one of them is necessary. N.L.R.B. v. Budd Mfg. Co., 169 F. 2d 571, cert. den., 335 U. S. 908; Ohio Power Co. v. N.L.R.B., 176 F. 2d 385; N.L.R.B. v. Beaver Meadow Creamery, 215 F. 2d 247, 251. The National Board, however, has recognized that the granting of supervisory powers to an ordinary employee, to be exercised only occasionally, does not make him a supervisory employee. N.L.R.B. v. Leland-Gifford Co., 200 F. 2d 620, 625; N.L.R.B. v. Quincy Steel Cast. Co., 200 F. 2d 293, 296. In view of this, and the fact that the powers enumerated in the definition above referred to are of such nature as to identify the employee having them with the management and not with the ordinary employees, we can conclude that the amendment in question did not alter the situation greatly.

In the case at bar, there is evidence that Juan Ramos Garcia selected the personnel on respondent’s farm, assigned the work to be performed, directed it and, in general, performed the duties of an overseer. There is no question that his work identified him with the employer’s interests and not with those of ordinary employees. For that reason he should be considered as a supervisory employee. We must [520]*520therefore conclude that the Board did not err in holding the respondent answerable for the acts of Ramos Garcia.

By express provision of law, the findings of fact made by the Board are final and conclusive provided, as is the case here, they are supported by the evidence. Under such circumstances, this Court is without authority to disturb them. Section 9(2) (a) and (6) of the Puerto Rico Labor Relations Act; Labor Relations Board v. Simmons Int. Ltd., ante, p. 360; Rivera v. Labor Relations Board, 70 P.R.R. 5, 8; Rivera v. Labor Relations Board, 70 P.R.R. 320, 328.

II

“The evidence of the Board does not show that a violation of § 8(1) (c) of the Act has been committed.”

The respondent adduces three grounds in support of his contention. We will discuss them separately as was done by the parties in their briefs but altering the order so as to discuss in the last instance the first one, which refers to laborers Blas González and Alfonso de León, to wit:

“2. The Board failed to prove that complainants, as a matter of fact, had applied to the respondent for work.”

In our opinion, respondent is not correct. The testimony believed by the Board, and supported by the evidence, reveals that the laborers, against whom respondent discriminated, worked for him up to November 1950, when they were suspended for- lack of work. They were then told to return in January, 1951, when the work on the farm would be resumed. Later they were informed that the work would be resumed on January 8, 1951.

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78 P.R. 515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/puerto-rico-labor-relations-board-v-acevedo-rosario-prsupreme-1955.