Universal Protection Services, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 1, 2026
Docket24-11150
StatusUnpublished

This text of Universal Protection Services, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board (Universal Protection Services, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Universal Protection Services, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board, (11th Cir. 2026).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 24-11150 Document: 65-1 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 Page: 1 of 20

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-11150 ____________________

UNIVERSAL PROTECTION SERVICES, LLC, d.b.a. Allied Universal Security Services, Petitioner-Cross Respondent, versus

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent-Cross Petitioner. INTERNATIONAL UNION, SECURITY POLICE AND FIRE PROFESSIONALS OF AMERICA, Intervenors. ____________________ Petitions for Review of a Decision of the National Labor Relations Board Agency No. 12-CA-305972 ____________________

Before ROSENBAUM, BRANCH, and GRANT, Circuit Judges. USCA11 Case: 24-11150 Document: 65-1 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 Page: 2 of 20

2 Opinion of the Court 24-11150

PER CURIAM: Universal Protection Services, LLC, doing business as Allied Universal Security Services (“Allied Universal”), petitions for review of the National Labor Relations Board’s (“Board”) determination that “lieutenants” Allied Universal employs are not supervisors, which meant that the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) required Allied Universal to collectively bargain with the lieutenants. In its petition, Allied Universal claims the Board’s procedures violated Allied Universal’s due process rights and challenges the substantive basis for the Board’s decision. In response, the Board cross-petitions for enforcement of its order requiring collective bargaining. After careful review of the record and with the benefit of oral argument, we determine that the process the Board employed provided Allied Universal with the opportunity to be heard, and substantial evidence supports the Board’s decision to order a representation election. Accordingly, we deny Allied Universal’s petition for review of the Board’s decision and grant the Board’s application for enforcement. I. Background A. Allied Universal operations at Turkey Point Allied Universal provides security services for the Turkey Point nuclear power facility in Florida City, Florida (“Turkey Point”). Allied Universal employs roughly 136 security officers, 24 lieutenants, and 4 captains at the facility, each of whom falls into a chain-of-command hierarchy. The company’s chief official on site is the Project Manager, who oversees two division heads. The USCA11 Case: 24-11150 Document: 65-1 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 Page: 3 of 20

24-11150 Opinion of the Court 3

head of the operations division oversees the four captains, who split between two shifts. Each of the four captains is responsible for six lieutenants, who in turn each oversee five to eight security officers. Allied Universal employs a progressive discipline policy for employees, Policy 1308, that outlines three levels of offenses and the potential consequences for infractions ranging from minor violations to fireable offenses. Level I offenses are the most severe and involve serious misconduct such as “[a]bandoning a security post,” “theft, dishonesty, fraud, [or] bribery,” and “[u]nauthorized or reckless use of firearms or other weapons,” among 30 listed offenses. The 12 Level II offenses include failures to follow procedure, such as reporting without all assigned equipment or losing a security badge, “[n]egligent use of a firearm or other weapon(s),” and failures to report to work or abuses of leave. The less severe Level III offenses include, among 11 violations, “[p]laying of pranks or practical jokes which interfere with professional performance of duty,” failure to maintain control of security access badge outside the facility, and inattentiveness to security post responsibilities. Each offense level has a general catch-all provision that encompasses conduct not specifically listed. Punishments for these violations vary based on the type of offense and whether the violator committed previous offenses. Allied Universal provides a table of disciplinary guidelines in its Policy 1308, reproduced below: USCA11 Case: 24-11150 Document: 65-1 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 Page: 4 of 20

4 Opinion of the Court 24-11150

While the guidelines call for “documented oral counseling” for first-time Level III offenses, Allied Universal in some circumstances allows informal “coaching” “to offer suggestions to help an employee improve performance.” Allied Universal modifies the guidelines’ application on occasion and escalates enforcement in response to performance issues it identifies. Lieutenants enforce some forms of discipline for the guards they oversee. The guidelines charge lieutenants with “[e]nsuring that disciplinary action is justified, objectively documented, and fairly applied.” Lieutenants can administer discipline up to written counseling, while captains can suspend violators for up to two workdays, and the project manager can issue longer suspensions or terminate violators. B. Allied Universal workers’ collective bargaining petition International Union, Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America (“Union”) filed a certification of representative petition USCA11 Case: 24-11150 Document: 65-1 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 Page: 5 of 20

24-11150 Opinion of the Court 5

with the Board to represent, in collective bargaining, “all full-time and regular part-time armed and unarmed supervisors and lieutenants performing guard duties” at Turkey Point, excluding “all office clerical employees, professional employees and supervisors as defined by” the NLRA.1 The Board ordered a representation hearing before a Board hearing officer to determine whether the lieutenants were supervisors as defined under the NLRA; if so, the lieutenants would not be able to collectively bargain.2 Both Allied Universal and the Union participated in the hearing. This participation included offering evidence and witnesses as well as cross-examining the other party’s witnesses. Allied Universal introduced dozens of Employee Discipline/Corrective Action Notices that lieutenants had signed and issued to security officers. Violations in these notices ranged from the mundane, such as doodling on a logbook, to the more serious, like failure to maintain necessary equipment. Allied Universal’s project manager testified that lieutenants made

1 This petition was not the first attempt to unionize security workers at Turkey

Point. See Wackenhut Corp. & Int’l Union Sec., Police & Fire Pros. of Am. (SPFPA), 345 N.L.R.B. 850, 858 (2005); G4s Regulated Sec. Sols., a Div. of G4s Secure Sols. (USA) Inc., 362 N.L.R.B. 1072, 1072 (2015). We review the Board’s decision based on the current record and not the facts of the prior disputes. 2 Under the NLRA, supervisors are not employees who can organize and

collectively bargain. See 29 U.S.C. § 157 (“Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively . . . .”); see also 29 U.S.C. § 152(3) (“The term ‘employee’ . . . shall not include . . . any individual employed as a supervisor . . . .”). USCA11 Case: 24-11150 Document: 65-1 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 Page: 6 of 20

6 Opinion of the Court 24-11150

decisions on which disciplinary tool to use of their own accord, and a captain testified that lieutenants independently investigated violations before administering discipline. Lieutenants testified about how much discretion they had in administering discipline and how Allied Universal’s policies constrained their actions. They described how they routinely consulted captains and other managers before issuing warnings but that such consultation was not mandatory.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Universal Protection Services, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/universal-protection-services-llc-v-national-labor-relations-board-ca11-2026.