Anderson Enterprises v. National Labor Relations Board
Anderson Enterprises v. National Labor Relations Board
Opinion of the Court
JUDGMENT
This case was heard on the petitions for review of an order of the National Labor Relations Board. The court has determined that the issues presented occasion no need for a published opinion. See D.C.Cir. Rule 36(b). For the reasons set out in the accompanying memorandum, it is
The clerk is directed to withhold issuance of the mandate herein until seven days after disposition of any timely petition for rehearing. See D.C.Cir. Rule 41.
MEMORANDUM
Anderson Enterprises, d/b/a Royal Motor Sales, and German Motors Corporation (collectively, “the dealerships”) petition the court for review of a decision and order by the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) finding that they improperly declared impasses in their collective bargaining negotiations with the Machinists, the Painters, and the Teamsters unions, and that they thus unlawfully implemented compensation plans that contravened McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. v. NLRB, 131 F.3d 1026 (D.C.Cir. 1997). The dealerships contend that the Board erred by failing to consider all of the factors under In re Taft Broadcasting Co., 163 N.L.R.B. 475, 478, 1967 WL 18808 (1967), petition for review denied sub nom. American Federation of Television & Radio Artists v. NLRB, 395 F.2d 622 (D.C.Cir. 1968), and by impermissibly expanding the reach of McClatchy. The Board filed a cross-application for enforcement of its decision and order against the dealerships. We affirm the Board’s finding that the compensation plans granted the dealerships impermissibly broad discretion in setting wages, contrary to McClatchy, and accordingly, we deny the petitions without reaching the dealerships’ other challenges to the Board’s decision.
I.
In 1989, three auto dealerships — Royal Motor Sales (“Royal”), German Motors Corporation (“German”), and San Francisco Honda
The Board found that the dealerships’ declarations of impasse were premature, that certain conduct away from the table constituted unfair labor practices, and that the compensation plans unilaterally implemented in the dealerships’ negotiations
II.
For purposes of resolving the petitions, the court need only address whether the dealerships’ implementation of the compensation plans violated McClatchy.
The principle underlying McClatchy is that an employer cannot disparage a union’s collective bargaining role over a mandatory subject of bargaining, such as wages. In that case, because “the union could not know what criteria, if any, [the employer] was using to award individual salary increases, it could not bargain against those standards; instead, it faced a discretionary cloud.” McClatchy, 131 F.3d at 1032. By contrast, in Detroit News, notwithstanding the discretionary nature of any merit pay plans, the court held that the pay plan was not standardless and the amount of employee pay increases was calculated based on a fixed wage floor. See Detroit News, 216 F.3d at 113.
In contrast to the detail in the pay plan in Detroit News, the Board found that the compensation plan implemented by the dealerships give unfettered discretion to the employers at every stage of the pay determination process, see Anderson Enters., 1999 WL 883896, at *29, *32, and an examination of the plans makes this demonstrably clear. The plans permit employers to initially assign or subsequently reassign an individual employee to any classification within either the hourly or
Accordingly, because there is substantial evidence to support the Board’s finding that the dealerships’ implementation of their compensation plans was inconsistent with McClatchy, we deny the petitions challenging the Board’s decision that the dealerships violated § 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act and direct enforcement of its remedial order.
. On April 7, 2000, the court severed the petition filed by San Francisco Honda and held it in abeyance pending settlement.
. The first unfair labor charge was filed in late 1989. As summarized by the Administrative Law Judge, the "gist” of the administrative proceedings challenged the dealerships' "declarations of impasse and dispute[d] the behavior of the negotiators during the approximately 52 bargaining sessions. In addition, certain alleged acts of [dealerships’] owners, managers, and supervisors away from the bargaining table [were] placed in issue.” Anderson Enters., 1999 WL 883896, at *62.
. See McClatchy Newspapers, 322 N.L.R.B. 812, 1996 WL 750250 (1996), enforced in part and set aside in part, McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. v. NLRB, 131 F.3d 1026 (D.C.Cir. 1997); McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. 321 N.L.R.B. 1386, 1996 WL 506086 (1996), enforced, McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. v. NLRB, 131 F.3d 1026 (D.C.Cir. 1997).
. As the Board’s counsel observed during oral argument, and the dealerships’ counsel did not dispute, if the court affirmed the Board’s impasse determination, the court would not need to reach the McClatchy issue. In the instant case, the reverse is no less true.
. Under the dealerships’ proposals, a "comeback” is "any improperly completed work which was performed by a unit employee and which must be redone or corrected.” Characterizing a job as a "comeback” has the effect of requiring the employee to perform the work without being compensated.
. The dealerships challenge the propriety of the Board’s order to restore the status quo ante and to make the union employees and various funds whole, contending that in view of the amount of time it took the Board to process the case, any monetary remedy should be limited to the terms sought by the unions in their three-year contract proposals. This challenge, however, fails. See NLRB v. J.H. Rutter-Rex Mfg. Co., 396 U.S. 258, 264-65, 90 S.Ct. 417, 24 L.Ed.2d 405 (1969); NLRB v. Electric Vacuum Cleaner Co., 315 U.S. 685, 698, 62 S.Ct. 846, 86 L.Ed. 1120 (1942); Bufco Corp. v. NLRB, 147 F.3d 964, 967 (D.C.Cir. 1998). Further, issues relating to how the remedial order is to be implemented are for the compliance hearing. See, e.g., 29 C.F.R. § 102.54 (1999)
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ANDERSON ENTERPRISES, d/b/a Royal Motor Sales v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Machinists Local Lodge 1305 and Machinists Automotive Trades District Lodge No. 190 of Northern California, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, Intervenors
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published