Directsat U.S. LLC v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.
Directsat U.S. LLC v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.
Opinion
DirectSat installs and services satellite television equipment for DirecTV. During negotiations with a union representing its employees, DirectSat proposed that any new work that arose during the term of the agreement would not count as bargaining unit work unless it was "pursuant to its Home Service Provider agreement with DirecTV." The union repeatedly asked to see the full Home Service Provider agreement to understand the proposed scope of bargaining unit work, but the company provided it only a redacted, partial version.
The National Labor Relations Board found that DirectSat had refused to disclose information relevant to the union's statutory duties and thus violated its duty to bargain in good faith under the National Labor Relations Act. After the Board issued its decision, DirecTV filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings, which the Board denied. Each of the companies now seeks review of the Board's orders against them.
The Board reasonably concluded that DirectSat's bargaining proposal rendered the entire agreement relevant. And we see no basis to set aside the Board's denial of DirecTV's motion to intervene on the ground that it was filed too late. We therefore deny the companies' petitions for review and grant the Board's cross application for enforcement.
I.
DirectSat USA, LLC, installs and services satellite television equipment for DirecTV, LLC, a satellite television provider. From September 2014 until May 2016, DirectSat and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 21, AFL-CIO (the Union) engaged in negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement. One issue that arose concerned whether future products or services other than installation and service of satellite television services would constitute bargaining unit work. The parties exchanged a series of "New Product Lines" proposals over that issue.
On November 4, 2015, DirectSat submitted a New Product Lines proposal containing the following term: "In the event [DirectSat] is engaged with respect to products or services other than those provided pursuant to its Home Service Provider agreement with DirecTV ... , such work shall not be deemed bargaining unit work." Bargaining Proposal No. 78 (Nov. 4, 2015), J.A. 83. On November 23, 2015, the Union responded via email: "[O]ne of the company proposals references the HSP agreement with [DirecTV]. We'd like a copy of the agreement referenced in the proposal." Email from Dave Webster to Lauren Dudley (Nov. 23, 2015), J.A. 84. Two weeks later, DirectSat responded with a heavily redacted copy of the Home Service Provider agreement, which it described as "relevant to scope of work." Email from Lauren Dudley to Dave Webster (Dec. 4, 2015), J.A. 87.
In the ensuing months, the Union repeatedly demanded the full Home Service Provider agreement and DirectSat repeatedly refused. On February 16, 2016, the Union requested the information "to understand the relationship between AT&T [DirecTV's parent company] & DirectSat and the shared work." Email from Dave Webster to Eric Simon (Feb. 16, 2016), J.A. 92. On March 18, the Union again asked for "a FULL copy of the HSP agreement between DirectSat & DirecTV particularly because of the reference [i]n the New Product Lines proposal." Email from Dave Webster to Eric Simon (Mar. 18, 2016), J.A. 94.
On March 22, the parties held a bargaining session at which DirectSat acknowledged the Union's request for the full agreement and responded that the relevant portions had already been disclosed. During the session, the Union presented a counterproposal to the company's New Product Lines proposal in which the Union also referenced the agreement. On April 5, the Union reiterated via email its prior request for "a FULL copy" of the agreement "because of the reference" in the company's proposal. Email from Dave Webster to Eric Simon (Apr. 5, 2016), J.A. 96. And on May 19, the Union again requested a full copy via email, this time citing its need "to evaluate the extent of control of DirectSat by DirecTV/AT&T." Email from Dave Webster to Eric Simon (May 19, 2016), J.A. 104. The company responded that it had already supplied all relevant information.
On May 20, 2016, the Union filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board. On September 23, 2016, the Board issued a complaint and notice of hearing. The parties agreed to forgo a hearing and instead submit the matter on a stipulated record to an administrative law judge.
The administrative law judge found that DirectSat had violated the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to provide the full, unredacted agreement.
See
DirectSat appealed that decision to the Board, which affirmed and ordered DirectSat to disclose the full, unredacted agreement. The Board relied on slightly different reasoning than the administrative law judge. It found that the Union was entitled to the unredacted agreement because DirectSat's bargaining proposal had defined the scope of bargaining unit by reference to the entire agreement.
See
DirectSat USA, LLC
,
After the Board issued its decision, DirecTV filed a motion to intervene, asserting a confidentiality interest in the terms of the unredacted agreement between it and DirectSAT. DirecTV also moved for the Board to reopen the record and reconsider its decision. On July 25, 2018, the Board denied DirecTV's motion, holding that it was untimely and that, in any event, DirecTV's interests were adequately represented by DirectSat.
DirectSat USA, LLC
,
We now have before us DirecTV's petition for review of the Board's order denying its motion to intervene, DirectSat's petition for review of the Board's order mandating the disclosure of the full agreement, and the Board's cross-application for enforcement of its DirectSat order.
II.
We review the Board's determination of a constitutional issue de novo.
See
J.J. Cassone Bakery, Inc. v. NLRB
,
A.
We first address the Board's denial of DirecTV's motion to intervene. The National Labor Relations Act allows any person to intervene in a Board proceeding "[i]n the discretion of the ... Board."
The Board reasonably rejected DirecTV's motion. The parties agree that, as of November or December 2016, DirectSat informed DirecTV that it was disclosing a redacted copy of the agreement between the companies to help resolve a pending Board charge. DirecTV then was on inquiry notice that disclosure of the agreement was an issue in an ongoing Board matter. That notice occurred some seven months before the hearing in front of the administrative law judge, fifteen months before the Board's decision, and sixteen months before DirecTV moved to intervene. In that context, the Board reasonably concluded that "DirecTV filed its motion to intervene long after it knew or reasonably should have known" that an order requiring disclosure of the agreement was a possibility.
DirectSat
,
DirecTV argues that the Board's denial of intervention was inconsistent with certain of the Board's previous decisions, as recounted in
Boeing Co.
,
The Board generally denies post-hearing motions to intervene absent "changed circumstances warranting ... late intervention."
Oak Harbor Freight Lines, Inc.
,
DirecTV's reliance on
Detroit Edison Co. v. NLRB
,
For those reasons, the Board acted within its authority in denying DirecTV's post-hearing motion for intervention on the ground that DirecTV's motion was untimely. We therefore have no occasion to address the Board's alternative rationale that DirectSat adequately represented DirecTV's interests.
B.
We next consider DirectSat's petition for review of the Board's order requiring
disclosure of the full unredacted agreement. The Act imposes a duty on employers to bargain in good faith with employees and their representatives.
The parties agree that agreement is not presumptively relevant because it does not pertain directly to bargaining unit employees.
See
Disneyland Park
,
The Board understandably determined that the agreement was relevant to the Union's duties because DirectSat itself incorporated the full agreement by reference. The company's bargaining proposal stated: "In the event [DirectSat] is engaged with respect to product or services other than those pursuant to its Home Service Provider agreement with DirecTV ... , such work shall not be deemed bargaining unit work." Bargaining Proposal No. 78 (Nov. 4, 2015), J.A. 83. The company's contention that only portions of the agreement were relevant is belied by the proposal's own reference to the agreement as a whole.
In that context, the Union could not respond to the proposal in a manner consistent with its duty of fair representation without knowing what the agreement said as a whole. As the Board explained, the Union "cannot be reasonably expected to integrate another agreement between the employer and a third party into its own collective-bargaining agreement without having a complete understanding of the contents of the incorporated document and the context of the relevant portions within the document as a whole."
DirectSat
,
DirectSat finally contends that the administrative law judge infringed the company's due-process rights by requiring disclosure of the agreement based on a rationale that was not advanced by the Board's General Counsel. In this setting, "due process is satisfied when a complaint gives a respondent fair notice of the acts alleged to constitute the unfair labor practice and when the conduct implicated in the alleged violation has been fully and fairly litigated."
Pergament United Sales, Inc. v. NLRB
,
While the administrative law judge relied on the notion that the Union had a right to verify DirectSat's account that it had supplied the relevant portions of the agreement, the Board rested on the slightly different rationale that DirectSat's bargaining proposal had rendered the full agreement relevant. DirectSat's relevant conduct under that rationale was encompassed by the Board's complaint and the dispositive issue was actually litigated before the administrative law judge.
See
Davis Supermarkets, Inc. v. NLRB
,
* * * * *
For the foregoing reasons, we deny DirectSat's and DirecTV's petitions for review and grant the Board's cross-application for enforcement.
So ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DIRECTSAT USA LLC, Petitioner v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published