N.L.R.B. v. Parsons School of Design a Div. of New School for Social Research, 1353

• Decision Date: 24 June 1986
• Docket Number: No. 1353,D,1353
• Citation: 793 F.2d 503
• Parties: 122 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2845, 104 Lab.Cas. P 11,904 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN A DIVISION OF the NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, Respondent. ocket 86-4019.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 503

793 F.2d 503

122 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2845, 104 Lab.Cas. P 11,904

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN A DIVISION OF the NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, Respondent.

No. 1353, Docket 86-4019.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued May 30, 1986.

Decided June 24, 1986.

Joseph Porrino, New York City (Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson, of counsel), for respondent.

Susan L. Williams, Attorney, N.L.R.B., Washington, D.C. (Rosemary M. Collyer, Gen. Counsel, John E. Higgins, Jr., Deputy Gen. Counsel, Robert E. Allen, Associate Gen. Counsel, Elliott Moore, Deputy Associate Gen. Counsel, Collis Suzanne Stocking, Attorney, N.L.R.B., Washington, D.C., of counsel), for petitioner.

Before FEINBERG, Chief Judge, and KAUFMAN and NEWMAN, Circuit Judges.

FEINBERG, Chief Judge:

The National Labor Relations Board applies for enforcement of its order against Parsons School of Design. The Board found that Parsons violated section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 158(a)(5) and (1), by refusing to bargain with the certified representative of its part-time faculty. The Board concluded that post-election modification of the bargaining unit from a combined unit of full- and part-time faculty members to one including only part-time faculty did not require a new election. In reaching its decision, the Board distinguished a prior decision of this court, Hamilton Test Systems, New York, Inc. v. NLRB, 743 F.2d 136 (2d Cir.1984). We hold that the Board's modification of the unit requires a new election and that Hamilton, supra, applies to the facts of this case. Accordingly, we deny the Board's application for enforcement.

I.

Parsons School of Design, a division of the New School for Social Research, is an educational institution offering college and graduate courses in art and design. The school's main campus is located in New York City; it also has branches in Los Angeles and Paris. Parsons employs approximately 20 full-time and 200 part-time instructors at its New York campus. Typically, the part-time instructors are successful practitioners in their particular fields. In August 1982, the Parsons Faculty Federation, New York State United Teachers, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO (the Union) filed a representation petition with the Board. The Union initially sought to represent all full-time and part-time instructors employed at Parsons' New York campus. The Union later amended its petition to include only part-time instructors, although it indicated that it was willing to represent the larger unit. After a hearing, the Board's Regional Director determined that an appropriate unit included both full- and part-time faculty at Parsons' New York campus and directed that an election in that unit be held on May 9-12, 1983. The Regional Director denied Parsons' motion for reconsideration.

Parsons filed a request for review of the Regional Director's decision, arguing that a combined unit was inappropriate and that a unit of part-time faculty only would also be inappropriate. Shortly before the scheduled election, the Board granted the employer's request for review. The Board decided, however, that the election should proceed and the ballots of full- and part-time instructors should be segregated and then impounded according to the "vote and impound" procedures set forth in 29 C.F.R. Sec. 102.67(b). ¹ The Board provided two ballot boxes, one for full-time instructors and one for part-time. The ballots for full- and part-time faculty were identical. The Board's representatives did not explain why separate boxes were used unless asked. The election was held as scheduled in May 1983.

In February 1984, the Board issued a Decision on Review and Direction of Election. Finding that a unit limited to part-time instructors was appropriate, the Board modified the Regional Director's earlier unit determination. Apparently unaware that an election had been held in the combined unit, the Board also directed that an election be held in the modified unit. Several weeks later, the Board amended its decision to eliminate that portion directing an election and remanded the matter to the Regional Director to open and count the ballots impounded in the May 1983 election. The amended decision is reported at 268 N.L.R.B. 1011 (1984).

Parsons objected to the election, claiming that the results should be set aside because the official notice of election described a unit different from the one the Board later found appropriate and, thus, the voters were prevented from making an informed decision. The Regional Director overruled these objections, holding that the unit determination "had no bearing as to whether the voters desired Union representation" and that there was no evidence that employees would have changed their votes if they had known that a part-time unit had been found appropriate. The Board summarily denied Parsons' request for review of that decision. After various challenges were resolved, there were 99 ballots for the Union and 92 against.

The Board certified the Union as the exclusive representative of the part-time faculty in October 1984. However, Parsons refused the Union's request to bargain, and the Union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Parsons. The Board's General Counsel issued a complaint and moved for summary judgment. In response, Parsons acknowledged its refusal to bargain, but argued that it was justified. Citing Hamilton, supra, decided several months earlier, Parsons maintained that certification of the Union as representative of the part-time unit was invalid because the voters had been misled as to the scope of the unit. In a decision reported at 275 N.L.R.B. No. 18 (1985), the Board held that all issues were or could have been litigated in the prior representation proceeding and concluded that the employer unlawfully refused to bargain with the Union. The Board distinguished Hamilton principally because the new unit excluded less than 10% of the employees previously included. This application for enforcement followed.

II.

The central issue raised by the Board's application is the extent to which Hamilton- applies to this case. In Hamilton, the Board initially certified a unit consisting of all 31 non-clerical employees at one of the employer's facilities. On the eve of the election, however, the Board granted the Union's request for review of the unit determination. It nonetheless conducted a scheduled election in the original unit and segregated and impounded the ballots pursuant to section 102.67(b). The Board later decided that a smaller, 14-employee unit was appropriate and determined that, of the ballots cast in the smaller unit, the union had won by a margin of two votes. The employer petitioned this court for review of the Board's finding that it committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to bargain with the union and the Board cross-petitioned for enforcement.

The court recounted the history of section 102.67(b). 743 F.2d at 140-42. It noted that the regulation was adopted following the recommendation of the Chairman's Task Force on the National Labor Relations Board. Id. at 140 (citing Chairman's Task Force on the NLRB, Interim Report and Recommendations 13 (1976) [hereafter Task Force Report]. The Task Force recommendation was a response to criticisms of delay in the election process that had occurred when the Board granted a request for review of a pre-election ruling, but was unable to decide the issue before the election date and therefore postponed the election. Task Force Report at 11. The court observed that:

[t]he regulation merely states that a challenge to a decision by the regional director should not serve as a stay of a representation election. A major purpose of this rule is to eliminate meritless appeals that are filed merely to delay the date of an election. Challenges to a regional director's eligibility determination frequently involve only the inclusion or exclusion of a few voters and, even if successful, may not change significantly the scope of the unit.

We do not believe that the regulation provides the Board with the authority to inform employees that they are voting for representation in a broad facility-wide unit and later to consider the ballot as a vote for representation in a unit that is less than half the size and considerably different in character.

743 F.2d at 140. Accordingly, the court granted the employer's petition, concluding that application of section 102.67(b) had denied employees the right to make an informed choice in the representation election. It pointed out that the Task Force had also recommended that the Board " 'develop a balloting process under which the election could be held, whatever the eventual decision might be on the appropriate unit,' " id. at 141 (quoting Task Force Report at 12), but that the Board had failed to do so. Accord NLRB v. Lorimar Productions, Inc., 771 F.2d 1294 (9th Cir.1985).

Parsons argues that the case is controlled by Hamilton, and that the election here was similarly defective. It notes that the notice of election described an all-faculty unit and, although the Board separated the ballots of full- and part-time instructors, it did not generally inform the voters of the possible change. Respondent then offers various reasons why part-time instructors who voted for the Union might not have done so had they known that the unit would be limited to the part-time faculty; e.g., their expectation that the full-time instructors would assume most of the responsibility for collective bargaining and other union work and the desire of part-time faculty members for unity among the faculty and maximum bargaining strength. Finally, Parsons points out that, as in Hamilton, the vote here was very close and a shift of only a few votes would have changed the outcome.

The Board, on the other hand, continues to maintain that ...