N.L.R.B. v. Imperial Bedding Co.
| Decision Date | 22 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 75-2042,75-2042 |
| Citation | 519 F.2d 1073 |
| Parties | 90 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2527, 77 Lab.Cas. P 11,134 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. IMPERIAL BEDDING COMPANY, Respondent. Summary Calendar. * |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Elliott Moore, Deputy Assoc. Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., Washington, D. C., Louis V. Baldovin, Jr., Director, Region 23, N.L.R.B., Houston, Tex., for petitioner.
Lawrence H. Clore, Houston, Tex., for respondent.
Application for Enforcement of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board (Texas case).
Before BROWN, Chief Judge, and GODBOLD and GEE, Circuit Judges.
The Board has petitioned this Court for enforcement of its order that Employer, Imperial Bedding Company, reinstate two employees and make whole five other employees who were found wrongfully discharged. We accept the findings of the ALJ as adopted by the Board that the employees were engaged in activity protected by § 7 of the Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 157), were discharged in violation of § 8(a)(1) of the Act, and were wrongfully refused reinstatement. We enforce.
The seven employees left work on a Friday morning in protest over the suspension of a fellow employee. When they returned to work four days later they were refused reinstatement because their positions had been filled by replacements or because the Company had determined that their jobs were no longer necessary. 1
The employees claim that they were fired on Friday by Employer's president after he learned of their planned walkout. If they were fired it was an unlawful discharge requiring reinstatement. The discharge of a striking employee is discriminatory if the strike is a protected activity, and the employer commits an unfair labor practice in discharging the employees engaging in the activity. NLRB v. Hilton Mobile Homes, 8 Cir., 1967, 387 F.2d 7, 9; Collins Baking Co. v. NLRB, 5 Cir., 1951, 193 F.2d 483, 486. It is settled that a strike in protest of the suspension of a fellow employee is protected activity. NLRB v. Holcombe, 5 Cir., 1963, 325 F.2d 508, 511.
The Company argues that there was no substantial evidence supporting the ALJ's finding that the employees were fired when they announced their intention to leave work in protest over the suspension. There is considerable contradictory testimony concerning the precise words spoken by Employer's president on Friday morning. The ALJ credited the testimony of the three aggrieved employees and did not credit the testimony of Employer's officials. This Court is normally bound by the credibility choices of the ALJ adopted by the Board. Nabors v. NLRB, 5 Cir., 1963, 323 F.2d 686, 692. In making a credibility choice among several interested witnesses the ALJ has the opportunity to observe demeanor, and therefore his decision must be given great weight and accepted unless it is contrary to sound reason. Bob's Casing Crews, Inc. v. NLRB, 5 Cir., 1972, 458 F.2d 1301, 1303; NLRB v. Transway, Inc., 5 Cir., 1969, 410...
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City of Davenport v. Public Employment Relations Bd.
...has the same right. This does not constitute the power to discipline or effectively to recommend discipline. NLRB v. Imperial Bedding Co., 519 F.2d 1073 (5 Cir. 1975). The PER Board was not obliged as a matter of law to sustain the City's position on this 2 Authority to assign and effective......
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...accept the credibility choices of an administrative law judge as adopted by the National Labor Relations Board. N. L. R. B. v. Imperial Bedding Co., 519 F.2d 1073 (5 Cir. 1975); N. L. R. B. v. Bogart Sportswear Mfg. Co., Inc., 485 F.2d 1203 (5 Cir. 1973); Bob's Casing Crews, Inc. v. N. L. R......
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...accept the credibility choices of an administrative law judge as adopted by the National Labor Relations Board. N.L.R.B. v. Imperial Bedding Co., 519 F.2d 1073 (5 Cir. 1975); N.L.R.B. v. Bogart Sportswear Mfg. Co., Inc., 485 F.2d 1203 (5 Cir. 1973); Bob's Casing Crews, Inc. v. N.L.R.B., 458......
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