Veritas Health Services, Inc. and United Nurses Associations of California

Decision Date24 July 2018
Docket Number31-CA-029738,31-CA-029713,31-CA-029786,31-CA-029966,31-CA-029768,31-CA- 029965,31-CA-029936,31-CA- 029769,31-CA-029717,31-CA-029715,31-CA-029749,31-CA-029714,31-CA- 029745,31-CA- 029716
PartiesVeritas Health Services, Inc. d/b/a Chino Valley Medical Center v. United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals, NUHHCE, AFSCME, AFL-CIO
CourtNational Labor Relations Board

Veritas Health Services, Inc. d/b/a Chino Valley Medical Center and United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals, NUHHCE, AFSCME, AFL-CIO

Nos. 31-CA-029713, 31-CA-029714, 31-CA-029715, 31-CA- 029716, 31-CA-029717, 31-CA-029738, 31-CA- 029745, 31-CA-029749, 31-CA-029768, 31-CA- 029769, 31-CA-029786, 31-CA-029936, 31-CA- 029965, 31-CA-029966

United States of America, National Labor Relations Board

July 24, 2018


SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER

This case is on remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court has directed us to address whether our earlier decision, in which we found that the Respondent violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by broadly prohibiting employees from speaking to the media, should be revised to include an additional remedy directing the Respondent to rescind its written media communications policy to the same effect.[1] After carefully considering the record and the Respondent's position statement, and in light of the court's decision, we have decided to order the Respondent to rescind its written policy.[2]

Background

The underlying complaint alleged that the Respondent committed numerous unfair labor practices during and after a 2010 union organizing campaign. The complaint allegation at issue here asserted that the Respondent violated Section 8(a)(1) by “Instruct[ing] employees not to speak to third parties and/or the media about their protected concerted activities and/or their terms and conditions of employment.” The record established that, following the election, the Respondent's CEO told unit employees that the Respondent would now be more vigorous about enforcing its policies, including previously unenforced policies, because the employees chose union representation. The Respondent's director of nursing credibly testified that the CEO then instructed employees “not to discuss hospital matters with the media, because we do have policies in relation to discussing hospital matters with the media.” The CEO's oral ban referenced above was found to be unlawful and is closely related to a written policy in the Confidentiality section of the employee handbook. The written policy states:

The Facility draws a lot of attention from the media. Only the designated spokespersons may make statements to the members of the media on behalf of the Facility, its patients or its employees. If you are approached by members of the media, refer them to Administration for assistance

Board and Court Proceedings

The administrative law judge found that the Respondent violated Section 8(a)(1) by “broadly prohibiting employees from speaking to the media, including about the Union or about terms and conditions of employment . . . .” 359 NLRB 992, 1000 (2013). The judge concluded that he was precluded on due process grounds from finding that the written policy violated the Act because the General Counsel had not alleged that the written policy was unlawful in the complaint and did not challenge the written policy at the hearing or in his brief. Ibid. The Board adopted the judge's decision in pertinent part. 359 NLRB at 992-993. At the time of that Decision and Order, the composition of the Board included two recess appointees. After the Supreme Court held that the recess appointments were invalid in NLRB v. Noel Canning, 134 S.Ct. 2550 (2014), the Decision and Order was set aside. After considering the matter de novo, a duly constituted Board adopted the judge's recommended Order to the extent and for the reasons stated in the Decision and Order reported...

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