WXGI v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

• Decision Date: 05 December 2000
• Docket Number: N,No. 00-1323,00-1323
• Citation: 243 F.3d 833
• Parties: (4th Cir. 2001) WXGI, INCORPORATED, and its successor, GEE COMMUNICATIONS, INCORPORATED, Petitioners, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. WXGI, INCORPORATED, and its successor, GEE COMMUNICATIONS, INCORPORATED, Respondents. o. 00-1510. . Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 833

243 F.3d 833 (4th Cir. 2001)

WXGI, INCORPORATED, and its successor, GEE COMMUNICATIONS, INCORPORATED, Petitioners, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. WXGI, INCORPORATED, and its successor, GEE COMMUNICATIONS, INCORPORATED, Respondents.

No. 00-1323, No. 00-1510.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT.

Argued: December 5, 2000.

Decided: March 13, 2001.

On Petition for Review and Cross-Application for Enforcement of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board. (5-CA-27367)

COUNSEL: ARGUED: Tim Schulte, Thomas Hunt Roberts, THOMAS H. ROBERTS & ASSOCIATES, P.C., Richmond, Virginia, for WXGI and Gee. Robert James Englehart, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Washington, D.C., for Board. ON BRIEF: Leonard R. Page, General Counsel, Aileen A. Armstrong, Deputy Associate General Counsel, Fred L. Cornnell, Supervisory Attorney, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Washington, D.C., for Board.

Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, TRAXLER, Circuit Judge, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Petition for review denied and cross-application for enforcement granted by published opinion. Judge Traxler wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge Wilkinson and Senior Judge Hamilton joined.

OPINION

TRAXLER, Circuit Judge:

WXGI, Inc., and its successor Gee Communications, Inc., petition this court for review of the February 29, 2000 Decision and Order of the National Labor Relations Board (the "Board") determining that WXGI, Inc. violated S 8(a)(1) and S 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. SS 158(a)(1), (a)(3) (West 1998) (the "Act"), by discharging four employees because of their actual or suspected union-organizing activities, and that Gee Communications, Inc. was a successor to WXGI, Inc. for purposes of imposing joint and several liability. The Board cross-petitions for enforcement of its Decision and Order. For the reasons stated below, we deny WXGI, Inc.'s petition for review and grant the Board's cross-petition for enforcement.

I.

This case arises out of the termination of four employees of WXGI, Inc., which operated a country music radio station (WXGI AM-950) in Richmond, Virginia. In March 1997, J.D. Keatley ("Keatley"), the owner of WXGI, Inc., entered into a contract to sell the radio station to David Gee ("Gee"), the future president of Gee Communications, Inc. ("Gee Communications"). Problems soon arose, however, when Keatley attempted to renege on the agreement, prompting Gee to file a lawsuit to force Keatley to complete the transfer of ownership of the radio station. In June 1997, Keatley and Gee reached a settlement agreement under which WXGI, Inc. hired Gee as the general manager of the radio station pending completion of the transfer from Keatley to Gee. Keatley, however, remained the owner of the station and maintained control over certain business matters, including payroll.

On August 29, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission approved the assignment of the WXGI radio license to Gee Communications. However, the relationship between Gee and Keatley continued to deteriorate to the point that Gee obtained a court order on September 29, 1997, barring Keatley from the station premises. Nevertheless, Keatley remained the owner of the station until October 17, 1997, when the business was finally transferred from WXGI, Inc. to Gee Communications.

During this acrimonious time, WXGI, Inc. had approximately 12 to 14 employees. This case arises out of Gee's September 30, 1997 termination of four of these employees for their actual or suspected organizing activities at the station on behalf of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 400, AFL-CIO (the "Union"). Three of the terminated employees, Mark Matthews, Steven Giles, and Wiley Southworth, were prime-time on-air radio personalities for WXGI, Inc. The fourth was sales account executive, and sometimes on-air personality and country music performer, Bobby Overman a/k/a Bobby Shannon ("Shannon").¹ Shannon had been the general manager of WXGI, Inc. for Keatley, until Gee assumed the position under the June 1997 settlement agreement. As part of his duties, Shannon had solicited and handled the Union's sales account for WXGI, Inc.

Shannon, Matthews, Giles and Southworth (collectively the "discriminatees") were viewed by Gee as a close-knit, cohesive group or clique led primarily by Shannon. They were also viewed as loyal to Keatley in the dispute between Gee and Keatley over transfer of the radio station. Hence, when Gee assumed the position of general manager of the radio station in June 1997, the atmosphere was tense. In addition to the acrimonious atmosphere caused by the feud between Keatley and Gee, it became known that Gee intended to make at least some changes in the station operation and programming format. Of particular distaste to the discriminatees, Gee sought to rehire John Trimble as a station manager for Gee Communications. Trimble had been a prior general manager for Keatley's WXGI, Inc., but had been terminated by Keatley some time before. He was admittedly not wellliked or well-received by the discriminatees.

On September 1, Gee met with Trimble to discuss Trimble's potential return to the WXGI radio station, at which time Trimble presented Gee with a document entitled "John Trimble's Operating Proposal for WXGI Radio." J.A. 69. Among other things, the document proposed a new program format and vested Trimble with the sole authority to select all music played by the on-air personalities. It also proposed the termination of all current on-air personalities and control board operators, with the exception of on-air personalities Don Price and Phillip Rucker. Trimble proposed that notices of termination be given on September 15, 1997, with an effective termination date of September 30, 1997. Under the proposal, Trimble also vested in himself the authority to select all future on-air personalities. Gee, however, balked at Trimble's termination demand. Because the Union, which already placed a fairly large amount of business with the station, had indicated that it intended to increase its sales account with the station, Gee wanted to keep Shannon on in a full-time capacity. He also wanted to retain Matthews and at least one other on-air personality in at least some regularly-scheduled work and the remainder of the on air personalities, including Giles and Southworth, in some form of part-time or on-call employment.

On September 9, 1997, Gee posted an announcement on the bulletin board in the station office notifying the employees that Trimble would be re-joining WXGI radio. Although it does not appear that the four discriminatees were aware of Trimble's specific request that all On-air personalities be terminated, Giles at least became concerned that Trimble's arrival would herald a less secure job future for him and his three friends. It appears undisputed that the discriminatees' discomfort with the prospect of Trimble's return was made known to Gee.

On September 15, 1997, Gee responded to Trimble's operating proposal orally and in writing, generally accepting the proposal with the exception of the employee termination request. Instead, Gee agreed to inform all present on-air personalities that they would be used as "on call" only, at Trimble's request, and that Mark Matthews and David Holt, another on-air personality, would be asked to take some regularly scheduled weekend work. There was no evidence that Gee at any time thereafter informed Trimble that his intent to retain all four discriminatees, and other on-air personalities, had changed.

On September 21, 1997, "Shooters" restaurant and bar hosted a traditional, "old time," country music charity event. Although WXGI, Inc. did not sponsor the event, Shannon, Giles and Southworth served as masters of ceremonies, and Matthews attended. Gee testified that he received telephone reports that the four had asked customers to write letters protesting the station's recent decision to move from a "legendary" country music format to a more"modern" country music format. Although Gee later described the incident at Shooters as a "rebellion," it did not cause him to cease ongoing discussions with Matthews about continued employment or prompt him to withdraw an outstanding employment offer which he had previously extended to Shannon. Nor were Giles or Southworth confronted about the incident.

During this time, the atmosphere at the radio station continued to be quite unsettled in the minds of the discriminatees. Trimble's proposed deadline for providing on-air personalities with a notice of their termination -September 15 -had passed, consistent with the evidence that Gee intended to retain all four discriminatees in some capacity after the transfer of ownership of the station, but there is no indication that the discriminatees were aware of this fact. Gee had apparently been in some negotiations with Shannon and Matthews concerning their potential for continued employment, but Giles and Southworth may well have feared for their job security altogether.

Coincidentally, WXGI was to operate a remote broadcast from the booth of the Union at the Virginia State Fair beginning on September 26, 1997. At a breakfast meeting two days before, Shannon, who was continuing to handle the Union's account, introduced Matthews, who was scheduled to perform the remote broadcast from the Union booth, to Union Representative Paul Evans. Evans discussed the situation at the station with Matthews and gave him cards to distribute to the station employees for an organizing campaign, along with a Union bumper sticker and a Union button to show his support. Later that day, Giles also met with Evans at the Union booth at the fairgrounds. Evans told Giles about his conversation with Shannon and Matthews earlier that day, and his suggestion that the radio employees seek Union representation. Giles also...