Directsat U.S. LLC v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

925 F.3d 1272 (2019) Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia 2019-06-07

petition for review and cross-application for enforcement of NLRB order finding employer violated ยง 8(a)(5) by refusing to disclose relevant agreement; enforcement granted and petition denied (result: claimant-won)

Facts

  1. 11 Alternative breaches of applicable collective-bargaining duties satisfied proved
    The Board reasonably concluded that DirectSat's bargaining proposal rendered the entire agreement relevant.
  2. 11 Alternative breaches of applicable collective-bargaining duties satisfied proved
    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."
  3. 11 Alternative breaches of applicable collective-bargaining duties satisfied proved
    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."
  4. 11 Alternative breaches of applicable collective-bargaining duties satisfied proved
    In the ensuing months, the Union repeatedly demanded the full Home Service Provider agreement and DirectSat repeatedly refused.
  5. 11 Alternative breaches of applicable collective-bargaining duties satisfied proved
    That duty encompasses a responsibility "to provide relevant information needed by a labor union for the proper performance of its duties as the employees' bargaining representative."
  6. 11 Alternative breaches of applicable collective-bargaining duties satisfied proved
    The Union thus must demonstrate "a reasonable belief, supported by objective evidence," that the information in the redacted portions of the agreement is relevant to the performance of its duties as the bargaining representative.
  7. 11 Alternative breaches of applicable collective-bargaining duties satisfied proved
    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.