Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia · 2019-03-05
Case and law context
Role: applied; posture: Board found discriminatory discharges after an evidentiary hearing; court enforces order and separately affirms coercive questioning.; result: claimant-won; claim: (a)
Instances and excluded annotation blocks
| Case | Element | Holding and scope | Variant | Exact source quotations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /f3d/916/1095-01 — Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia · 2019 | Employment discrimination | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; claim: (a); party: four Station 4 union supporters; Rodriguez addressed separately in opinion; subject: party=four Station 4 union supporters; Rodriguez addressed separately in opinion The reviewing court upholds factfinder credibility and discriminatory motivation; the four union adherents and Rodriguez have different factual roles. | discharge/union-supporters-and-cover-discharge | On October 12, two days before the scheduled election, Treude fired all five employees for sleeping on duty.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [6368:6476] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2.An employer violates Section 8(a)(1) and (3) by suspending or discharging an employee for engaging in protected union activity.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [8519:8646] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2.we deny Novato's petition for review and grant the Board's cross-application for enforcement.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [844:937] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2. |
| /f3d/916/1095-01 — Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia · 2019 | Interference, restraint or coercion | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: law; claim: (a); party: Metellus; theory: Rocha interrogation; subject: party=Metellus; theory=Rocha interrogation Unlike the casual question in Bozzuto, the timing, supervisor status and remarks about pay support the court’s coercion conclusion. | interrogation/supervisor-asks-vote-near-election | Rocha asked Metellus, who was a relatively new employee, how he planned to vote in the upcoming election.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [2122:2227] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2.When Metellus responded that he planned to vote in favor of the union, Rocha told him that doing so would have implications for his pay and that the union could potentially take a portion of his paycheck.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [2228:2432] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2.we uphold as reasonable its conclusion that Rocha's questioning was sufficiently coercive to violate the Act.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [28926:29035] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2. |
| /f3d/916/1095-01 — Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia · 2019 | Same action absent unlawful motive | not Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; claim: (a); party: Station 4 employees; subject: party=Station 4 employees The defense fails following actual credibility findings, affirmed on review. This is not a demand that the employer prove no antiunion sentiment before the General Counsel’s first-stage showing. | credibility/discredited-sleeping-on-duty-account | Novato proffers no other evidence that Brown and Sabelino were sleeping longer than their permitted break times and no other evidence that Metellus and Bernales were sleeping at all.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [22785:22967] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2.Given the absence of such evidence, combined with the contrary testimony that the ALJ reasonably credited, we find nothing unreasonable in the Board's conclusion that Novato failed to meet its burden of showing it would have fired the four employees notwithstanding its anti-union animus.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [22968:23256] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2. |
Court interpretations recorded from this case
interpretation
An employer violates Section 8(a)(1) and (3) by suspending or discharging an employee for engaging in protected union activity.
/f3d/916/1095-01 — Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia · 2019
An employer violates Section 8(a)(1) and (3) by suspending or discharging an employee for engaging in protected union activity.Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [8519:8646] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2.Discharge is one variant; the statutory domain also includes hiring, tenure and other employment terms.
interpretation
"Once a prima facie case has been established, the burden [of persuasion] shifts to the company to show that it would have taken the same action in the absence of the unlawful motive."
/f3d/916/1095-01 — Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia · 2019
"Once a prima facie case has been established, the burden [of persuasion] shifts to the company to show that it would have taken the same action in the absence of the unlawful motive."Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_916.jsonl#/f3d/916/1095-01; Unicode character offsets [9569:9753] (end exclusive); SHA-256 619b4737a25b3eff7f5171fe7092f24823bff6f7ac6a4f4f000ee78df3a3dcc2.Judge/Board-made burden structure anchored to the purpose hook, not words of the statute. Applies only after the General Counsel proves the initial unlawful-motivation case.