Seyfarth Synopsis: The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed the NLRB, holding that the Board lacked substantial evidence to find that the hospital group unfairly preferred nonunion workers when filling nonunion positions.
The National Labor Relations Board may not invalidate employment policies that accomplish legitimate goals in a nondiscriminatory manner "merely because the Board might see other ways to do it." Such was the message the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit delivered to the Board last week in Southcoast Hospitals Group v. NLRB, No. 15-2146 (1st Cir. 2017).
The Court ruled that the Board lacked substantial evidence in finding that the hospital group discriminated against union members by giving nonunion workers a hiring preference for nonunion positions. The union's contract granted union employees a similar preference when applying for union positions. According to Southcoast, the policy was intended to "level the playing field" and stave off staffing complaints by its nonunion workforce.
The Board argued that the policy tilted the playing field too far in favor of nonunion employees, claiming the number of nonunion positions "pales in comparison" to the number of positions covered by the union hiring policy and that nonunion hiring preference covered two facilities, as opposed to the single facility covered by the union policy.
This was not enough, the Court ruled. While the Court acknowledged that the nonunion policy covered more positions than the union hiring policy, union workers were not disproportionately harmed, given that the ratio of covered positions to covered employees was substantially the same under both policies. Likewise, nonunion employees had to compete with workers from two hospitals, as opposed to union workers' need to compete only with workers from one hospital.
The Court also noted that the Board ignored other aspects of the hiring policies that still leave union members at a comparative advantage, namely that union seniority trumps qualifications for open union positions, while Southcoast is required to choose "the best qualified" candidate for a nonunion position, regardless of seniority.
Employer Takeaway
Employers must often walk a fine line in order to apply different policies to union and nonunion employees in a non-discriminatory manner. However, as the Court in Southcoast makes clear, this does not handcuff employers from attempting to "level the playing field" by giving certain advantages to nonunion employees, so long as the policy does not disproportionately harm union employees and is supported by a legitimate and substantial business justification.
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