By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//March 17, 2014//
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Civil
Labor — judicial review
The court has no jurisdiction to review an NLRB decision to hold a second decertification election.
“Heartland jumped the gun by refusing to recognize the union before the new election ordered by the Board was conducted and its results certified. The company argues that if it can prove that the June 2012 election was fair and square and the union should therefore be decertified, it and the union will be spared the bother of a second election. But suppose the company fails to prove that and so a new election has to be conducted; probably by the time it’s conducted, two years will have elapsed since the first election. Had the company not withdrawn recognition of the union after the decertification election, the union would have had no grounds for filing an unfair labor practice complaint and the new election would have been conducted promptly. And had the company lost and wanted the initial election reinstated, it could by withdrawing recognition of the union have precipitated an unfair labor practice complaint and obtained, if the Board determined that the refusal of recognition was an unfair labor practice, judicial review of that determination.”
Order Enforced.
13-1954 & 13-2079 Heartland Human Services v. NLRB
Application for Enforcement, and Cross-Petition for Review, of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board, Posner, J.