Getting Results – A rare employer victory before the NLRB

When the collective bargaining agreement between our Los Angeles client Good Samaritan Hospital and more than 450 unionized healthcare workers came up for renewal, a group of hospital employees petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election to decertify the union. In a subsequent secret-ballot election, the union held on to its representation by only two votes. However, on behalf of Good Samaritan we filed objections to the election with the NLRB, presenting convincing evidence that the union engaged in physically and verbally threatening conduct against pro-hospital employees and even attempted to bribe the leader of the decertification effort.

More than a year later, after a lengthy trial, an NLRB administrative law judge concluded that the union coerced the exercise of freedom of choice in the election, overturned the narrow victory and ordered a new election – a highly unusual and very difficult result for an employer to obtain.