Babbitt Engineering & MacHinery, Inc. v. Agricultural Labor Relations Board

Babbitt Engineering & Machinery, Inc. (Babbitt), seeks review of a final order of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB or Board) affirming the administrative law officer’s (ALO) findings that Babbitt and San Marcos Greenhouses, Inc. (San Marcos) 1 had violated *317 the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA) (Lab. Code, § 1141 et seq.) by (1) refusing to bargain with the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO (UFW or the Union), (2) engaging in a discriminatory campaign to refuse employment to former employees of Lewis Gardens, Inc. (Lewis) and (3) discriminatorily terminating three employees who had worked for Lewis. Based upon these findings the Board ordered a number of specific remedies, including payment of back wages to the affected employees. The unfair labor practices were alleged to have been committed by Babbitt after purchasing a nursery business from Lewis on January 21, 1979. Shortly before the sale of the nursery to Babbitt the UFW had won a decisive victory by unanimous vote in a representation election held among Lewis’ employees.

While Babbitt has objected to a number of the ALRB’s findings, the threshold issue concerns the propriety of the…

I must respectfully dissent. I view this as another example of the Board’s reaching beyond the evidence to impose sanctions on the agricultural employer. I am well aware of the standard of review this court must observe in addressing the issues, but I will restate them in the manner I have done more than once in ALRB cases.

The findings of the Board as to questions of fact are conclusive if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole (Lab. Code, § 1160.8). The standard of review by this court is met if there is relevant evidence in the record which a reasonable mind might accept in *337 support of the findings (Kawano, Inc. v. Agricultural Labor Relations Bd. (1980) 106 Cal.App.3d 937, 943 [ 165 Cal.Rptr. 492 ]). The United States Supreme Court gives us further guidance in Universal Camera Corp. v. Labor Bd. (1951) 340 U.S. 474, 487-488 [ 95 L.Ed. 456, 467 , 71 S.Ct. 456, 464-465 ]. “Whether or not it was ever permissible for courts to determine the substantiality of evidence supporting a Labor Board decision merely on the basis of evidence which in and of itself justified it, without taking into account contradictory evidence or evidence from which…

No appearance for Real Party in Interest.

OPINION

STANIFORTH, J.

Babbitt Engineering & Machinery, Inc. (Babbitt), seeks review of a final order of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB or Board) affirming the administrative law officer's (ALO) findings that Babbitt and San Marcos Greenhouses, Inc. (San Marcos) [1] had violated the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA) (Lab. Code, § 1141 et seq.) by (1) refusing to bargain with the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO (UFW or the Union), (2) engaging in a discriminatory campaign to refuse employment to former employees of Lewis Gardens, Inc. (Lewis) and (3) discriminatorily terminating three employees who had worked for Lewis. Based upon these findings the Board ordered a number of specific remedies, including payment of back wages to the affected employees. The unfair labor practices were alleged to have been committed by Babbitt after purchasing a nursery business from Lewis on January 21, 1979. Shortly before the sale of the nursery to Babbitt the UFW had won a decisive victory by unanimous vote in a representation election held among Lewis' employees.

While Babbitt has objected to a number of the ALRB's findings,…