Charlie Rossi Ford, Inc. v. Milo v. Price, Regional Director of Region 28 of the National Labor Relations Board

Pursuant to a Stipulation for Certification Upon Consent Election, a secret ballot election on the question of union representation was conducted among certain employees of Charlie Rossi Ford. The employer challenged the votes of two individuals as outside of the agreed bargaining unit and not included on the company’s eligibility list. Because the challenged votes could have affected the outcome of the election, the Regional Director conducted an investigation. He recommended that the votes should be counted. This recommendation was considered by the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”), which ordered the votes “counted” and the result of the election (for union representation) certified. Thereafter, the employer filed its complaint in the district ‘court for declaratory and injunctive relief. The court dismissed the action for want of subject matter jurisdiction.

Under the general rule, an order of the Board in a certification proceeding is not subject to direct judicial review; rather, an employer aggrieved by a certification decision must precipitate an unfair-labor-practice decision by the Board by refusing to bargain with the certified representative in order to…