National Labor Relations Board v. Leonard Creations of California, Inc.

At a union representation election among employees of Leonard Creations of California, Inc., 62 employees voted in favor of representation, 61 voted against, and one ballot is contested. The contested ballot exhibits a full “X” in the box indicating a vote against union representation and a slash in the box in favor of it. The National Labor Relations Board found the ballot invalid, and thus determined the election outcome in favor of unionization. Consequently, the Board certified the union as representative of the employees.

The company refused to bargain with the union, in order to obtain review in this court of the Board’s certification of the union. The Board petitioned to enforce its order to bargain, after finding that the company violated §§ 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act by its refusal to bargain and by its unilateral grant of a wage increase. We reverse the Board.

While the NLRB has often held that marks in two alternative squares on a ballot render it invalid, see, e. g., Caribe Industrial and Electrical Supply, Inc., 216 N.L.R.B. 168 (1975); Bon Tool & Die Co., 115 N.L. R.B. 103 (1956), the underlying principle favors inclusion of a ballot in an…