National Labor Relations Board v. Texaco, Inc.

The NLRB found that respondent, (Texaco, Inc., violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158 (a)(1) when it refused to permit a union representative to participate in an interview with an employee which culminated in discipline of the employee. 251 NLRB No. 63 , 105 LRRM 1239 (1980). The Board here seeks enforcement of its order requiring Texaco to expunge its records of the reprimand issued to the employee. Texaco’s principal contentions are, first, that the interview was not an “investigatory” interview for which employees have the right to a union representative under NLRB v. Weingarten, 420 U.S. 251 , 95 S.Ct. 959 , 43 L.Ed.2d 171 (1975) and, second, that even if the employee was entitled to have a representative, Texaco fulfilled all of its obligations by permitting the representative to attend the interview and that the company was not required to permit the representative to speak. We enforce the Board’s order.

The episode giving rise to the unfair labor practice charge began when a Texaco foreman, Linnell, discovered that a safety device of one employee, Deutsch, had not been activated. Linnell questioned other employees about the incident…