National Labor Relations Board v. Consolidated Liberty, Inc., D/B/A Hy-Lond Convalescent Hospital

This case arises on the request of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) for enforcement of its April, 1980 order, requiring that Consolidated Liberty (Consolidated) cease and desist from refusing to bargain with the Union, and from “interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of” their section 7 rights. That order also required Consolidated to bargain with the Union on request, to embody any agreement in a signed contract, and to post appropriate notices. For the reasons set forth below, we deny enforcement and remand for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

FACTS

Consolidated operates a convalescent hospital in Sacramento, California. In May, 1979, a consent election was conducted by the Board for certain employee units of the hospital to determine whether those employee units were to be represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 22, SEIU, AFL-CIO (Union). The ballot tally indicated 32 votes for and 29 votes against the Union, with four void and four challenged ballots. Subsequently, the Board issued a corrected tally indicating three, not four, void ballots.

Pursuant to the accepted administrative regulations…