National Labor Relations Board v. National Medical Hospital of Compton, Dba Dominguez Valley Hospital

In this unusually protracted labor relations controversy, the National Labor Relations Board seeks enforcement of a second order requiring the employer, National Medical Hospital of Compton, to bargain in good faith with Local 399 of the Service Employees International Union. In this proceeding, the Board agreed with the administrative law judge (“ALJ") that the employer had prematurely withdrawn recognition of the union during the year in which it was required to bargain pursuant to the Board’s original order in 1981 holding that the employer had unlawfully refused to bargain. As a remedy for this second violation, the Board extended the certification year for six months.

The employer does not dispute the lawfulness of the Board’s 1981 order that the employer had a duty to recognize and bargain with the union for a year. However, the employer here challenges the Board’s measurement of that year, contending that the Board acted in contravention of its own precedent when it held that the year commenced when the parties sat down at the bargaining table, rather than at an earlier time. We have carefully reviewed the authorities cited by both parties in support of their positions,…