Gerawan Farming, Inc. v. Agric. Labor Relations Bd.

*1140 This case involves the intersection of two of the fundamental purposes of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act ( Labor Code, 1 § 1140 et seq.; the ALRA): one is the policy to provide agricultural workers with the right to choose in questions of labor representation through a secret ballot election process (§§ 1140.2, 1152, 1156-1156.7; see J.R. Norton Co. v. Agricultural Labor Relations Bd. (1979) 26 Cal.3d 1 , 8, 34, 160 Cal.Rptr. 710 , 603 P.2d 1306 ); the other is the policy to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by employers. 2 (§§ 1160-1160.9.) Both of these *104 important statutory goals were directly at *1141 stake-and to some extent at odds-in the proceedings below before the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (the Board). An election to decide whether to decertify an incumbent union (the United Farm Workers of America or the UFW) had been ordered by the Board based on an employee petition, and a vote was actually taken, but from the Board's perspective there were lingering issues of whether alleged misconduct by the employer, Gerawan Farming, Inc. (Gerawan), may have tainted the employees' decertification effort. The ballots were impounded and…