(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has invalidated a Union loss in a Representation Election at the Ace Heating & Air Conditioning Company in Cleveland by ruling the contractor unlawfully threatened Employees with business closure. 

The ruling reverses the finding of an administrative law judge and calls for a second election, which is a win for Sheet Metal Workers Local 33.

On June 15th, the NLRB found Ace Heating & Air Conditioning violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and engaged in objectionable conduct.  Ace did so through a supervisor’s threat to shutter the business if the company’s eight full-time Field Installers and Service Technicians chose Local 33 to represent them, the Board said.

The decision shows a threatening speaker’s status as an employer’s supervisor or agent will overshadow evidence of the speaker’s Pro-Union intentions in the determination of whether the threat might have influenced Employees not to exercise their NLRA-protected rights.

Ace Heating & Air Conditioning is responsible for the threats because the contractor, Ed Dudek, was acting as the company’s statutory supervisor and was speaking as the company’s agent.

The NLRB decision was split, however, with some members dissenting.

NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce, a Buffalo, New York native, and Member Lauren McFerran joined the decision.

In the end, the NLRB maintained the ruling is consistent with an important NLRB position, one that has become more ubiquitous in cases of subcontractors and franchises: an employer is accountable for the actions of its supervisors.

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