Aaron Medical Transportation, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 18, 2013

22-RC-070888 (N.L.R.B. Dec. 18, 2013)

1
PJS
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
AARON MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION, INC.
Employer
and Case 22-RC-070888
HUDSON COUNTY UNION LOCAL ONE
AMALGAMATED
Petitioner
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVE
The National Labor Relations Board, by a three-member panel, has
considered an objection to an election held March 22, 2013, and the
administrative law judge’s report recommending disposition of it. The tally of
ballots shows 26 for and 22 against the Petitioner, with 1 challenged ballot, an
insufficient number to affect the results.
The Board has reviewed the record in light of the exceptions and brief, has
adopted the judge’s findings and recommendations, and finds that a certification
of representative should be issued.1

1 Only Employer Objection 1 is presently before the Board. By unpublished
Order dated June 19, 2013, the Board adopted the Regional Director’s
recommendation to overrule, without a hearing, Employer Objections 2, 3, and 4
as they did not raise substantial and material factual issues.
We agree with the judge that Employer Objection 1 must be overruled
because the record fails to show that the stipulated polling hours were such that
eligible employees were prevented from voting. Community Care Systems, Inc.,
284 NLRB 1147, 1147 (1987) (“[W]here the election has gone ahead pursuant to
the parties’ stipulation, however reluctant, and it does not appear that the election
arrangements were such that employees were prevented from voting, we see no
2
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVE
IT IS CERTIFIED that a majority of valid ballots have been cast for
Hudson County Union Local One Amalgamated, and that it is the exclusive
collective-bargaining representative of the employees in the following appropriate
unit:
All full-time and regular part-time emergency medical technicians
and coach drivers employed by the Employer at its Hasbrouck
Heights, New Jersey facility, but excluding all office clerical
employees, dispatchers, managers, guards and supervisors as
defined in the Act, and all other employees.

basis for permitting the unsuccessful party to attack the election on the basis of a
condition to which it stipulated.”). Under such circumstances, it is insufficient that
some employees may have found it “inconvenient or difficult” to vote. Id. To be
sure, the Board should strive to choose polling hours that will promote maximum
participation. Had the Employer declined to stipulate to the hours it now protests,
thereby compelling the Regional Director to issue a decision respecting the
polling hours, and had the Employer timely appealed that decision to the Board,
there might well have been a basis for ordering different polling hours.
We reject the Employer’s argument that Sec. 11302.3 of the NLRB
Casehandling Manual (Part 2) Representation Proceedings compels the Board to
set aside the election because the stipulated polling hours were scheduled such
that some employees would have had to make a special trip to the polling place
to cast a ballot. Sec. 11302.3 merely suggests that polling hours be scheduled to
avoid the necessity of special trips; it does not mandate voting periods enabling
employees to cast ballots immediately before, during, or immediately after their
shifts. Further, the Casehandling Manual is intended to be used for guidance
only. It does not bind the Regional Offices, other General Counsel staff, or the
Board. Hempstead Lincoln Mercury Motors Corp., 349 NLRB 552, 552 fn.4
(2007); Queen Kapiolani Hotel, 316 NLRB 655, 655 fn.5 (1995).
Additionally, we reject the Employer’s argument that the judge erred by
failing to apply the disenfranchisement test described in Wolverine Dispatch, Inc.,
321 NLRB 796, 796-798 (1996). Under the disenfranchisement test, “an election
will be set aside if the objecting party shows that the number of voters possibly
disenfranchised by an election irregularity is sufficient to affect the election
outcome.” Garda World Security Corp., 356 NLRB No. 91, slip op. at 1 (2011)
(emphasis added). Unlike both Garda World Security and Wolverine Dispatch,
where the polls were closed when they were scheduled to be open, there was no
election irregularity here; the election was conducted exactly as specified in the
Stipulated Election Agreement.
3
Dated, Washington, D.C., December 18, 2013
____________________________________
MARK GASTON PEARCE, CHAIRMAN
____________________________________
HARRY I. JOHNSON, III, MEMBER
____________________________________
NANCY SCHIFFER, MEMBER
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD