AIRGAS USA, LLC

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board Decisions

Sep 24, 2020

16-RC-262896 (N.L.R.B. Sep. 24, 2020)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
AIRGAS USA, LLC
Employer
and Case 16-RC-262896
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
TEAMSTERS, LOCAL 745
Petitioner
ORDER
The Employer’s Emergency Motion to Stay Mail Ballot Election is granted. The
Employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of Election is
granted in part, as his direction of a mail-ballot election raises substantial issues warranting
review.1
MARVIN E. KAPLAN, MEMBER
WILLIAM J. EMANUEL, MEMBER
Dated, Washington, D.C., September 24, 2020.
MEMBER McFERRAN, dissenting in part.
I would deny the Employer’s requests for a stay and review of the Regional Director’s
decision to order a mail-ballot election due to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.2
The mechanics of an election, including whether it is to be conducted by mail ballot, lie within
the discretion of the Regional Director. See San Diego Gas & Electric, 325 NLRB 1143, 1144
(1998). Here, the Regional Director clearly and rationally considered all the relevant
circumstances, including those supporting the Employer’s argument for a manual election, but on
balance concluded that a mail-ballot election was warranted in this case. Although individual
Board Members might themselves have struck the balance differently were they deciding the
case in the first instance, that is not the applicable standard. Applying the correct standard, there
1 We are not ruling, at this time, on the Employer’s request for review of the Regional Director’s
appropriate-unit determination.
2 I do not object to my colleagues’ decision to defer ruling on the Employer’s request for review
of the Regional Director’s appropriate-unit determination.
2
is no basis to conclude that the Regional Director “clearly abused” his discretion. National Van
Lines, 120 NLRB 1343, 1346 (1958). Accordingly, I dissent.
Dated, Washington, D.C., September 24, 2020.
_____________________________________
Lauren McFerran, Member
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD