JOHNSON CONTROLS, INC.

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board Decisions

May 18, 2020

16-RC-256972 (N.L.R.B. May. 18, 2020)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
JOHNSON CONTROLS, INC.
Employer
and 16-RC-256972
SMART - SOUTHWEST GULF COAST
REGIONAL COUNCIL
Petitioner
ORDER
The Employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of
Election is denied as raising no substantial issues warranting review.1 The Employer’s request
for extraordinary relief is denied as moot.2
1 In denying review, we note that the Board’s decision in San Diego Gas & Electric, 325
NLRB 1143, 1145 (1998), recognizes that Board elections should, as a general rule, be
conducted manually and specifies well-settled guidelines for determining whether a mail-ballot
election would normally be appropriate. But, in San Diego Gas & Electric, the Board also
recognized that “there may be other relevant factors that the Regional Director may consider in
making this decision” and that “extraordinary circumstances” could permit a Regional Director
to exercise his or her discretion outside of the guidelines set forth in that decision. Id.
In finding that a mail-ballot election is warranted in this case, we rely on the
extraordinary federal, state, and local government directives that have limited nonessential travel,
required the closure of nonessential businesses, and resulted in a determination that the regional
office charged with conducting this election should remain on mandatory telework. Mandatory
telework in the regional office is based on the Agency’s assessment of current Covid-19
pandemic conditions in the local area. Under all of the foregoing circumstances, we are satisfied
that the Regional Director did not abuse his discretion in ordering a mail-ballot election here. In
so finding, we do not rely on the Regional Director’s citation to Isbrandtsen Steamship Co., Inc.,
51 NLRB 883, 885 (1943), or Sitka Sound Seafoods, 325 NLRB 685 (1998).
The Employer contends that the Regional Director breached the Board’s procedures and
due process requirements by not setting a location for the ballot count. We find no basis for this
contention at this time, but the Employer retains the right to renew its contentions in connection
with any request for review of any subsequent action taken in this case.
The Board is open to addressing the normal criteria for mail balloting in a future
appropriate proceeding.
2 We are treating the Employer’s motions to stay the mail-ballot election and to proceed
with manual election as a request for extraordinary relief under Sec. 102.67(j) of the Board’s
Rules and Regulations.
JOHN F. RING, CHAIRMAN
MARVIN E. KAPLAN, MEMBER
WILLIAM J. EMANUEL, MEMBER
Dated, Washington, D.C., May 18, 2020