KAISER FOUNDATION HEALTH PLAN, INC.; KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS; SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PERMANENTE MED

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board Decisions

Feb 27, 2020

32-CA-169979 (N.L.R.B. Feb. 27, 2020)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
KAISER FOUNDATION HEALTH PLAN, INC.,
KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS,
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PERMANENTE
MEDICAL GROUP, AND THE PERMAMENTE
MEDICAL GROUP, INC.
and Case 32-CA-169979
ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS OF CALIFORNIA,
IFPTE LOCAL 20, AFL–CIO & CLC
NOTICE TO SHOW CAUSE
On August 24, 2018, Administrative Law Judge Lisa D. Thompson issued a
decision finding that the Respondents violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor
Relations Act by maintaining two unlawful provisions in their Electronic Assets Usage
Policy. The judge applied the standard set forth in Purple Communications, Inc., 361
NLRB 1050 (2014), for determining the lawfulness of an employer’s rule restricting
employee use of a company’s email system. Recently, the Board overruled Purple
Communications and announced a new standard that applies retroactively to all
pending cases. Caesars Entertainment d/b/a Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, 368
NLRB No. 143, slip op. at 8-9 (2019). In that decision, the Board held, in relevant part,
that “an employer does not violate the Act by restricting the nonbusiness use of its IT
resources absent proof that employees would otherwise be deprived of any reasonable
means of communicating with each other.” Id., slip op. at 8 (emphasis added). The
parties have not had an opportunity to address whether this exception to the rule of
Caesars Entertainment applies to the facts of this case. Accordingly, having duly
considered the matter,
2
NOTICE IS GIVEN that cause be shown, in writing, filed with the Board in
Washington, D.C., on or before March 12, 2020 (with affidavit of service on the parties
to this proceeding), why this case should not be remanded to the administrative law
judge for further proceedings consistent with the Board’s decision in Caesars
Entertainment, including reopening the record if necessary. Any briefs or statements in
support of the response shall be filed on the same date.
Dated, Washington, D.C., February 27, 2020.
By direction of the Board:
Roxanne L. Rothschild
Executive Secretary