A California nursing home violated federal labor law when it fired several of its workers who were trying to organize a union, the D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday (March 5).
The National Labor Relations Board found that Novato Healthcare Center, a skilled-nursing facility in California with about 170 patients, had committed unfair labor practices in 2015 by firing five of its employees and interrogating one employee about his intention to vote to unionize. In Novato Healthcare Center v. NLRB, the company challenged the board’s findings at the D.C. Circuit.
The court defers to an NLRB finding unless the finding is unsupported by substantial evidence or the NLRB acted arbitrarily. In a pop culture-laden opinion by Chief Judge Garland (joined by Judges Griffith and Edwards), the court affirmed the NLRB in large part because the NLRB’s trial counsel did such a nice job cross-examining—and destroying the credibility of—a key Novato defense witness. The cross-examination was so effective that Garland likened the NLRB’s trial counsel to Vinny Gambini from My Cousin Vinny. Lest you don’t get the reference, Garland even included a transcript of the iconic movie scene in a two-page footnote in the opinion.
