The National Labor Relations Board decided a construction contractor illegally asked an employee whether he has signed a union card, reversing a ruling by one of the agency's administrative law judges, according to Bloomberg Law.
Valentine Verissimo, owner of C.O. Sabino Corp., Philadelphia, approached worker Thomas Boroughs at work and asked him whether he had signed a union card. Boroughs lied and said he hadn't. Verissimo later told Boroughs "I don't want no … union on my job site … I don't want a union here."
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Susan A. Flynn said the questioning of Boroughs wasn't coercive and dismissed unfair labor practice allegation by a Pennsylvania council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.
The union appealed, and the board disagreed with the ALJ.
For more than 30 years, the board has said it will consider a "totality of circumstances" in determining whether questions about union activity constitute unlawful interrogation.
The board found the questioning of Boroughs at his work site by a high-ranking company official was coercive and the employee's dishonest response to questioning indicated he viewed the question as threatening.
The board found the employer guilty of an unfair labor practice.
