National Grid Violates Federal Labor Law, Labor Board Finds; Local 97 Wins Case and Company Ordered to Cease and Desist From Engaging in Further Unlawful Activities
Local 97 recently obtained a decisive legal victory against National Grid before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The dispute arose when Local 97 requested certain relevant information from the company that it needed in order to process two employee-discipline grievances. Under the law, when a union makes a request for relevant information, the employer has a duty to supply the information in a timely fashion or to adequately explain why the information will not be furnished. However, the company refused to timely provide relevant information to Local 97 in response to its information requests. Local 97 decided to take action and filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB. After a multi-day trial, the NLRB found that despite having easy access to the information requested by Local 97, the company waited an inordinate amount of time before producing it and, further, had no valid excuse or explanation for its delay. This, according to the NLRB, was a clear violation of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB ordered the company to immediately cease and desist from engaging in further unlawful activities and also ordered it to post a Notice in the Syracuse Office Complex and on the company intranet acknowledging the NLRB’s findings and promising not to violate the law in the future.
