Employer Need Not Provide Notice and Opportunity for Post-Discharge Bargaining

The National Labor Relations Board held that an employer had no obligation to give the union notice and the opportunity to bargain before discharging employees under existing disciplinary standards after a union election but before the union was certified.

In Oberthur Technologies of America Corp., the employees were discharged after the union won an election but before it was certified by the Board. Under the Board’s precedent set forth in Fresno Bee, an employer does not violate the Act when it imposes discipline pursuant to pre-existing disciplinary policies, even if some discretion as to the application of the policies exists. The employer is required, however, to bargain post-discharge with the union upon the union’s request. In this case, the union never requested such bargaining, and therefore the employer did not incur a duty to bargain and did not refuse to bargain in violation of the Act.