Reference no: EM131706420

Question: Shortly after the union won a representation election in a Philadelphia-area hospital, the hospital fired the union steward, allegedly for failing to report to work. Some eighteen months after the discharge, and while the unfair labor practice charge was still in litigation, a majority of the bargaining unit presented the president of the hospital with a petition requesting that the president withdraw recognition from the union and cease bargaining with it. Pursuant to the petition, after confirming the authenticity of the signatures and that it contained a majority of the bargaining unit members, the president withdrew recognition.

The union filed another unfair labor practice charge. If the hospital was found guilty of discriminatorily discharging the union steward, can you make an argument that it committed a second unfair labor practice by withdrawing recognition from the union while the unfair labor practice charge was pending? Do you reach a different result if at the time the petition was presented the hospital had been found guilty of the discriminatory discharge but was in the process of appealing the Board's decision? Would the result be different if the hospital had been found guilty but had immediately remedied the illegal action by reinstating the employee with back pay? See Taylor Hospital v. NLRB [770 F.2d 1075 (3d Cir. 1985)].