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One to Keep An Eye On: Davidson Hotel Company, LLC v. NLRB (DC Court of Appeals)

 

As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out.  This is one to keep an eye on.


Last Thursday, the DC Court of Appeals held oral arguments in Davidson Hotel Company, LLC v. NLRB in which the Court is considering what an administrative agency needs to include in an adjudicative decision.

In Davidson Hotel Company, LLC, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a decision in which it authorized a pair of bargaining units.  Counsel for Davidson had argued that the hotel’s food and beverage workers and housekeeping employees worked together to provide “highly integrated” guest services such that the NLRB should not have allowed them to be grouped in separate bargaining units.  The NLRB’s decision to approve the pair of bargaining units was in conflict with its prior rulings which allowed only a single unit of hotel employees because their work was similarly integrated.  However, the NLRB’s decision did not directly address the cases cited by counsel for Davidson.

In oral arguments before a three judge panel from the DC Court of Appeals, the Court noted that if the NLRB is adjudicating disputes on a case by case basis (such as in Davidson), the NLRB might have an obligation to explain why earlier decisions are sufficiently different from the case at hand.  Counsel for the NLRB countered that the NLRB had met its burden to engage in reasoned decision making.  The argument followed that it would be a different situation if a party felt a major decision set a controlling legal standard that the NLRB did not discuss.  However, in Davidson, counsel for NLRB argued that the analysis was appropriate and it was not necessary for there to be a separate paragraph delineating between the facts in Davidson and prior precedent.

It will be interesting to see how the Court of Appeals rules.  Should the Court of Appeals find that the NLRB failed to distinguish the facts of Davidson with prior precedent, requiring administrative agencies to differentiate between all relevant prior precedent would be somewhat...unprecedented.  Pardon the pun.


For a link to the audio of the oral arguments:  https://www.courtlistener.com/audio/71467/davidson-hotel-company-llc-v-nlrb/

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