NLRB v. RELCO Locomotive, No. 12-2111 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseIn these consolidated cases, the court addressed the Board's finding that RELCO unlawfully discharged eight workers for engaging in protected labor activity and RELCO's subsequent challenge to the Board's composition. The court concluded that substantial evidence supported the Board's labor law conclusions. The court also concluded that it lacked authority to decide RELCO's challenge to the recess appointments where RELCO's challenge was barred by 29 U.S.C. 160(e)'s jurisdictional exhaustion requirement. Accordingly, the court granted the Board's application for enforcement and denied RELCO's petitions for review.
Court Description: Petition for Review - NLRB. In petition for review of two NLRB proceedings, RELCO Locomotives seeks review of two NLRB orders finding it unlawfully discharged a total of eight workers for engaging in protected labor activities and ordering reinstatement. Upon review of each employee's termination, substantial evidence supports the Board's labor law conclusions. After initial briefing RELCO raised issue challenging the Board's composition and claiming three members had been appointed in violation of the recess appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution. RELCO waived its challenge to the Board's composition because it did not raise the issue before the Board and therefore 29 U.S.C. sec. 160(e) bars this court from considering the issue. In addition, because the Board's decision was not "patently . . . outside the orbit" of the Board's authority nor were there any new developments of fact or law unavailable to RELCO during the original Board hearing, this case did not present extraordinary circumstances required for this court to reach the unpreserved argument. Judge Smith dissents on the recess appointment issue.
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