Temple University Hospital v. NLRB, No. 21-1111 (D.C. Cir. 2022)
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In 2015 the labor union representing employees of Temple University Hospital (“Hospital”) petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) to exercise jurisdiction over its relationship with the Hospital. Over the Hospital’s objections, the NLRB granted the petition, asserted jurisdiction, and certified the union as the representative of an expanded unit of employees. the Hospital refused to bargain with the union and eventually filed a petition for review.
On remand, the NLRB again asserted jurisdiction over the Hospital after determining that principles of judicial estoppel are inapplicable. The Hospital continued to resist that result, and it renewed the additional arguments the DC Circuit had no occasion to address in 2019.
The DC Circuit denied the petition or review and granted the Board’s cross-application for enforcement. The court held that the Hospital did not identify any error in NLRB’s decision.
The court explained that the Hospital points out that the Board’s jurisdiction is discretionary and not mandatory. The Board, though, recognized as much, acknowledging that it “does not always exercise the power Congress granted it in Section 10(a).” The fact that the Board may at times decline to exercise its jurisdiction is by no means inconsistent with its choice to avoid a regime in which the petition-filing practices of private parties—rather than the Board’s own discretionary decisions—could prevent it from hearing a dispute it would otherwise entertain. Moreover, the Board reasonably determined that the Hospital does not qualify as a political subdivision of Pennsylvania.
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