NLRB v. Southwest Displays ( 2022 )

Case: 22-60032 Document: 00516226064 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/04/2022
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
March 4, 2022
No. 22-60032
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
National Labor Relations Board,
Petitioner,
versus
Southwest Displays and Events, doing business as
SWXGlobal Design & Production,
Respondent.
Application for Summary Entry of a Judgment of the
National Labor Relations Board
NLRB No. 16-CA-264618
Before Smith, Higginson, and Willett, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
Southwest Displays and Events makes and delivers tradeshow
exhibits. With certain exclusions, all its employees performing “production
work” in its Dallas-based plant belong to a Union. The Union’s relationship
with Southwest, though, turned sour in the summer of 2020. That was when
*
Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 22-60032 Document: 00516226064 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/04/2022
No. 22-60032
Southwest withdrew its recognition of the Union. 1 It also refused to give the
Union requested health-and-safety information.
The Union complained to the National Labor Relations Board. The
NLRB filed a complaint against Southwest. An Administrative Law Judge
found that Southwest violated the National Labor Relations Act by both
withdrawing its recognition of the Union and refusing to provide it with the
requested health-and-safety information. The NLRB’s Board then
transferred the case to itself. It informed Southwest that it had about a month
to file exceptions to the ALJ’s decision. See 29 C.F.R. § 102.46. Otherwise,
the ALJ’s decision was liable to stick. See id. § 102.48. Southwest never did.
The Board adopted the ALJ’s decision, and now asks us for a summary entry
of judgment to enforce its order.
Congress has provided that “[n]o objection that has not been urged
before the Board . . . shall be considered by the court, unless the failure or
neglect to urge such objection shall be excused because of extraordinary
circumstances.” 29 U.S.C. § 160(e). And we have emphasized that “fail[ing]
to comply with the [Board’s] regulations requiring the filing of written
exceptions” entitles the Board to summary entry of judgment. N.L.R.B. v.
Mooney Aircraft, Inc., 310 F.2d 565, 566 (5th Cir. 1962) (per curiam).
Southwest, for its part, does not dispute the facts. It only disputes that its
conduct amounted to an FLSA violation. But that is a merits dispute, and
disputing the merits is not the kind of extraordinary circumstance that
exempts companies from the Board’s procedural rules. Therefore, IT IS
ORDERED that the Petitioner’s application for summary entry of a
judgment enforcing an order of the NLRB is GRANTED.
1
Southwest about-faced its withdrawal of recognition about a year later, in June
2021.
2