Air Surrey Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board

Order This case is before the court on petition of Air Surrey Corporation to review and set aside an order of the National Labor Relations Board finding petitioner violated § 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), when it discharged one of its employees for seeking information concerning the amount of funds in petitioner's payroll checking account. 229 NLRB No. 155. The Board has cross-petitioned for enforcement. These petitions are properly before this court since the alleged unfair labor practice occurred in Medina, Ohio. 29 U.S.C. § 160(e). During March and April of 1976 the petitioner had issued several payroll checks that were not paid by the drawee bank for insufficient funds. Each check was eventually paid by petitioner, but the employees became concerned about the petitioner's financial position. On April 9, 1976, a payday, employees Patton, Guitar, Cline, and Sanders discussed the paycheck problem at lunch. They agreed they would go to petitioner's bank to inquire whether sufficient funds existed to cover the payroll. Only employee Patton entered the bank since the others had trouble parking the automobile. Patton was informed by a bank teller that there did not exist sufficient funds in the account to cover the entire payroll.