Beneli v. National Labor Relations Board

Babcock & Wilcox Construction Company (B&W) fired Coletta Kim Beneli (plaintiff) just two months after hiring her, citing safety violations and inappropriate conduct. However, Beneli claimed the termination unlawfully resulted from her activities for the International Union of Operating Engineers (union). The union filed a grievance. Per the collective-bargaining agreement (CBA), the dispute proceeded to binding arbitration before a grievance-review subcommittee. After hearing from witnesses, the subcommittee upheld Beneli’s termination. Believing the decision was inconsistent with the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) (defendant) issued a complaint against B&W. An administrative-law judge (ALJ) recommended that the NLRB defer to the subcommittee’s decision, citing the NLRB’s long-standing deference standard for arbitral decisions, known as the Spielberg/Olin standard. The NLRB’s general counsel recommended reconsidering that standard. The NLRB adopted the ALJ’s recommendation to uphold the subcommittee’s decision. However, the NLRB’s order also adopted a new deference standard, under which a party seeking deference to an arbitral decision bore the burden of showing that deference was proper, making deference less likely. The NLRB determined the new standard should apply only prospectively, not to present cases like Beneli’s case, because of the impact on employers’ and unions’ well-founded expectations. Beneli appealed, arguing that the new standard should have been applied to her case.