MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A federal agency says Hyundai Motor Co.’s Montgomery assembly plant must rehire three workers fired after they walked off the job after a 2015 Christmas-season work schedule dispute.
An administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board ruled this week that paint shop employees Nathan Howard, Justin Cleckler and Nathan Yarbrough engaged in “protected concerted activity.” They left the job at the same time on Dec. 22, 2015.
Administrative law judge Arthur Amchan also found that a Hyundai Team Relations Specialist Gregory Gomez “unlawfully interrogated” the workers after the walkout.
The Montgomery Advertiser (https://on.mgmadv.com/2nknwIa) reports the Hyundai plant must rehire the workers, give them back pay with interest, and post a notice stating the company won’t interfere with labor activity.
Hyundai says it plans to appeal and that it “respectfully disagrees” with the judge’s decision.
According to federal documents, the dispute was over a change to the work schedule for robot maintenance teams just before the 2015 Christmas-season shutdown. The three workers were part of a team that was scheduled to work from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 22.
Two days before the shift, a supervisor allegedly told the team members - including Howard, Cleckler and Yarbrough - that they would instead work from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., even though the posted schedule wasn’t changed. At 2 p.m. on Dec. 22, the three workers clocked out and left the plant.
The next day, filings state that Gomez interviewed the three employees separately and asked them identical questions, including whether they talked with each other before leaving. Amchan ruled that the circumstances of those interviews and the questions asked were “coercive” and violated labor law.
The three employees continued to work at the plant until the following month.
On Jan. 11, 2016, they were given identical termination letters that said they voluntarily resigned when they left early on Dec. 22, according to federal filings. Amchan rejected the notion that the workers resigned, noting that under those guidelines “any protected strike constitutes a voluntary resignation.”
However, Amchan also rejected an allegation by Howard that a supervisor warned him not to say the word “union.” In his ruling, Amchan called that complaint “very contrived” and dismissed it.
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Information from: Montgomery Advertiser, https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com
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