Health-Care Firm Nixed Union on Faulty Petition, NLRB Judge Says

A Michigan health-care company was wrong to withdraw recognition of a union representing worker at outpatient labs based on a prematurely prepared decertification petition, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

Trinity Health-Michigan relied on a petition to eject a Service Employees International Union affiliate that employees signed within the first year after the union was certified, a period that’s protected from attempts to remove a union, Administrative Law Judge Renee McKinney held Monday.

The case sets up the board to review Chelsea Industries, Inc., a 2000 precedent limiting attempts to oust unions during the year after their certification. ...