McLeod v. Business Machine & Office Appliance Mechanics Conference Board

Summary

The Second Circuit reversed a district court injunction issued under section 10(l) of the National Labor Relations Act against Local 459's handbilling of businesses that leased or used equipment serviced by the primary employer. The court held that existing NLRB precedent concerning the publicity proviso made it unreasonable to anticipate that the Board would find an unfair labor practice based on the alleged secondary handbilling. The court also held that the district court could not consider the charging party's separate contention that the handbills were untruthful because that issue had not been raised by the Regional Director.

Holdings

1. A section 10(l) injunction may not issue absent a reasonable possibility that the National Labor Relations Board will sustain the unfair-labor-practice charge. Existing Board precedent construed the publicity proviso to protect the handbilling at issue, so the district court could not properly grant the injunction.
2. The court could not grant relief based on the charging party's untruthfulness theory when the Regional Director had not relied on that theory in the petition or argument. A section 10(l) proceeding is limited to the Regional Director's asserted factual and legal basis.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a section 10(l) injunction may issue when existing National Labor Relations Board precedent makes it unlikely that the Board would find the charged conduct to be an unfair labor practice.
2. Whether the court could grant injunctive relief based on the charging party's assertion that the handbills were untruthful when the Regional Director did not rely on that theory in seeking the injunction.

Disposition

reversed