Company Beat ULP Despite Itself

HPC Industrial fired a janitor at a Ford plant after a minor forklift accident. Nobody was hurt. Nothing was damaged. The witness even noted the driver “was not impaired.” But when the company ordered a routine post-accident drug and alcohol test, the employee asked for his union steward to come along. The company said no, he refused to test, and HPC fired him.

The ALJ determined the refusal was a material reason for the firing — which normally means the employer loses a Weingarten case.

But here, the union screwed up. It filed a grievance, never mentioned Weingarten, accepted the termination at step three, and never filed a charge. (The employee filed the ULP after termination.) That, the judge held, was a “clear and unmistakable” waiver of the employee’s right to representation.

Employers shouldn’t count on unions screwing up, though. HPC survived because the union dropped the ball — not because insisting on a rep-free test was smart. Give the representative the two hours. It’s cheaper than a trial.