When unions request grievance hearing info

Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act imposes on an employer the general obligation to furnish a union, on request, information relevant and necessary to the proper performance of its duties as bargaining representative, including information requested to process a grievance. NLRB v. Acme Industrial Co., 385 U.S. 432, 438, 439 (1967). Information pertaining to the bargaining unit is presumptively relevant and no specific showing of relevance is required. Ohio Power Co., 216 NLRB 987-991 (1975), enforced, 531 F.2d 1381 (4th Cir. 1986). Thus, in the context of a discharge or other disciplinary grievance, the National Labor Relations Board generally finds that an employer acts unlawfully by failing or refusing to provide, upon a union’s request, complete copies of a grievant’s personnel file; copies of applicable work rules; a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of bargaining-unit employees; and a statement setting forth the reasons for the discharge.

As to information related to witnesses, however, the board holdings are less clear. In the context of a union requesting witness names, the board has generally required an employer to provide such information unless the employer can make a sufficient evidentiary showing to support its asserted confidential defense. To do so, it must demonstrate a “legitimate and substantial” confidentiality interest. Even if the employer meets this burden, it must normally still seek an accommodation that would allow the union to obtain the information it needs while protecting the justified confidentiality concerns. See Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., 301 NLRB 1104, 1112 (1991). The board has applied these standards to find that asserted confidentiality interests have justified a conditional refusal to provide information about witnesses in certain circumstances. See N. Indiana Public Service Co., 347 NLRB 201, 211 (2006) (investigative notes of alleged threats of workplace violence created under the promise of confidentiality); Postal Service, 304 NLRB 474 (1992) (names of witnesses to drug deals).