Region 28 Wins Injunction Requiring Las Vegas Laundry Company Bargain with Union, Rescind Changes, Reinstate Three Employees, and Conduct Notice Reading

Las Vegas, Nevada — On August 1, 2022, Judge Andrew P. Gordon of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada issued an injunction requiring Las Vegas, Nevada laundry company Apex Linen Holdings, LLC to bargain with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 501 as the representative of its engineering employees, rescind changes it made to its engineering employees’ terms and conditions of employment without bargaining with the union, reinstate three unlawfully laid off employees, post the order in English and Spanish, and conduct a reading of the order in English and Spanish.  

The injunction was issued based on a petition for temporary injunctive relief filed by Cornele A. Overstreet, Regional Director of Region 28 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), on behalf of the NLRB. Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act authorizes the NLRB to seek injunctions against employers and unions in federal district courts to stop unfair labor practices where, due to the passage of time, the normal Board processes are likely to be inadequate to effectively remedy the alleged violations. 

The petition alleged that Apex Linen Holdings, LLC was obligated to bargain with the union as a successor to Apex Linen Service LLC, after purchasing the business through a “free and clear” sale approved by a bankruptcy court. The petition alleged that, notwithstanding its bargaining obligation, Apex Linen Holdings, LLC refused to recognize and bargain with the union; made changes to employees’ terms and conditions of employment without bargaining with the union, including laying off employees; unlawfully laid off an employee because of his union support; and unlawfully misrepresented to its engineering employees they were no longer represented by the union.  

The granted relief will remain in effect during the pendency of administrative proceedings before the NLRB. In those proceedings, a hearing before an administrative law judge is scheduled to commence on August 16, 2022. The decision of the administrative law judge can be appealed to the National Labor Relations Board.  

“Workers have a right to keep their chosen union representative when the majority are hired by a successor employer that is continuing to perform the same work,” said Regional Director Overstreet. “Judge Gordon’s injunction will protect that right while the administrative case is pending before the National Labor Relations Board.” 

The case was briefed by Field Attorney Néstor Miguel Zárate Mancilla of the NLRB’s Region 28 and briefed on reply and argued by Regional Attorney Rachel Harvey of the NLRB’s Region 28. 

  

Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employees, employers, and unions from unfair labor practices and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year. Region 28 serves areas in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas from its Regional Office in Phoenix and its Resident Offices in Albuquerque and Las Vegas.