Aero Ambulance Service, Inc. (2007)

Aero Ambulance Service, Inc. and Teamsters Union Local 617 a/w International Brotherhood of Teamsters. [1] Case 22–CA–20950

May 31, 2007

SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER

By Chairman Battista and Members Liebman and Schaumber

On September 21, 2001, Administrative Law Judge Raymond P. Green issued the attached second supplemental decision.[2] With respect to discriminatee Guy Greene, the General Counsel filed exceptions and a supporting brief, the Respondent filed a brief in opposition, and the General Counsel filed a reply brief. The Respondent also filed cross-exceptions and a supporting brief, and the General Counsel filed an answering brief. With respect to discriminatee Michael Goldblatt, the Respondent filed exceptions and a supporting brief, the General Counsel filed an answering brief, and the Respondent filed a reply brief.

The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.

The Board has considered the decision and the record in light of the exceptions and briefs and has decided to affirm the judge’s rulings, findings, and conclusions and to adopt the recommended Order as modified.

We agree with the judge, for the reasons he states, that the Respondent owes Guy Greene the sum of $19,793.12 in backpay, plus interest. For the reasons set forth below, we disagree with the judge’s determination that the Respondent owes Michael Goldblatt the sum of $44,358.65 in backpay, plus interest. The General Counsel argued, and the judge agreed, that Goldblatt’s backpay period began with his October 6, 1995 discharge and continued until January 31, 2000, when it terminated based on the Respondent’s valid offer of reinstatement to Goldblatt. The judge found that Goldblatt mitigated his damages from the fourth quarter of 1995 through the end of the second quarter of 1998. During that period of time, he increased his hours at Pathmark (where he worked while also working for the Respondent), leaving Pathmark in July 1997. He also obtained full-time employment in January 1997 as an EMT (the position from which he was unlawfully discharged) at Life Support Ambulance, where he worked until February 14, 1998. Thereafter, he looked for jobs as a bartender and film extra. Other than the second quarter of 1998, Goldblatt reported interim earnings in every quarter during that period. These earnings ranged from a low amount of less than $300 to a high amount of almost $7000. Indeed, Goldblatt’s interim earnings were high enough to yield no net backpay for the second and third quarters of 1997, and only a token payment for the fourth quarter of that year.[3] In 1999 and 2000, Goldblatt worked as a bartender and a film extra and the judge deducted those earnings but indicated that the Respondent owed the difference between those earnings and what Goldblatt would have earned with the Respondent.

In July 1998, Goldblatt applied for social security disability insurance (SDDI) benefits and began receiving them in November 1998, with retroactive payments for August and September. Goldblatt was not employed at all during the third and fourth quarters of 1998, and the judge tolled backpay for those periods. On this record, the judge found that Goldblatt’s SSDI benefits constituted interim earnings and that, during the period up through January 31, 2000, when Goldblatt received an offer of reinstatement from the...

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