National Labor Relations Board v. Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc.
United States Supreme Court
494 U.S. 775 (1990)
After a union struck Curtin Matheson Scientific (CMS) (defendant), CMS hired 22 replacement workers, forming a majority of its workforce, and withdrew recognition of the union based on one replacement worker's interview suggesting the union no longer had majority support. The NLRB (plaintiff), applying its post-1987 policy of making no presumption about strike-replacement workers' views on the union (having earlier presumed such workers opposed, then later presumed they supported, the union), found CMS had not shown the union actually lost majority support and ordered CMS to bargain; the court of appeals refused to enforce the order, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether a federal agency's statutory-implementation policy is entitled to judicial deference if it is rational and consistent with the statute, even if it represents a change from prior agency policy.