Yukon Kuskokwin Health Corp - Decision Summary

Yukon Kuskokwin Health Corp. (19-CA-26663; 341 NLRB No. 139) Bethel, AK May 28, 2004. Citing San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, 341 NLRB No. 138 (2004), which set forth a new approach for determining the Board's jurisdiction over enterprises associated with Indian tribes, Chairman Battista and Members Liebman and Walsh declined to assert jurisdiction in this case, overruled the Board's prior decision (329 NLRB No. 86 (1999)), and dismissed the complaint. The Board found in its 1999 decision that the Respondent violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act by refusing to bargain with Teamsters Local 959, following its certification as exclusive representative.

Member Schaumber, concurring, noted his agreement that the Board does not have jurisdiction over the Respondent and with the complaint's dismissal. He does not subscribe however to the majority's reasoning and wrote separately to explain his views. Member Schaumber held that tribal sovereignty would be infringed if the Board asserted jurisdiction over the Respondent. "Because no expression of Congressional intent to abrogate that sovereignty is to be found in the Act, the Board is without statutory authority to assert jurisdiction over the labor relations of the Respondent," he explained.

On December 19, 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied enforcement of the Board's Order, and remanded the case to the Board for further consideration of the Respondent's argument that it is entitled to exemption under Section 2(2) of the Act because the Indian Self-Determination Act (ISDA), 25 U.S.C. § 450, et seq. authorizes it to act as an arm of, and thus to share in the exemption of, the United States. 234 F.3d 714.

The Respondent is a regional nonprofit corporation that provides a comprehensive health services program for Southwestern Alaska. It is governed by a board of directors whose 20 members are elected by the tribal governments of 58 Alaskan Native tribes located in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area. In 1991, the Respondent took over the operation of the hospital at issue here, under the ISDA. Only 1 or 2 members of the approximately 40 employees in the petitioned-for bargaining unit are Native Alaskans. Ninety-five percent of the patients of the Respondent's hospital are Native Alaskans. The Respondent does not charge Native Alaskans for the services they receive at the hospital. Those services are covered by the annual Federal funding the Respondent receives from the Federal Government to operate the hospital, pursuant to Federal Government's trust responsibility to provide health care for Indians.

On remand, the majority decided that the Respondent is not exempt under Section 2(2) based on the nature of its status as a tribal compactor under the ISDA. Further, for the reasons set forth in San Manuel, they decided that the Respondent is not exempt as a State or political subdivision of the State. Consistent with San Manuel, the majority then decided that application of the Tuscarora-Coeur d'Alene analysis established no barrier to the Board's assertion of jurisdiction. Finally, they decided that policy considerations weigh against the Board asserting its discretionary jurisdiction in this case, noting that the Respondent, as an ISDA compactor, is fulfilling the Federal Government's trust responsibility to provide free health care to Indians and therefore, the character of the Respondent's enterprise and its principal patient base militate against the assertion of jurisdiction.

(Chairman Battista and Members Liebman, Schaumber, and Walsh participated.)