Advanced Life Sys. Inc. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd.

Millett, Circuit Judge.

Unfair if you do; unfair if you don't. As a practical matter, that is the position in which the National Labor Relations Board's decision in this case left the employer. Advanced Life Systems, a family owned-and-operated small business, found itself whipsawed between Board precedent that, on the one hand, forbids employers to make pay increases and holiday gifts without first negotiating with the union, and, on the other, generally forbids employers to stop making increases and holiday gifts after a union's election. We hold that two statements by the company's owner…