🗞️ Judge Finds Las Vegas Waste Hauler Violated Labor Law During Union Drive
An NLRB judge ruled that Endurance Environmental Solutions unlawfully questioned, monitored, and disciplined Las Vegas drivers who unionized with Teamsters Local 631, ordering reinstatement, back pay, and information disclosure.
A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has found that Endurance Environmental Solutions, LLC, a waste hauling company operating out of the Apex landfill in Las Vegas, violated federal labor law at multiple points over nearly two years following a 2021 organizing drive by Teamsters Local 631. The decision, issued June 24, 2026, concludes that supervisors questioned employees about union meetings, created the impression that organizing activity was being monitored, and misrepresented hired labor consultants as government or union affiliated advisers. The judge also found that the company altered driver schedules and truck assignment procedures, then disciplined, suspended, or discharged four drivers, Luis Garibay Sr., Luis Garibay Jr., Martin Tapia, and Yaniel Cervantes, for conduct it had previously tolerated before the organizing campaign began. Separately, the company was found to have unlawfully withheld sick leave records the union requested during ongoing contract negotiations. Endurance did not appear at trial or submit a defense after its attorney withdrew from the case in April 2026, leaving the General Counsel's evidence largely unrebutted. The judge ordered reinstatement and back pay for the three discharged drivers, removal of disciplinary records for all four, restoration of prior working conditions, and disclosure of the requested payroll information, along with a workplace notice informing employees of their organizing rights. Because Endurance did not contest the case, the ruling reflects one side's evidence; it remains subject to Board review and could still be appealed.
Key Points
- The organizing campaign began in early 2021 when drivers contacted Teamsters Local 631; a majority voted to unionize in a July 2021 election.
- The judge found unlawful interrogation, impressions of surveillance, and misleading identification of company hired labor consultants as neutral or government affiliated.
- Four drivers, Luis Garibay Sr., Luis Garibay Jr., Martin Tapia, and Yaniel Cervantes, were found to have been disciplined or discharged for reasons the judge tied to their union activity rather than to legitimate workplace infractions.
- Schedule, key checkout, and truck assignment changes imposed in May and August 2021 were ruled retaliatory and were ordered rescinded.
- The company was found to have unlawfully refused to provide the union with requested sick time records beginning in December 2022.
- Endurance's attorney withdrew from the case in April 2026, and the company did not contest the allegations at trial, so most factual findings went unchallenged.
- Remedies include reinstatement and back pay with interest, expungement of discipline records, and a posted notice describing employee rights under the Act.
Primary Source Author: Geoffrey Carter, Administrative Law Judge, National Labor Relations Board
Primary Source: Endurance Environmental Solutions, LLC, Cases 28-CA-278714 et al. (JD-41-26)
Primary Source Link: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/28-CA-278714
