🗞️ One Day Makes the Difference: NLRB Enforces Certification Year Bar in Trinity Health Case

On January 5, 2026, Administrative Law Judge Renée D. McKinney issued a decision finding that Trinity Health-Michigan d/b/a Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital committed an unfair labor practice by withdrawing recognition from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Michigan on August 12, 2024. The union had been certified on August 9, 2023, to represent approximately 50 laboratory technicians, patient service representatives, and trainers at multiple Trinity Health outpatient facilities.

The case centered on the application of the Chelsea Industries rule, which prohibits employers from withdrawing recognition from a union outside the certification year based on evidence gathered during that protected period. Trinity Health received a decertification petition signed by 28 employees on August 8, 2024—one day before the certification year ended. The employer's human resources staff verified that the names on the petition matched active employees in the company's HR database, confirming their employment status but not authenticating the signatures themselves. Based on this verification, the employer withdrew recognition on August 12, 2024, three days after the certification year expired.

The ALJ found that while the employer had satisfied the Levitz Furniture standard requiring "objective evidence" of majority loss of support, the withdrawal violated the National Labor Relations Act because the underlying evidence was collected during the certification year. Under NLRB precedent established in Chelsea Industries, 331 NLRB 1648 (2000), this creates an irrebuttable presumption of continued majority status that protects newly certified unions from premature decertification efforts.

The certification year serves as a protected period designed to give unions time to negotiate an initial collective bargaining agreement without facing immediate challenges to their representative status. This insulation period is intended to prevent employers from engaging in surface bargaining or delaying negotiations while waiting for employee support to erode.

Trinity Health argued that Chelsea Industries should be overruled or distinguished because the employer did not engage in bad faith bargaining. The ALJ rejected this argument, noting that administrative law judges lack authority to overrule Board precedent and that the Chelsea Industries rule has been applied even in the absence of other unfair labor practices.

The decision ordered Trinity Health to recognize the union, bargain in good faith for a reasonable period, and post notices informing employees of their rights. The ruling reinforces the NLRB's longstanding policy of protecting the certification year as an inviolate period during which unions enjoy irrebuttable presumption of majority support.

Key Points

• Certification Year Protection: Union was certified August 9, 2023; employees signed decertification petition July 30-August 8, 2024
• Timing Violation: Employer withdrew recognition August 12, 2024, based on evidence gathered during the final days of the certification year
• Chelsea Industries Rule Applied: Evidence collected within the certification year cannot justify withdrawal of recognition outside that year
• Objective Evidence Standard Met But Insufficient: Employer verified employee names and active employment status against HR database, satisfying Levitz Furniture, but still violated the Act
• Bad Faith Not Required: Violation found despite no allegation of surface bargaining or other unfair labor practices
• Remedy Ordered: Employer must recognize union and bargain for reasonable period; affirmative bargaining order with notice posting required

Primary Source Author: Administrative Law Judge Renée D. McKinney

Primary Source: Trinity Health-Michigan d/b/a Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital, JD-03-26, Case No. 07-CA-348449 (NLRB Jan. 5, 2026)

Primary Source Link: NLRB Case File (Decision issued January 5, 2026)

Supplemental References

• Chelsea Industries, Inc. v. NLRB, 285 F.3d 1073 (D.C. Cir. 2002) - D.C. Circuit decision upholding the Chelsea Industries rule
• Levitz Furniture Co., 333 NLRB 717 (2001) - Establishes objective evidence standard for withdrawal of recognition
• NLRB Basic Guide to the National Labor Relations Act - Overview of representation procedures
• Johnson Controls, Inc., 368 NLRB No. 20 (2019) - Modified the Levitz standard for anticipatory withdrawals
• NLRB Region 7 - Trinity Health Grand Haven Injunction - Related case involving same employer
• National Right to Work Foundation - Decertification Elections Guide - Employee perspective on decertification process