🗞️ When Silence Becomes a Violation: NLRB Rules Puerto Rico Contractor Failed Its Duty to Bargain

A federal labor board has ruled against a Puerto Rico maintenance contractor that withheld routine employment records from the union representing its workers at Veterans Administration hospitals across the island, finding the company in violation of its legal duty to bargain in good faith.

In a decision issued May 22, 2026, the National Labor Relations Board affirmed an administrative law judge's ruling that OS-DB-JV-2, LLC committed unfair labor practices under Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act. The company refused to furnish five of the six categories of information requested by Sindicato Puertorriqueño de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras, Local 1996, SEIU, and unreasonably delayed its response to a sixth. The records at issue were not proprietary or particularly complex: work schedules for the prior two years, payroll records for the prior three years, and breakdowns of holiday pay, vacation accruals, and sick leave for bargaining unit employees. The company also took eight weeks to respond to the union's question about when a contractually scheduled January 2024 pay raise, which had been held up pending disbursement from the Department of Veterans Affairs, would reach workers' paychecks.

The union submitted its initial request on February 21, 2024, roughly eight months after the parties had signed their first collective bargaining agreement in June 2023. The company forwarded the request to outside counsel and indicated that at least some information would be provided within weeks. None of the requested records were ever furnished.

The employer argued that records predating the collective bargaining agreement lost their relevance once the contract took effect. The Board rejected that position, citing longstanding precedent establishing that historical employment data can be essential to determining whether a contract is being properly administered. For a newly organized bargaining unit working under its first contract, baseline pay and scheduling data from the period immediately before the agreement carries particular weight.

The Board also addressed the employer's objection that the union had requested records in Excel format. Under established NLRB doctrine, a company that does not possess records in a requested format is required to say so, as is a company that does not possess the records at all. The employer did neither.

The ruling orders OS-DB-JV-2 to furnish the outstanding records, post bilingual notices at its San Juan and Mayaguez, Puerto Rico facilities for 60 consecutive days, distribute the notice electronically, and file a sworn compliance certification with the Regional Director within 21 days.

Key Points

• OS-DB-JV-2, LLC provides janitorial and maintenance services at VA hospitals in San Juan, Ponce, and Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
• SEIU Local 1996 was certified as the bargaining representative in October 2022; the parties' first collective bargaining agreement took effect June 23, 2023
• On February 21, 2024, the union requested payroll data, work schedules, and leave records to help administer the new contract
• The company refused to furnish five of the six requested categories of information and never asserted that the requests were burdensome or the records difficult to locate
• An eight-week delay in responding to a question about a pending pay raise constituted a separate violation
• The Board reaffirmed that pre-contract employment data can remain relevant after a CBA takes effect, particularly in the context of a newly negotiated first contract
• Employers that do not possess records in a requested format, or do not possess the records at all, are obligated to inform the union; silence is not a permissible response
• The decision imposes no financial penalties but requires prompt compliance and sustained notice posting

Primary Source Author: Chairman James R. Murphy, with Members David M. Prouty and Scott A. Mayer (NLRB)

Primary Source: OS-DB-JV-2, LLC and Sindicato Puertorriqueño de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras, Local 1996, SEIU, 374 NLRB No. 115 (May 22, 2026)

Primary Source Link: www.nlrb.gov/case/12-CA-339997

Supplemental References

• NLRB: Bargaining in Good Faith — Employer Obligations Under Section 8(a)(5)
• NLRB: Collective Bargaining Under Section 8(d)
• Proskauer Rose LLP: Employer's Duty to Provide Information Under the NLRA
• Section 8(a)(5) Bargaining Obligations — Substack Analysis
• Parsons Behle: Are You Required to Provide Confidential Information to Your Union?