Matson Terminals, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 637 F. App'x 609

Matson Terminals, Inc. sought review of an NLRB decision finding an unfair labor practice for refusing to bargain with a certified union of longshoremen in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Matson challenged the Board's credibility determinations made in a prior representation proceeding and the Regional Director's finding on supervisory status of certain superintendents.
The Board argued that Matson failed to raise the credibility issue in the representation proceeding, and thus could not raise it later.
The Regional Director concluded the superintendents and senior superintendents did not meet the NLRA's supervisory definition (29 U.S.C. § 152(11)).
The Board acknowledged a prior contrary Board decision from 2000 but found changes in Matson’s operations warranted a different result.
The DC Circuit denied Matson’s petition for review and granted the Board’s enforcement cross-application.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether credibility determinations were properly raised	Matson	Board rule bars raising new issues later	Rule bars new issues; no abuse of discretion
Whether superintendents are supervisors under the NLRA	Matson	Supervisors criteria not met due to centralized planning	Regional Director’s determination sustained; not supervisors
Timeliness of raising representation issue	Matson	Not timely raised in representation proceeding	Properly foreclosed by 29 C.F.R. § 102.67(f)

VIP Health Servs., Inc. v. NLRB, 164 F.3d 644 (D.C.Cir.1999) (substantial evidence standard applied to supervisor issue)
Pace Univ. v. NLRB, 514 F.3d 19 (D.C.Cir.2008) (absence of abuse of discretion; issues not litigated are not before court)
NLRB v. Ky. River Cmty. Care, Inc., 532 U.S. 706 (U.S. 2001) (supervisor analysis under NLRA with independent judgment test)
Allied Mech. Servs., Inc. v. NLRB, 668 F.3d 758 (D.C.Cir.2012) (board decisions reviewed for reasonableness)