Lawsuit: Ralphs Hiring Illegally
Ralphs grocery managers have hired back dozens of union workers under false names and Social Security numbers despite an official lockout, according to a union lawsuit filed Friday.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that at least 50 to 100 union employees have been covertly rehired by Ralphs. Two locked-out union members, working undercover, told The Times they were coached by store managers to use their children’s Social Security numbers to avoid detection.
If proved true, the allegations could provide a boost to the United Food and Commercial Workers union in its nearly 3-month-old contract battle with Ralphs and the Vons and Albertsons grocery chains. UFCW officials said if Ralphs were found to be rehiring workers, the lockout could instead be deemed a selective layoff, which could make all locked-out workers eligible for unemployment benefits and give the union leverage in contract negotiations.
Ralphs spokesman Terry O’Neil denied that managers were knowingly hiring back employees or engaging in deception. He said if any such practice was discovered, those workers would be fired.
“We have 20,000 people locked out. Obviously our store managers don’t know all 20,000,” O’Neil said. “On rare occasions where somebody may have tried to come back to work with us, those individuals are immediately let go.”
UFCW launched a strike against Safeway Inc.’s Vons and Pavilions stores Oct. 11 after talks broke down over health benefits and an employer proposal for a lower pay scale for new hires. Kroger Co.’s Ralphs and Albertsons Inc., which are covered by the same labor contract, locked out their union workers the next day. In all, the contract affects some 70,000 workers at about 850 stores in Southern and Central California.
O’Neil said Ralphs, which operates 300 stores in the contract area, has hired about 30,000 replacement workers. He suggested that the chain had no motive to rehire workers secretly. “Staffing-wise, we have plenty of people,” O’Neil said.
However, Joseph L. Paller of Gilbert & Sackman, a lead attorney in the lawsuit, said the union had evidence to the contrary.
The evidence includes statements and pay stubs provided by the two employees working undercover for the union and by a third who came forward after she was confronted by fellow union members. In addition, union officials said they obtained statements and photographs from members who said they recognized about 50 locked-out Ralphs employees working at different sites.
Paller and union officials said that for locked-out employees to be rehired, they must provide fictitious Social Security numbers. Otherwise, they said, their names would be flagged by internal payroll systems.
The suit does not name the workers, the witnesses or the managers who allegedly hired the union members. Paller said it would be unlikely for locked-out workers to be rehired without the knowledge of store managers because of the extensive documentation needed for new employees.
Falsifying certain information for employment, such as name and Social Security number, is a criminal offense. Workers engaging in such deception and store managers abetting them could be held liable. The UFCW said it had referred the matter to the Internal Revenue Service and the state Franchise Tax Board.
The union also has filed a complaint about the alleged rehiring with the National Labor Relations Board. Byron Kohn, an attorney with the NLRB in Los Angeles, confirmed Friday that his office was conducting an investigation into the complaint.
“If what you have is a massive selective lockout, the board might consider injunctive relief to stop that practice,” Kohn said.
It is not illegal for a striker to cross a picket line, and Vons store managers have openly encouraged their workers to quit the union and return to work. But because Ralphs and Albertsons are engaged in a lockout -- the mirror image of a strike -- they cannot selectively hire back workers under federal labor laws.
Rumors of the alleged improper hiring have long circulated and were raised at a state Senate hearing last month on unemployment benefits for strikers. After that hearing, Frank Simkins, a UFCW business representative in Orange County, asked two of his members to go undercover.
In interviews at union offices this week, the two -- a cashier and a meat cutter -- said they let their managers know they were willing to work. And within a week, they said, they had assignments.
The cashier said she reported to an Oceanside store, where she worked for a day before filling out any paperwork. The following day, she said, the manager encouraged her to write down her 9-year-old daughter’s Social Security number on the application.
The Ralphs meat cutter said he was offered a job in another county with lodging included but instead chose a site within Orange County.
He said the manager advised him to use his 19-year-old son’s Social Security number and to be sure not to include any exemptions on the W-2 tax form so that his son wouldn’t be liable for taxes later.
The two union workers asked that their names not be used because they were continuing to work.
O’Neil, the Ralphs spokesman, would not comment on their statements other than to say, “The union has made many allegations that have been proven to have little or no merit.”
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop Ralphs managers from hiring union members and seeks to have all legal costs paid for by the chain.
