NLRB v. Hospital of Barstow, Inc. , 897 F.3d 280 ( 2018 )


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  •  United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
    Argued February 13, 2018                Decided July 31, 2018
    No. 16-1343
    HOSPITAL OF BARSTOW, INC., DOING BUSINESS AS BARSTOW
    COMMUNITY HOSPITAL,
    PETITIONER
    v.
    NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD,
    RESPONDENT
    CALIFORNIA NURSES ASSOCIATION/NATIONAL NURSES
    ORGANIZING COMMITTEE,
    INTERVENOR
    Consolidated with 16-1289
    On Petition for Review and Cross-Application
    for Enforcement of an Order of
    the National Labor Relations Board
    Kaitlin A. Kaseta argued the cause for petitioner. With her
    on the briefs was Bryan T. Carmody.
    Barbara A. Sheehy, Attorney, National Labor Relations
    Board, argued the cause for respondent. With her on the brief
    2
    were Richard F. Griffin, Jr., General Counsel, John H.
    Ferguson, Associate General Counsel, Linda Dreeben, Deputy
    Associate General Counsel, and Jill A. Griffin, Attorney.
    Nicole Daro argued the cause and filed the brief for
    intervenor.
    Before: GRIFFITH, SRINIVASAN and WILKINS, Circuit
    Judges.
    Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge SRINIVASAN.
    SRINIVASAN, Circuit Judge: This case comes to this court
    a second time. It grows out of a decision of the National Labor
    Relations Board holding that Hospital of Barstow refused to
    bargain in good faith with a union representing nurses at the
    facility. The main issue concerns whether a Regional Director
    of the Board retained authority to certify the union during a
    period in which the Board itself lacked power to take action
    because its membership had slipped below the statutorily
    mandated quorum. If the Board itself had lost power to take
    any action, could a Regional Director, exercising
    Board-delegated authority, conduct a representation election
    and certify the results?
    In previous decisions, we held that, notwithstanding the
    lapse of a Board quorum, Regional Directors retain authority
    to direct elections administered under a so-called stipulated
    election agreement—an agreement under which the employer
    and union agree to have a Regional Director conduct the
    election, but subject to the possibility of Board review if a party
    opts to seek it. See UC Health v. NLRB, 
    803 F.3d 669
    (D.C.
    Cir. 2015); SSC Mystic Operating Co. v. NLRB, 
    801 F.3d 302
    (D.C. Cir. 2015). This case involves a so-called consent
    election agreement, not a stipulated election agreement. In a
    3
    consent election agreement, the parties agree in advance that
    the Regional Director’s decisions will be final and
    unreviewable.
    In our previous decisions concerning stipulated election
    agreements, we deferred to the Board’s interpretation of the
    NLRA’s quorum provision in upholding the authority of
    Regional Directors to conduct and certify elections when the
    Board lacks a quorum. When we first considered this case, the
    Board had yet to address whether it had the same understanding
    of the quorum provision in the context of a consent election
    agreement. We remanded the case to enable the Board to
    consider that question. Hosp. of Barstow, Inc. v. NLRB, 
    820 F.3d 440
    (D.C. Cir. 2016).
    On remand, the Board saw no salient difference between
    consent election agreements and stipulated election
    agreements. It thus interpreted the NLRA’s quorum provision
    to allow Regional Directors to conduct representation elections
    under a consent election agreement notwithstanding the lapse
    of a Board quorum. As in our previous decisions, we again
    sustain the Board’s understanding of the statute as reasonable.
    We also reject the hospital’s various challenges to the Board’s
    finding of unfair labor practices and to the remedies imposed
    by the Board.
    I.
    A.
    The National Labor Relations Act provides that the Board
    shall consist of five members, 29 U.S.C. § 153(a), and allows
    the Board to delegate its powers to panels made up of three or
    more members, 
    id. § 153(b).
    The Act prescribes that “three
    4
    members of the Board shall, at all times, constitute a quorum
    of the Board.” 
    Id. The same
    NLRA provision authorizes the Board to
    delegate to Regional Directors the authority to conduct
    representation elections, rule on the parties’ objections to the
    election procedures, and certify the results. See 
    id. In 1961,
    the Board delegated its authority over representation
    proceedings to Regional Directors, who have conducted
    representation elections since that time. See Delegation of
    Authority, 26 Fed. Reg. 3911-02 (May 4, 1961). The Board
    retains authority to review any action of a Regional Director
    upon the filing of a request by an interested party. But parties
    also can waive their right to request Board review. See 29
    C.F.R. § 102.67(g). The result is that a Regional Director’s
    action is final if the parties elect not to seek Board review or if
    the Board denies review and leaves the underlying decision
    undisturbed.
    As of January 3, 2012, the terms of three Board members
    had expired and their seats remained vacant because the Senate
    did not confirm the President’s nominees. On January 4, 2012,
    the President, asserting authority under the Recess
    Appointments Clause, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 3, appointed
    three individuals to the Board. The Supreme Court, however,
    held those recess appointments to be invalid. NLRB v. Noel
    Canning, 
    134 S. Ct. 2550
    (2014). On July 30, 2013, the Senate
    confirmed two new nominees to the seats. During the
    intervening period, the Board lacked a quorum. See 29 U.S.C.
    § 153(b). The Regional Directors nonetheless continued to
    conduct representation elections and certify the results
    pursuant to the Board’s 1961 delegation of authority.
    5
    B.
    Hospital of Barstow operates an acute-care facility in
    California.        In     2012,    the      California   Nurses
    Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (the
    Union) initiated an organizing campaign to represent
    Barstow’s nurses. On May 2, 2012, during the time the Board
    lacked a quorum, Barstow and the Union entered into a consent
    election agreement, under which a Regional Director would
    conduct the election and the parties agreed that the Regional
    Director’s election rulings and certification would be final.
    The nurses voted in favor of the Union. Barstow lodged
    two objections with the Regional Director, both of which were
    rejected. On June 29, 2012, the Regional Director certified the
    Union’s election. Soon after, Barstow and the Union
    commenced the bargaining process, but the negotiations ended
    after Barstow declared an impasse. In September 2012, the
    Union filed a charge with the Board alleging that Barstow had
    engaged in unfair labor practices and had refused to bargain
    with the Union. An administrative law judge agreed and found
    that Barstow had violated the Act.
    The Board largely affirmed the ALJ’s decision. Hosp. of
    Barstow, Inc., 
    361 N.L.R.B. 352
    (2014). The Board determined
    that Barstow, in two ways, had failed to bargain in good faith.
    First, Barstow refused to submit proposals on many of the labor
    issues over which the parties were bargaining, stating that it
    would do so only after the Union submitted its proposals on all
    issues. Second, Barstow declared impasse over the Union’s
    use of certain customized forms that enabled a nurse to
    document situations that might be unsafe or jeopardize the
    nurse’s license. The Board also concluded that Barstow
    committed an unfair labor practice when it unilaterally changed
    its certification training policy. Finally, the Board held that
    6
    Barstow, by entering negotiations with the Union, had waived
    its ability to contend that the Board’s lack of a quorum divested
    the Regional Director of authority to certify the election. The
    Board thus did not reach the merits of that issue.
    To remedy Barstow’s bargaining violations, the Board
    ordered Barstow to cease its unfair practices and resume
    bargaining with the Union. The Board also required Barstow
    to reimburse the Union’s negotiating expenses.
    Barstow petitioned for review in this court. We held that
    the Board had erred in ruling that Barstow waived its ability to
    challenge the Regional Director’s authority to conduct the
    representation election. Hosp. of 
    Barstow, 820 F.3d at 442-43
    .
    With regard to the merits of that issue, we had recently
    sustained the Board’s understanding that, notwithstanding the
    lapse of a Board quorum, Regional Directors retained authority
    to certify elections conducted pursuant to a stipulated election
    agreement, under which either party can seek Board review of
    the Regional Director’s actions. See UC Health, 
    803 F.3d 669
    ;
    SSC Mystic, 
    801 F.3d 302
    . This case, though, involved a
    consent election agreement, under which the parties agree that
    a Regional Director’s election rulings will be final. 29 C.F.R.
    § 102.62(a). And whereas we had deferred to the Board’s
    interpretation of the NLRA’s quorum provision in the context
    of a stipulated election agreement, the Board had yet to
    interpret the provision in the context of a consent election
    agreement. We remanded the case to enable the Board to opine
    on whether, in the latter context (like in the former one), a
    Regional Director retains authority to certify representation
    elections during a time in which the Board lacks a quorum.
    Hosp. of 
    Barstow, 820 F.3d at 445
    .
    On remand, the Board interpreted the NLRA to authorize
    Regional Directors to continue exercising their delegated
    7
    authority under a consent election agreement, notwithstanding
    a lapse in the Board’s quorum. Hosp. of Barstow, Inc., 364
    NLRB No. 52, slip op. at 4 (July 15, 2016). The Board also
    readopted its earlier decision that Barstow had violated the Act
    and reissued its order of remedies. 
    Id. at 4-5.
    Barstow now petitions for review of the Board’s decision,
    and the Board seeks cross-enforcement of its order. The Union
    has intervened in support of the Board’s decision.
    II.
    Barstow principally contends that the Regional Director
    lacked delegated authority to conduct and certify the
    representation election because, at the time, the Board did not
    have a statutorily mandated quorum of three members. We
    reject that challenge, and also reject Barstow’s various
    challenges to the Board’s finding of unfair labor practices and
    the associated remedies.
    A.
    The NLRA prescribes that “three members of the Board
    shall, at all times, constitute a quorum.” 29 U.S.C. § 153(b).
    The same provision also authorizes the Board to delegate to
    Regional Directors the Board’s authority to conduct
    representation elections and certify the results. 
    Id. 1. In
    UC Health, 
    803 F.3d 669
    , we upheld the Board’s
    interpretation of the NLRA’s quorum provision to allow
    Regional Directors to direct and certify representation elections
    during a time the Board lacks a quorum. The case involved an
    election conducted pursuant to a stipulated election agreement,
    under which the parties can opt to seek the Board’s
    8
    discretionary review of the Regional Director’s election
    rulings. See 
    id. at 671-72.
    UC Health examined the Board’s interpretation of the
    quorum provision under “the familiar two-step Chevron test.”
    
    Id. at 673
    (citation omitted). At the first step, we “conclude[d]
    that the statute is silent on the issue of the Regional Director’s
    power to act when the Board lacks a quorum.” 
    Id. at 674.
    We
    thus proceeded to assess whether, at the second step, the
    Board’s interpretation “is reasonable and consistent with the
    statute’s purpose.” 
    Id. at 675.
    We held that “the Board’s
    interpretation easily meets this requirement.” 
    Id. We explained
    that the question was not whether the Board
    itself (or a subset of the Board) could take actions when it
    lacked a quorum. That had been the issue we addressed in
    Laurel Baye Healthcare of Lake Lanier, Inc. v. NLRB, 
    564 F.3d 469
    (D.C. Cir. 2009). There, we determined that a subset of
    the Board could not exercise the Board’s “plenary, final
    authority . . . in its place” at a time when the Board lacked a
    quorum. UC 
    Health, 803 F.3d at 678-79
    (discussing Laurel
    Baye).
    In UC Health, the question instead was whether, when the
    Board lacks a quorum, a Regional Director can exercise
    authority that had been delegated by the Board at a time it did
    have a quorum. We emphasized that, unlike the Board (or a
    subset of the Board as in Laurel Baye), Regional Directors
    “never similarly occupy the Board’s role as a final
    decisionmaker.” 
    Id. at 679.
    “No decision of the Regional
    Directors is ever final under its own power.” 
    Id. at 680.
    Rather,
    “[o]nly the acquiescence of the parties or the Board’s
    ratification can give binding force to a Regional Director’s
    determination.” 
    Id. “In other
    words,” we reasoned, “a
    Regional Director never has the last say on anything unless a
    9
    party fails to object. In that event, it is the parties’ choice to
    leave the Regional Director’s decisions unchallenged that
    effectively makes the election final.” 
    Id. “Moreover,” we
    explained, “allowing the Regional
    Director to continue to operate regardless of the Board’s
    quorum is fully in line with the policy behind Congress’s
    decision to allow for the delegation in the first place.” 
    Id. at 675.
    We determined that the purpose of allowing a delegation
    of authority to Regional Directors was “to expedite final
    disposition of cases by the Board.” 
    Id. (citation omitted).
    “And
    at least those unions and companies that have no objections to
    the conduct or result of an election can agree to accept its
    outcome without any Board intervention at all.” 
    Id. at 675-76.
    We thus deferred to the Board’s reasonable interpretation of the
    NLRA’s quorum provision, 
    id. at 676,
    and we reiterated that
    holding in our companion decision in SSC 
    Mystic, 801 F.3d at 308-09
    .
    2.
    This case, unlike UC Health and SSC Mystic, involves an
    election conducted under a consent election agreement.
    Whereas the parties to a stipulated election agreement can seek
    discretionary Board review of a Regional Director’s election
    decisions, the parties to a consent election agreement agree to
    forgo Board review and accept the Regional Director’s
    decisions as final. The Board found that distinction to be an
    immaterial one in its decision below.
    The Board explained that, even in the case of a stipulated
    election agreement, the Regional Director’s decisions can still
    be final if the parties do not seek Board review. The Board saw
    no “meaningful distinction between the ‘finality’ accorded to
    the Regional Director’s certification of [a] representative based
    10
    on the parties’ consent election agreement and the ‘finality’
    accorded to the Regional Director’s certification of [a]
    representative in UC Health based on the parties’ choice not to
    seek Board review to which they otherwise were entitled under
    their stipulated election agreement.” Hosp. of Barstow, 364
    NLRB No. 52, slip op. at 3. Because “it is the parties’
    agreement, not the Board’s delegation, that gives the Regional
    Director’s decision finality” under a consent election
    agreement, the Board determined that the lapse of a quorum did
    not divest the Regional Director of authority to certify the
    Union in this case. 
    Id. at 6.
    Barstow urges us to reject the Board’s interpretation of the
    NLRA’s quorum provision in the context of a consent election
    agreement. As in UC Health, however, we again defer to the
    Board’s interpretation of the statute. UC Health explains why
    our decision in Laurel Baye does not control when the question
    concerns the exercise of delegated authority by a Regional
    Director (as opposed to a subset of the Board “occupy[ing] the
    Board’s role as a final decisionmaker”). UC 
    Health, 803 F.3d at 679
    . UC Health also establishes that the quorum provision
    is ambiguous on whether a Regional Director retains authority
    to certify a representation election when the Board lacks a
    statutory quorum. See 
    id. at 674.
    The question for us, then, is
    whether the Board’s interpretation is reasonable, in which case
    we must defer to it. 
    Id. at 675.
    We conclude the Board’s
    interpretation is reasonable.
    The sole potentially salient difference between stipulated
    election agreements and consent election agreements is that, in
    the latter, the parties agree at the outset that they will forgo
    Board review. The parties thus know in advance that the
    Regional Director’s actions will generally be final. Cf. Pierre
    Apartments, 
    217 N.L.R.B. 445
    , 446 (1975) (noting possibility of
    Board review even under consent election agreement if there is
    11
    fraud, misconduct, or gross mistakes amounting to arbitrary
    and capricious rulings by the Regional Director.).
    But while the parties know that the Regional Director’s
    decisions will be final in the case of a consent election
    agreement, the finality results from the parties’ choice to forgo
    Board review, not from the Board’s delegation of authority
    itself. In that sense (and as the Board explained), the finality
    arising under a consent election agreement mirrors the finality
    arising under a stipulated election agreement when neither
    party chooses to seek Board review. The Board reasonably saw
    no material distinction between the two. In both situations, the
    delegation of authority to the Regional Director does not
    inherently involve authority to render final Board decisions.
    Rather, in both situations, the parties can choose to give a
    Regional Director the final say by opting against Board review.
    It is true that, under the Board’s regulations, a Regional
    Director’s decisions pursuant to a consent election agreement
    are treated as “final . . . with the same force and effect, in that
    case, as if issued by the Board.” 29 C.F.R. § 102.62(a). But
    the regulations similarly describe a Regional Director’s
    decision under a stipulated election agreement as “final” if
    there is no grant of discretionary review by the Board, 29
    C.F.R. § 102.67(g), which includes a situation in which neither
    party asks for Board review. See 2 NLRB Casehandling
    Manual, Representation Proceedings § 11364.7(a) (Jan. 2017).
    And while a Regional Director’s actions under a consent
    election agreement are accorded “the same force and effect . . .
    as if issued by the Board,” they have that “force and effect”
    only “in that case,” 29 C.F.R. § 102.62(a): unlike the Board’s
    own rulings, a Regional Director’s decision is not “Board
    precedent in future cases.” Proposed Rules Governing
    Consent-Election Agreements, 69 Fed. Reg. 44,612, 44,612
    (proposed July 22, 2004) (rule codified at 29 C.F.R. § 102.62).
    12
    That difference reinforces that the Board could reasonably
    understand a Regional Director’s delegated authority to survive
    the Board’s loss of a quorum.
    Barstow submits that, under our decisions in UC Health
    and SSC Mystic, the parties to a consent election agreement
    cannot give a Regional Director the power to render final
    decisions in a given case. Barstow relies on our holding in UC
    Health and SSC Mystic that, when the parties agree to a
    Regional Director’s conduct of a representation election, they
    do not thereby waive their ability to challenge—on judicial
    review—the Regional Director’s authority to act. UC 
    Health, 803 F.3d at 673
    ; SSC 
    Mystic, 801 F.3d at 308
    . That holding
    about the ability to raise a challenge on judicial review has no
    bearing on the issue we consider here. In particular, nothing in
    UC Health or SSC Mystic suggests that parties who desire to
    enter into a consent election agreement cannot agree to give the
    Regional Director the final say by waiving their ability to seek
    Board review.
    Barstow, finally, attempts to draw a distinction between
    stipulated and consent election agreements based on timing.
    Under a stipulated election agreement, a Regional Director’s
    decision becomes final only if the parties opt against seeking
    Board review after certification of the election. The parties to
    a consent election agreement, by contrast, waive their right to
    seek Board review at the outset, before the election begins.
    Barstow thus submits that, in the case of a consent election
    agreement, the Regional Director is cloaked with authority to
    provide the final say on election matters at the time of her or
    his rulings. And if the Board itself could not issue rulings at
    that time because of the absence of a quorum, Barstow argues,
    neither can the Regional Director.
    13
    The Board was not compelled to draw a distinction
    between consent and stipulated election agreements on that
    basis. In both contexts, a Regional Director exercises
    delegated authority to oversee and certify elections, and her
    rulings become final without Board action only if the parties
    choose to forgo seeking Board review. At every relevant
    time—the time of the Regional Director’s rulings and
    certification, as well as the time of the parties’ decision to forgo
    Board review—the Board may lack a quorum. Regardless, the
    Board permissibly concluded, the Regional Director does not
    “stand in the Board’s place.” UC 
    Health, 803 F.3d at 680
    .
    Rather, the Regional Director exercises delegated, non-final
    authority, even though her decisions can be the final word if
    the parties choose to forgo Board review.
    The parties’ choice to do so, we held in UC Health, need
    not be seen to vitiate the Board’s delegation of non-final
    election authority to Regional Directors, notwithstanding the
    lapse of a Board quorum. The same is true here. We thus defer
    to the Board’s interpretation of the NLRA’s quorum provision
    and conclude that the Regional Director had authority to
    conduct the election and certify its results in favor of the Union.
    B.
    Having concluded that the Regional Director had authority
    to certify the Union’s election, we now turn to Barstow’s
    challenges to the merits of the Board’s decision, none of which
    we find persuasive.
    1.
    Barstow contends that the Board erred in rejecting
    Barstow’s request to submit this dispute to arbitration. The
    Board has discretion to defer labor disputes to arbitration. See
    14
    DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. NLRB, 
    288 F.3d 434
    , 444-45 (D.C.
    Cir. 2002); Collyer Insulated Wire, Gulf & W. Sys. Co., 
    192 N.L.R.B. 837
    , 840 (1971). In deciding whether to do so, the
    Board considers a number of factors, including the length and
    productivity of the parties’ bargaining relationship, the
    existence of any claim of employer animosity toward the
    employees’ exercise of protected rights, the coverage of the
    parties’ arbitration agreement, and ultimately, the suitability of
    the dispute to arbitration. See United Cerebral Palsy of NYC,
    
    347 N.L.R.B. 603
    , 605 (2006). We uphold the Board’s decision
    on deferral as long as the decision is “rational and consistent
    with the Act.” DaimlerChrysler 
    Corp., 288 F.3d at 444
    .
    In this case, the Board declined to defer the dispute to
    arbitration for two reasons. First, the parties had not entered
    into a collective-bargaining agreement establishing an
    arbitration procedure.      Second, the parties’ bargaining
    relationship was brief and unproductive. The Board’s reliance
    on those considerations is consistent with its precedent, and we
    see no basis to reject the Board’s approach or conclusion.
    With regard to the absence of an agreement establishing an
    arbitration procedure, Barstow argues that the parties had
    entered into a “Labor Relations Agreement” that included an
    arbitration provision. That agreement, however, was never
    signed or executed; and according to the agreement’s own
    terms, it would take effect and bind the parties only if signed.
    As for the duration and nature of the parties’ bargaining
    relationship, Barstow argues that the Board unduly focused on
    the brevity of the parties’ relationship. But that focus was
    consistent with previous decisions in which the Board has
    determined that “short and fraught” relationships are not well
    suited for arbitration. E.g., San Juan Bautista, Inc., 
    356 N.L.R.B. 736
    , 737 (2011). In short, the Board permissibly declined to
    defer the dispute to arbitration.
    15
    2.
    The NLRA makes it an “unfair labor practice” for an
    employer “to refuse to bargain collectively with the
    representatives of his employees.” 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(5). In
    that regard, the employer must “meet [with the Union] at
    reasonable times” and “confer in good faith with respect to
    wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.”
    
    Id. § 158(d).
    The employer also cannot interfere with, restrain,
    or coerce employees in the exercise of their protected rights.
    
    Id. § 158(a)(1).
    The Board adopted the ALJ’s finding that Barstow had
    violated the NLRA by refusing to submit its bargaining
    proposals until the Union set forth its proposal in full. The
    Board also adopted the ALJ’s finding that Barstow violated the
    Act by declaring an impasse and refusing to bargain. We can
    overturn the Board’s decision in those respects only if it is
    arbitrary or is unsupported by substantial evidence in the
    record. See Wayneview Care Ctr. v. NLRB, 
    664 F.3d 341
    , 348
    (D.C. Cir. 2011). We sustain the Board’s decision.
    The record fully supports the Board’s finding that Barstow
    failed to bargain in good faith by refusing to put forward
    proposals until the Union presented its proposals on every issue
    over which the parties were bargaining. Barstow observes that
    there had been some previous discussions of several bargaining
    subjects. But after reaching tentative agreements on a handful
    of issues, Barstow refused to offer further proposals until the
    Union set forth its proposal in full. To the extent Barstow
    claims that it could aggressively defend a bargaining position,
    it does not dispute that an outright refusal to submit proposals
    or counterproposals evidences bad-faith bargaining. See, e.g.,
    Fed. Mogul Corp., 
    212 N.L.R.B. 950
    , 951 (1974).
    16
    The Board determined that Barstow also violated the Act
    by declaring a bargaining impasse over the Union’s support of
    nurses using “assignment despite objection” (“ADO”) forms to
    document conditions that, in the nurses’ view, were unsafe or
    that could threaten their nursing licenses. The Board found that
    the ADO forms never became a subject of bargaining, such that
    Barstow could not declare an impasse over the matter. That
    finding is supported by substantial evidence. Neither Barstow
    nor the Union made any proposals concerning the forms. The
    only time the parties discussed them was when Barstow
    insisted that the Union discontinue using them before Barstow
    would resume the bargaining process. In that context, the
    Board permissibly concluded that Barstow’s declaration of
    impasse was unlawful because it was based on an issue outside
    the scope of the parties’ bargaining.
    Barstow contends that the ADO forms were necessarily
    tied to the Union’s bargaining proposal because the Union
    provided the forms to nurses who sat on the bargaining council.
    But that shows, at most, that the Union used the forms to
    prepare for negotiations; it hardly shows that the forms were a
    subject over which the parties in fact engaged in bargaining.
    To the contrary, the Union continued to express its willingness
    to bargain over the ADO forms and other issues even after
    Barstow declared impasse.
    3.
    Finally, Barstow argues that we should decline to enforce
    the Board’s award of negotiating expenses to the Union. We
    have acknowledged that “the choice of remedies is primarily
    within the province of the Board.” United Steelworkers of Am.
    v. NLRB, 
    376 F.2d 770
    , 773 (D.C. Cir. 1967). The Board can
    order reimbursement of an aggrieved party’s bargaining
    expenses when the opposing party’s bad-faith conduct has
    17
    “infected the core” of the process, rendering traditional
    remedies inadequate to remedy the violation. Fallbrook Hosp.
    Corp. v. NLRB, 
    785 F.3d 729
    , 738 (D.C. Cir. 2015). We upset
    the Board’s choice of remedy only if the order was a “clear
    abuse of discretion.” United 
    Steelworkers, 376 F.2d at 773
    . We
    find no such abuse here.
    The Board found that, throughout the bargaining process,
    Barstow “deliberately acted to prevent any meaningful
    progress” by refusing to bargain. Hosp. of 
    Barstow, 361 N.L.R.B. at 355
    . Barstow does not dispute that it refused to provide
    bargaining proposals on many issues for the first five
    bargaining sessions, and subsequently refused to bargain until
    the nurses ceased using the ADO forms, ultimately declaring
    an impasse. Barstow contends that its conduct was not as
    egregious as the employers’ conduct in previous Board
    decisions ordering a reimbursement remedy. But as we have
    explained, the Board’s prior decisions do not necessarily
    establish a floor for reimbursement awards; rather, the Board
    weighs the facts of each case to determine whether
    reimbursement is necessary to make an aggrieved party whole.
    See 
    Fallbrook, 785 F.3d at 738
    . Here, the Board took into
    account the totality of Barstow’s bargaining conduct and
    permissibly determined that reimbursement of the Union’s
    expenses was needed to remedy the violations.
    *   *    *        *   *   *
    In its opening brief, Barstow listed a number of issues
    beyond those discussed in this opinion when noting the issues
    raised by its petition. Barstow Op’g Br. 2-5. But Barstow
    forfeited those issues by offering no argument on them. See,
    e.g., Carducci v. Regan, 
    714 F.2d 171
    , 177 (D.C. Cir. 1983).
    For the foregoing reasons, we deny Barstow’s petition for
    18
    review and     grant   the   Board’s   cross-application   for
    enforcement.
    So ordered.