Golf Course Inns of America, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 6, 1972

199 N.L.R.B. 541 (N.L.R.B. 1972)

GOLF COURSE INNS 541
Golf Course Inns of America , Incorporated, and Ocean
Vista Land Company and Culinary Workers, Barten-
ders and Hotel Service Employees , Local 535, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner . Case 21-RC-12541
October 6, 1972
DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND PENELLO
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer Scott Forman. Fol-
lowing the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of
the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Reg-
ulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as
amended, by direction of the Acting Regional Direc-
tor for Region 21, the case was transferred to the
Board for decision.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.'
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
Golf Course Inns of America, Incorporated, and
Ocean Vista Land Company are engaged in a joint
venture, the operation of a golf and country club at
Holtville, California, under the title of Imperial Valley
Country Club. The Petitioner seeks to represent cer-
tain employees at the Imperial Valley Country Club.
That club is partly private in nature, with a restricted
list of 400 members, and partly public. Thus, members
of the public may enter the premises and use the golf
course upon payment of a greens fee and also utilize
the club's other facilities such as the restaurant and
bar, but nonmembers may not use the club's locker
room.
During the 12-month period ending in February
1972, the Employer's gross revenue amounted to
$488,966.23 of which $59,725.75 represented dues and
initiation fees of members and the remaining
$429,240.48 represented revenue from all other
sources.
The Employer contends that the Board should
not assert jurisdiction because its operations do not
satisfy the jurisdictional standard for retail enterprises.
The Board decided in Walnut Hills Country Club2
that the retail standard is the applicable standard for
operations of the nature engaged in by the Employer.
The Board, in determining whether or not the gross
volume of business of an enterprise such as the
Employer's herein meets the Board's retail standard,
has declined to include members' dues and initiation
fees as income derived from its retail operation.3 The
Employer's operation therefore does not meet the
Board's $500,000 annual gross revenue jurisdictional
standard for retail enterprises as established in Caroli-
na Supplies and Cement Co.°
The Petitioner contends, however, that the Impe-
rial Valley Country Club operation is so inextricably
entwined with certain other enterprises that the gross
revenue of all of these enterprises should be combined
in order to establish whether the Board's jurisdiction-
al standard is satisfied.
A one-half interest in the land upon which Impe-
rial Valley Country Club is located is owned by a Mr.
and Mrs. Pemberton. The remaining interest is owned
by Ocean Vista Land Company and perhaps by Golf
Course Inns of America. In any event, Golf Course
Inns and Ocean Vista are engaged in a joint venture,
leasing the land and operating the Imperial Valley
Country Club.
Golf Course Inns is a corporation, founded in
1969, with some 20 shareholders. Ted Vallas is its
president and owns 65 percent of its stock. In addition
to the joint venture at Imperial Valley, Golf Course
Inns is also engaged in certain European enterprises
from which no revenues appear to have been received.
Golf Course Inns operates the Whispering Palms
Country Club at Rancho Saute Fe, California, ap-
proximately 150 miles away from the Imperial Valley
Club. Golf Course Inns also has a three-sixteenth in-
terest in the operation of El Camino Country Club in
Oceanside, California, about 160 miles from Imperial
Valley. The remaining thirteen-sixteenth interest in
the operation of El Camino Country Club is owned by
Ted Vallas, who personally operates the facility. Golf
Course Inns further wholly owns Golf Course Hotels,
Inc., which in turn owns a motel adjacent to El Cami-
no Country Club.
Ocean Vista Land Company is a corporation
founded in 1957. Ted Vallas is 1 of some 200 share-
holders in Ocean Vista and he owns 55 percent of its
common and 25 percent of its preferred stock. In
addition to the joint venture and land ownership at
Imperial Valley, Ocean Vista also owns the land on
which the aforementioned El Camino Country Club
is located.
2 145 NLRB 81
The Petitioner's request for oral argument is hereby denied as in our 3 Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (Chartiers Country Club), 139 NLRB
opinion, the record in this case , including the briefs of the Petitioner and the 741; Rancho Los Coyotes Country Club, 170 NLRB 1773.
Employer , adequately presents the issues and positions of the parties . ° 122 NLRB 88, 89.
199 NLRB No. 80
542 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The record reveals that if either the gross reve-
nues of El Camino Country Club or of Whispering
Palms were coupled with those of Imperial Valley, the
combined enterprise would satisfy the Board's stand-
ard for asserting jurisdiction.5 However, despite the
degree of common ownership described above, sever-
al factors militate against treating these enterprises as
one for jurisdictional purposes. Thus, there is no inter-
change of employees between the clubs, payrolls are
separately maintained, purchases are separately and
locally made, membership privileges are not inter-
changeable, and each club has a separate general
manager. Atkins, the general manager at Imperial
Valley, controls the day-to-day operations of that
club, directs employees in their daily routine, and has
authority to hire and fire employees. It appears that
General Managers McIntosh of Whispering Palms
and Vallas of El Camino have identical authority with
respect to their respective clubs. There is no evidence
that Vallas has ever exercised any control over labor
relations policies at either Imperial Valley or Whis-
pering Palms, or that there is any uniformity of policy
between or among the clubs. As it is clear that each
of the clubs is, in fact, managed independently of the
others, and in view of the other factors described
above, we are unable to conclude that their relation-
ship is such as to justify treating all of them together
as a single employer for jurisdictional purposes.' As
jurisdiction over the Imperial Valley Country Club
joint venture cannot be asserted on any other basis
consistent with our established standards, we shall
dismiss the petition.
ORDER
5 The Petitioner also contends that the operation of a pro shop located at
Imperial Country Club and operated by one Ralph Samaha should be con-
sidered in this regard However, as the combined pertinent revenue of Impe-
It is hereby ordered that the petition herein be, and
it hereby is, dismissed.
nal Valley and the total revenue of the pro shop is less than $500 ,000, we need 6 Justru Realty Corporation, 156 NLRB l ; Gerace Construction, Inc., 193
not pass on that issue NLRB No. 91