J. C. Penney Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 11, 1975

216 N.L.R.B. 965 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

J. C. PENNEY COMPANY, INC. 965
J. C. Penney Company , Inc., Store No. 1957, Edina,
Minnesota and Retail Clerks Union, Local 1086,
affiliated with Retail Clerks International Associa-
tion, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 18-RC-10146
March 11, 1975
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND
PENELLO
On August 9, 1974, the Acting Regional Director
for Region 18 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which he
found to be appropriate as a warehouse unit, in
accord with the Petitioner's request, the employees
employed at the Employer's facility located at 5751
Washington Avenue South, Edina, Minnesota, re-
ferred to as the receiving and marking room
(hereinafter R & M). Thereafter the Employer filed a
timely request for review of the Acting Regional
Director's decision on the grounds that in concluding
that the requested unit is an appropriate warehouse
unit he departed from officially reported precedent
and made findings of fact which are clearly errone-
ous.
By telegraphic order dated September 5, 1974, the
request for review was granted and the election
stayed pending decision on review. Thereafter the
Employer filed a brief on review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case with respect to the issues under review,
including the Employer's brief on review, and makes
the following findings:
As indicated, the Petitioner seeks as a warehouse
unit all employees employed at the Employer's R&M
facility. The Employer contends the Acting Regional
Director erred in concluding that the requested unit
is appropriate. We agree.
The Employer's operations comprise a department
store and automotive service center in the Southdale
Shopping Center in Edina, including the R&M
facility here involved, which is located 5 miles from
the shopping center. Most of the warehousing of
merchandise for all area (Minneapolis-St. Paul,
Minnesota) retail operations is centralized at another
location. The subject R&M facility serves only the
Employer's retail store and automotive service
center.
Of the Employer's total complement of about 550
employees, 33 are employed at the R&M facility,
comprising 20 stock clerks, 2 head stock clerks, 8
216 NLRB No. 175
stock handlers , 1 furniture refinisher , 1 receiver, and
1 deliveryman . The facility has 65 ,000 square feet of
space , consisting primarily of two docks and areas
for unpacking, inspection , and marking of merchan-
dise . There are also smaller areas devoted to the
holding of charged-back merchandise to be returned
to vendors , and storage areas for seasonal merchan-
dise , display fixtures , and merchandise to be offered
during promotional sales . Some furniture is also
stored at the facility and, in emergencies , carpeting
has been stored there.
Of all merchandise sold by the Employer, 95
percent is received, processed , and marked at the
R&M facility and then moved to the store and
automotive center . A shuttle truck makes six round
trips daily. The Employer's standard , usually ad-
hered to , is to move the merchandise to the store or
automotive center within 48 hours of receipt. At the
store and automotive center there are perimeter
stockrooms where merchandise may be stored until
needed in the selling areas . There are 15 stock clerks
and 1 stock handler at the store , and 3 stock clerks at
the center . Some items of merchandise , such as fine
jewelry, catalog sales items , floor samples, and
restaurant supplies , are received directly at the store.
The Employer keeps as much of the hard-line
merchandise , such as lawnmowers and bicycles, as
possible at the store . Tires and batteries are received
directly at the automotive center . Major appliances
sold at the store are delivered to the customers
directly from the warehouse which serves all J. C.
Penney stores in the area.
Stock clerks at the R&M facility receive and check
in merchandise and perform the necessary paper-
work involved in checking in merchandise. They
unpack and ticket merchandise and put the merchan-
dise on carts for transportation to the retail store.
They prepare defective merchandise for return to
vendors . The two head stock clerks at the R&M
facility lead and direct the work of other stock clerks,
answer their questions, and perform the same type of
work as other stock clerks . Stock clerks at the retail
store receive merchandise from either the R&M
facility or other sources and move it to the appropri-
ate department . Occasionally stock clerks at the
retail store reticket merchandise , when necessary to
reflect price changes . In addition , selling employees
spend 20 to 25 percent of their time in moving
merchandise to and from the perimeter storage areas
and the sales floor and in remarking merchandise.
Stock clerks at the automotive service center receive,
check , mark , and store batteries and tires which, as
noted above , are delivered directly to that facility.
They also receive any merchandise received from the
R&M facility and move it to the basement storage
area.
966 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Stock handlers unload trucks bringing merchandise
to the R&M facility, unpack merchandise, and
assemble furniture for delivery and are responsible
for the movement of merchandise through that
facility and for loading it on the shuttle vehicle for
transport to the store and center . They also check in,
inspect, mark, and ticket hard-line merchandise.
Stock handlers at the main store receive , check in,
and unpack catalog merchandise and take it to its
proper location. The receiver at the R&M facility
performs functions similar to both stock clerks and
stock handlers. The furniture refinisher touches up
furniture by repairing scratches and blemishes and
also helps prepare furniture for shipment to custom-
ers. Only the refinisher and deliveryman have no
counterparts at the retail store and automotive
service center.
With respect to the supervision of employees,
although Stockroom Manager Carlton Nelson super-
vises employees at the R&M facility, he reports to,
and receives direction from, Operations Manager
Donald R. Olson. Olson is responsible for the
stockroom activities at the retail store and the
automotive service center as well as the R&M
facility, and he spends 3 or 4 hours per week, or
about 10 percent of his time , at the R&M facility.
Nelson has no authority to hire or fire employees,
although he can send employees home for major
disciplinary infractions, such as drunkenness. The
personnel manager, Brian P. Frank, sets the pay rate
for each new employee. A personnel clerk at the
retail store monitors the eligibility for pay increases.
Frank, with the guidance of the store manager,
determines the amount of any pay increases granted
to an employee. Olson may, after a pay increase is
decided upon, request that the increase be more or
less than that determined by Frank. Nelson's role is
limited to notifying an R&M employee of any pay
increase. Olson personally appraises the performance
of stockroom personnel at the R&M facility and at
the store and he monitors the daily productivity of
R&M personnel. Interviews with R&M employees
concerning severe disciplinary matters are handled
by Olson , sometimes with the assistance of Nelson.
Coaching sessions , involving less serious matters,
may be held by Nelson but only after this prior
consultation with Olson.
The buying of merchandise is based on a perpetual
inventory record kept by counters, sales personnel,
and merchandise records personnel in the store.
Merchandise records clerks prepare orders and send
copies to the Employer's supplier, to its New York
buying office, to the R&M facility, and to the invoice
office. Employees at the R&M facility and at the
store and automotive service center have regular
contacts each day in checking the correctness of
merchandise received, quantity of merchandise,
selling prices, appropriateness of substitute merchan-
dise, cancellation dates, availability of merchandise,
and in arranging for delivery of merchandise to the
customers.
In the less than 3 years since the commencement of
activities at the R&M facility there have been 9
permanent transfers of employees from the store to
the R&M facility and 23 permanent transfers from
the R&M facility to the store or center. Individuals
who have permanently transferred from selling to
nonselling positions in the R&M facility have come
from both selling and nonselling positions in the
store. Employees have transferred from the R&M
facility to both selling and nonselling positions at the
store or automotive service center. More than half of
all the permanent transfers involved promotions.
Temporary transfers, defined as more than 1 day
but less than 2 weeks, have also occurred. During the
same period there have been 37 temporary transfers
of employees from the retail store to the R&M
facility and 21 temporary transfers from the R&M
facility to the retail store or automotive service
center. As in the case of permanent transfers,
employees were temporarily transferred from the
R&M facility to both selling and nonselling positions
at the store and auto service center and from selling
and nonselling positions at these facilities to the
nonselling positions at the R&M facility. Moreover,
the Employer's records as to temporary transfers
reflect only the total number of employees involved,
not the total number of incidents of transfer.
During periods of peak delivery of merchandise,
usually August and October, the Employer hires
additional stock employees at all three facilities.
Some of those employees who commenced working
at the R&M facility were subsequently transferred to
selling positions in the store when the need to use
them in the R&M facility declined.
All stock employees have the same dress code
which is less casual than that established for the
selling employees who deal with the public. Stock
employees at all three facilities have the same base
rate of pay as sales personnel. Employees at all three
facilities attend monthly meetings at the retail store
concerning their enrollment in the Employer's
benefit program. In addition inventory meetings and
quarterly pension and profit-sharing meetings, which
all employees attend, are held at the main store. The
payroll department at the main store computes the
pay - for all employees and all employees are paid
each Friday. All employees at all three facilities are
hired through the retail store and all personnel
records are kept there. The personnel department
conducts an orientation program at the retail store
for each new employee.
J. C. PENNEY
In the instant case , it is clear that the requested
employees at the R&M facility are engaged, as the
name of that facility implies , primarily in receiving
and marking functions and not the warehousing
function , which is for the most part , performed at
another location . Thus, as the facts herein demon-
strate , there is a close integration of the receiving and
marking functions performed at the R&M facility
with operations carried on at the store and automo-
tive center , so that the R&M facility is in reality a
part of this particular retail facility for which it alone
performs functions . For this reason , therefore, we
find the requested R&M employees do not have a
sufficiently distinct community of interest apart from
COMPANY, INC. 967
other employees at the store and center to warrant
finding them to be an appropriate unit.
Accordingly, we find the requested unit to be
inappropriate and as the Petitioner has made no
alternative request for a broader appropriate unit, we
find that no question affecting commerce exists
concerning representation of certain employees of
the Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1)
and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act. We shall
therefore dismiss the petition herein.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.