J & S Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 5, 1991

303 N.L.R.B. 1028 (N.L.R.B. 1991)

1028
303 NLRB No. 161
J & S ELECTRIC CO.
1 298 NLRB No. 22.
J & S Electric Company of Bossier City, Louisiana,
Inc. and Dannie L. McGowin. Case 17–CA–
14691
August 5, 1991
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS CRACRAFT, DEVANEY, AND OVIATT
On April 12, 1990, the National Labor Relations
Board issued a Decision and Order in this proceeding.1
On March 6, 1991, the United States Court of Appeals
for the Eighth Circuit, in an unpublished decision, en-
tered judgment enforcing the Board’s Order. A con-
troversy having arisen over the amount of backpay due
under the Board’s Order, as enforced by the court, the
Regional Director for Region 17 on May 6, 1991,
issued and served on the Respondent by both certified
and regular mail a compliance specification and notice
of hearing, alleging the amounts of backpay due and
owing to the discriminatees named in the specification.
The Respondent failed to answer the compliance speci-
fication.
On June 11, 1991, the General Counsel filed with
the Board a Motion to Transfer Proceeding to the
Board and for Summary Judgment. On June 13, 1991,
the Board issued an order transferring the proceeding
to the Board and a Notice to Show Cause why the mo-
tion should not be granted. The Respondent filed no
response. The allegations in the motion are therefore
undisputed.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated
its authority in this proceeding to a three-member
panel.
Ruling on Motion for Summary Judgment
Section 102.56(c) of the Board’s Rules and Regula-
tions states, in relevant part:
(c) Effect of failure to answer or to plead spe-
cifically and in detail to backpay allegations of
specification.—If the respondent fails to file any
answer to the specification within the time pre-
scribed by this section, the Board may, either with
or without taking evidence in support of the alle-
gations of the specification and without further
notice to the respondent, find the specification to
be true and enter such order as may be appro-
priate.
The compliance specification states that unless an
answer is filed within 21 days of service, ‘‘all of the
allegations in the Compliance Specification shall be
deemed to be admitted to be true and shall be so found
by the Board.’’ The compliance specification was
properly served by both regular and certified mail on
the Respondent. The certified letter was returned by
the postal service to the Regional Office marked ‘‘un-
claimed.’’ It is well-established that a respondent’s re-
fusal or failure to claim certified mail cannot serve to
defeat the purposes of the Act. E.g., Michigan Expe-
diting Service, 282 NLRB 210 fn. 6 (1986).
In the absence of good cause being shown for the
Respondent’s failure to file an answer to the compli-
ance specification in accord with the provisions of Sec-
tion 102.56 of the Board’s Rules, we find the allega-
tions of the specification to be true and grant the Gen-
eral Counsel’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Ac-
cordingly, we find that the net backpay due to the
discriminatees is as stated in the computations of the
compliance specification, and we shall order the Re-
spondent to pay those amounts.
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, J & S Electric Company of Bossier City,
Louisiana, Inc., Bossier City, Louisiana, its officers,
agents, successors, and assigns, shall make whole the
discriminatees named below by payment to them of
the amounts following their names, plus interest to be
computed in the manner prescribed in New Horizons
for the Retarded, 283 NLRB 1173 (1987), and accrued
to the date of payment, minus tax withholdings re-
quired by law.
Dannie McGowin $10,016.04
Bill Nevins 5,096.72
Michael Lay 12,321.05
Jerry Kerr 149.84
Vernon Hobbs 157.84
Michael Defoor 149.84