Riverside Memorial Chapels, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 20, 1976

226 N.L.R.B. 2 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

2 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL- LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Riverside Memorial Chapels , Inc.' and District 2A,
Transportation , Technical, Warehouse Industrial &
Service Employees , affiliated with District 2,
MEBA-AMO, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 12-
RC-5019
September 20, 1976
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, PENELLO, AND WALTHER
On May 12, -1976, the Regional Director for Re-
gion 12 issued a Decision and Direction of Election
in the above-entitled proceeding, finding, inter alia,
that the unit's scope should be limited to Riverside
Memorial Chapels, Inc. (hereinafter Riverside), ex-
cluding the employees of Slade Funeral Homes, Inc.
(hereinafter Slade), and Limousine Service Interna-
tional (hereinafter LSI). The Regional Director also
excluded_ the switchboard' operators, religious con-
sultants, and administrative personnel from the unit
while deferring his ruling on the receptionists by per-
mitting them to vote subject to challenge. Thereafter,
in accordance with National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations, the Employer filed a ,timely
request for review of the Regional Director's' deci-
sion, contending, inter alga, that the three enterprises
constitute a single integrated employer requiring a
multilocation unit and that all of the above-contested
classifications of employees should be included in
this unit.-The Petitioner filed a brief in opposition to
the request for review.
By telegraphic order dated June 22, 1976, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board granted the request for
review as to the above issues and stayed the election
pending decision on review. Thereafter, the Employ-
er filed a brief on review.
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 considered the entire record in this
case, including the brief on review, with respect to
the issues under review and makes the following
findings:
Riverside and Slade are engaged in providing un-
dertaking and funeral services from six and three lo-
cations respectively in Dade and Broward Counties,
Florida. Both operations were purchased as going
concerns by Service Corporation International (SCI)
which transferred their limousines and drivers to a
new entity, LSI, formed to provide limousine service
to both funeral companies. The latter supplies 100
percent of the funeral vehicles used by the two funer-
al companies, which represents virtually all of its
business. All three operations, as wholly owned sub-
sidiaries, were placed into a division of SCI, called
District 2, Florida Region, under the supervision of
Gregory Jewell.
Each of the three companies has its own manager
who is in charge of its day-to-day activities and may
initiate the hire and discharge of employees, but be-
fore implementing any such personnel action the in-
dividual manager consults with Division Manager
Jewell. The latter is in almost daily contact with the
three operations and determines their general labor
policy and employee working conditions, which are
similar except for insurance benefits which will soon
be made common. When employees are transferred
from one company to another they retain their se-
niority for all purposes.
There appears to be a substantial degree of func-
tional integration` and contact among the employees
of the companies. LSI supplies all the funeral coach-
es and drivers used by the funeral homes, and the
drivers work on a daily basis with Slade and River-
side employees as assistant funeral directors. One of
LSI's drivers is a licensed funeral director who has
conducted 30-40 funerals for Riverside' during the
past year. There is testimony that Slade has reduced
its work force by eight employees with the under-
standing that it could temporarily use personnel from
the other operations when needed. Vehicles which
have been retained by, Riverside and Slade are trans-
ferred between them when necessary.' Both compa-
nies obtain death certificates and perform pickups
for each other once or twice a month. Riverside and
Slade both use Slade's crematorium which would not
have been economically feasible to build without this
common use.
On the basis of the foregoing and the record as a
whole, we find, contrary_ to the Regional Director,
that the three entities, Riverside, Slade, and LSI, to-
gether constitute a single employer and the unit
should include their employees.
We shall now consider the unit placement issues:
The receptionists work in the evenings at the chap-
els. Their principal function is to greet the guests of
the family who visit the chapel to pay their respects.
As the use of the chapel is one of the funeral services
offered to the family, we find that the receptionists
who directly participate in that service should be in-
cluded in the unit?
2 The Regional Director permitted the receptionists to vote under chal-
lenge as he was not satisfied from the record that they should be included in
i The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing the unit.
226 NLRB No. 2
RIVERSIDE MEMORIAL CHAPELS 3
The duties of the religious consultants, also referred
to in the record as receptionists, include greeting of
guests in the chapel and advising members of the
family with respect to religious matters. In addition,
these employees have a public relations function of
informing the community of the services offered by
the funeral homes, and they are reimbursed for nec-
essary travel and meals while on such missions. We
are satisfied that these employees are sufficiently in-
volved in the funeral -service and arrangements to be
included in the unit.
With respect to the administrative personnel and the
switchboard operators, we, like the Regional Director,
shall exclude them from the unit, as it appears that
their duties are primarily clerical and do not substan-
tially contribute to the rendition of the funeral ser-
vice or arrangements.
We find that the following employees constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act:
All regular full-time and regular part-time em-
ployees including funeral directors, apprentice
funeral directors, licensed embalmers, appren-
tice embalmers, drivers, general duty employees
including morgue employees, detail employees,
dispatchers, religious consultants, receptionists,
maintenance men, porters, maids employed by
Employer at its Riverside Memorial Chapels,
Inc., Slade Funeral Homes, Inc., and Limousine
Service International locations in Dade and
Broward Counties, Florida, excluding adminis-
trative personnel, switchboard operators, office
clerical employees, all other employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
Accordingly, we shall remand the case to the Re-
gional Director for the purpose of conducting an
election pursuant to his Decision and Direction of
Election, as amended herein,' except that the payroll
period for determining eligibility shall be that ending
immediately before the date of issuance of-this Deci-
sion on Review. [Excelsior footnote omitted from
publication.]
3 Inasmuch as the unit found appropriate is broader than that originally
petitioned for by the Petitioner, the Regional Director shall determine
whether the Petitioner's showing of interest is sufficient before proceeding
with the election