Title Guarantee Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 20, 1976

226 N.L.R.B. 44 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

44 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Abstract Title, Division Title Guarantee Corp. and
Retail Store Employees Union Local 345, AFL-
'CIO," Petitioner. Case 3-RC-6445 -
September 20, 1976
DECISION ON REVIEW
By CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND JENKINS
On November 19, 1975, the Acting Regional Di-
rector for Region 3, issued a Decision and Direction
of Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which
he found appropriate, contrary to the Employer's
contention, a unit of "[a]ll abstract searchers and -tax
searchers ^ employed . . . at the Monroe County
Clerk's Office, (39'West Main Street), and its facility
located at 19 West Main Street, Rochester, New
York, excluding all office clerical employees,' profes-
sional employees, managerial employees, guards and
supervisors as defined in the Act." 2 Thereafter the
Employer, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the
National Labor Relations, Board Rules and Regula-
tions, Series 8, as amended, filed a timely request for
review, contending that the Regional Director erred
in excluding the clerical employees from the unit. By
telegraphic order dated December 18, 1975, the
Board granted the request for review. The Employer
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
proceeding with respect to the issue under review and
makes the following findings:
The Employer is engaged in the business of col-
lecting and selling data regarding the marketability,
insurability, and chain of title of real estate located in
the State of New York. In addition it issues title in-
surance policies which guarantee the accuracy of its
data and the marketability of real estate titles. The
documents produced by the Employer consist of ab-
stracts of titles, tax searches, bankruptcy court
searches, and title insurance policies. The Employer's
principal business facility consists of offices located
at 19 West Main Street, Rochester, New York. In
addition, the Employer utilizes an area in the Mon-
roe County clerk's office at 39 West Main Street
which is provided by the county as a courtesy.
1 The name of the Petitioner appears as corrected by amendment at the
hearing.
2 The petition, as amended at the hearing, requested a unit of all abstract
searchers.
The Employer employs approximately 22 employ-
ees, 14 of whom are employed at 19 West Main
Street and 8 at the Monroe County clerk's -office. The
Employer's branch manager has overall responsibil-
ity for the operations at both locations. The tax
searcher, title function secretaries, bankruptcy clerk-
typist, receptionist typist, bookkeeper,, billing and de-
livery clerk, typist, And multilith operator-typist all
work at 19 West -Main Street, With exception-of the
tax searcher, the clerical employees are supervised by
the typing supervisor, who reports `to the branch
manager. The abstract searchers and one order and
telephone clerk are employed at 39 West Main
Street. The abstract coordinator, who is located at 19
West Main Street, and who also reports to the
branch manager, supervises the abstract searchers,
the order and telephone clerk, and the tax searcher.
The Employer contends that the only appropriate
unit is an overall unit embracing all employees in
both facilities 3 and that the exclusion by the Acting
Regional Director of clerical employees was errone-
ous in view of the integrated nature of its operations,
the participation of all employees in the work pro-
cess, the centralized management, the community of
interest shared by all employees, and the similarity of
duties between the abstract and tax searchers and
other company personnel. We find merit in the
Employer's contentions.
The Employer's clerical employees at both facili-
ties perform functions which are interrelated with
those of the abstract and tax searchers in the produc-
tion of the ultimate abstract of title. All employees
work on the same products and make an essential
contribution to the production of the final product.
When a request requiring a title abstract is made to
either of its facilities, the person receiving the re-
quest, who may be a clerical or title search employee,
writes relevant notes from the customer concerning
the person placing the order, the location of the
property, the document requested, and then classifies
the request as to whether it is to be a full title search
or merely an update of a previous title search. If a
full search is requested, for example, in the 19 West
Main Street facility, the tax searcher removes the
necessary information to perform the tax search. To
meet production deadlines, a typist maybe assigned
to assist the tax searcher for the final tax search.
Once the tax searcher removes the information the
file is passed to the abstract coordinator. The ab-
stract coordinator assembles information, writes
notes of instruction for the abstract searchers, and
places the file in the county clerk's office basket for
delivery to 39 West Main Street, normally by the bill-
ing and delivery clerk. The order and telephone clerk
3 There is no history of bargaining among these employees.
226 NLRB No. 12
ABSTRACT TITLE 45
checks the orders on the control cards and places
them in the drawer for the abstract searchers. The
abstract searchers, following instructions previously
noted in the file by the employees at 19 West Main
Street, perform the clerical function of searching the
records in the county clerk's office for title informa-
tion with respect to the history of the land being ex-
amined. They may call the bankruptcy clerk for
bankruptcy reports. Once the search is completed, it
is returned to 19 West Main Street, where the ab-
stract is typed. The multilith operator-typist and re-
ceptionist-typist spend significant portions of their
time typing abstracts. The various typists, in prepar-
ing the final abstract of title, and the title function
secretaries , in preparing the title policy, utilize the
information supplied by the tax searcher, bankruptcy
clerk, abstract coordinator, and abstract searchers.
There is similar participation in completing the final
product, although fewer steps are involved, when a
continuation search is conducted. Thus, the clerical
employees are intimately involved in the production
operations carried out between the two locations.
Though the record disclosed that the functions of
all employees are integrated in preparing the final
products and that the title search employees as well
as the other employees perform some clerical func-
tions, the Acting Regional Director excluded the
clerical employees from the production and mainte-
nance unit because their work was essentially office
clerical in nature. However, the case relied on by the
Acting Regional Director to exclude the clerical em-
ployees, Land Title Guarantee and Trust Co., 194
NLRB 148 (1971), reached a contrary result. In that
case , the Board directed an election in a unit which
included title examiners and clerical employees. The
employer in Land Title was engaged in the business
of researching, insuring, and guaranteeing title to
real estate and acting as escrow agent in real estate
transactions. Since the title examiners had only a
high school education and needed only a few weeks'
training to perform their work, separate representa-
tion was not considered justified. Similarly in this
case, the requisite skills for the abstract searchers and
tax searcher are developed on the job. There are no
special educational requirements even though a high
school education is generally required. The Board's
holding in Land Title thus supports the placement of
the clerical employees, tax searcher, and abstract
searchers in an overall unit.
In addition, the title search and clerical employees
share a strong community of interest. Since the nec-
essary skills may be developed on the job, employees
may transfer from one position to another. Two of
the abstract searchers were previously employed as
tax searchers. Another abstract searcher began as a
billing and delivery clerk. As noted by the Acting
Regional Director, employees at both facilities are
subject to the same labor relations policy, hiring pro-
cedures, promotion policy, and wage rates. They re-
ceive the same hospitalization, medical and life insur-
ance and other fringe benefits and are under the
same retirement plan and vacation policy.
In view of the clericals' tasks in colloborating with
the abstract searchers and tax searcher in production
of the ultimate abstract of title and title insurance
policies, the regular contact and interchange, and the
strong community of interest shared among all em-
ployees, we find, contrary to the Acting Regional Di-
rector, that the appropriate unit herein should in-
clude all clerical employees. This result is in accord
with the consistent policy of the Board to include
clerical employees in' units of production or service
employees where their duties relate directly to pro-
ducing the product or providing the services. See, e.
g., Mercy Hospitals of Sacramento, Inc., 217 NLRB
765 (1975).
Accordingly, the matter is hereby remanded to the
Regional Director for Region 3 for the purpose of
conducting an election in the appropriate unit as
modified herein,4 pursuant to his Decision and Di-
rection of Election, except that the payroll period for
determining eligibility shall be that immediately pre-
ceding the date of issuance of this Decision on Re-
view. [Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.]
4 The modified unit consists of-
All clerical employees, abstract searchers, and tax searchers employed
by the Employer at its Monroe County clerk's office (39 West Main
Street), and its facility located at 19 West Main Street, Rochester, New
York, excluding all professional employees, managerial employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act
In the event the Petitioner does not wish to proceed to an election in the
unit found appropriate herein, it shall so notify the Regional Director by
written notice within 7 days of the date of issuance. Moreover, as the unit
found appropriate is broader than that originally requested by the Peti-
tioner, the Regional Director shall determine whether there is a sufficient
showing of interest before proceeding with the election