Transit Casualty Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 25, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 857 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of TRANSIT CASUALTY COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LOCAL
No. 13, OFFICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, A. F. L., PETI-
TIONER
Case No. 14-RC-587.-Decided May 25,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Glenn L.
Moller, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The
hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. The Employer moved to dismiss the
petition upon jurisdictional and other grounds, which motion will be
considered hereinafter.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board makes the following
findings :
1. The Employer, a Missouri corporation, is engaged in the business
of underwriting liability and workmen's compensation insurance for
St.. Louis Public Service Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, Los
Angeles Transit Lines, of Los Angeles, California, and National City
Lines, of Chicago, Illinois. The stock of the Employer is owned : 46
percent by St. Louis Public Service Company; 30 percent by National
City Lines ; and 24 percent by Los Angeles Transit Lines. The insur-
ance policy issued by the Employer to National City Lines lists as
named insureds 41 city transit companies, 22 of which are located in
12 States. The Employer's principal office, employing about 41 per-
sons, is located in St. Louis, Missouri. The Employer also maintains
an office in Los Angeles, California, employing about an equal number
of persons. In addition, it maintains branch offices in 9 other cities
throughout the United States. During 1948, the Employer received
from, its policy holders premiums in the amount of $5,062,714.23.
During the same period , it paid out losses in the sum of $1,671,934.07.
83 N. L . R. B., No. 128.,
857
858 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer has moved to dismiss the proceeding upon jurisdictional
grounds, relying on a prior Board decision 1 wherein the Board found
that the effect of the Employer's operations upon interstate commerce
was not such that the policies of the Act would be effectuated by the
assertion of jurisdiction. At the time the prior decision was rendered 2
there was no evidence presented from which the Board could conclude
that the Employer was engaged in its own right in interstate com-
merce, or in activities affecting interstate commerce. However, upon
the basis of the present record it affirmatively appears that the Em-
ployer's operations have been so altered since the prior decision that
now they unquestionably affect interstate commerce. At the time
the prior decision was rendered, the -Employer was a subsidiary of
St. Louis Public Service Company, which owned all its capital stock.
At the present time, as above noted, St. Louis Public Service Company
owns only 46 percent of the Employer's stock, and the remainder is
owned, 30 percent by National City Lines, and 24 percent by Los
Angeles Transit Lines. Also, when the earlier case was decided, the
Employer insured only St. Louis Public Service Company and Los
Angeles Transit Lines, whereas it now insures transit lines in 41 cities,
22 of which are located in 12 States. Furthermore, the Board has
recently asserted jurisdiction over a similar operation.' Under the
circumstances, we find that the Employer is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Natioanl Labor Relations Act. Accord-
ingly, the Employer's motion to dismiss upon jurisdictional grounds
is hereby denied.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the' representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate units :
The Petitioner requests a unit consisting of all office and clerical
employees, investigators, and claims adjusters, employed at the St.
Louis, Missouri, office of the Employer, excluding watchmen, guards,
supervisors, and managerial employees. In the alternative, the
Petitioner seeks two separate units, one composed of office and clerical
employees, and the other composed of investigators and claims ad-
justers. The Employer takes no position with respect to a unit com-
posed of office and clerical employees, but contends that investigators
1 Matter of St. Louis Public Service Company and Transit Casualty Company, 65 N. L.
R. B. 775.
2 February 4, 1946.
3 Matter of Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Co. of Chicago, 75 N. L. R. B. 1132.
TRANSIT CASUALTY COMPANY 859
and claim adjusters properly should not be included therein, or in any
unit, since they are representatives of management.
The operations of the St. Louis office of the-Employer are divided
into an accounting and clerical department, and a claims department.
The claims department is subdivided into an investigation-adjust-
ment section, and a litigated claims section. The St. Louis office is
under the supervision of a branch manager. The accounting and
clerical department is under the supervision of a branch office account-
ant, and the claims department is under the supervision of five super-
visors. All of the employees in the accounting and clerical department
perform similar types of clerical work. The employees in the claims
department are engaged in the normal activity incident to settling and
litigating claims. In this department, there are employees classified
as investigator-adjusters, court investigators, and trial attorneys.'
As previously noted, the Employer contends that the investigator-
adjusters and court investigators should not be included within the
unit sought, or within any unit, because they are managerial employees.
Investigator-adjusters: 5 The investigator-adjusters spend about
one-third of their time in the settlement of claims, and the remainder
of their time in the investigation of claims. Although they may settle
claims upon their own responsibility and draw checks in payment
thereof, they are limited to a great extent as to the amount of settle-
ment. While they may exercise certain judgment and discretion in
their work, it must be in accordance with the Employer's established
policy. Furthermore, we do not believe that the judgment or discretion
exercised by these employees would be affected by permitting them to
organize for the purposes of collective bargaining, inasmuch as it does
not appear that they are on the policy-making level of the Employer's
organization. Under all the circumstances, we conclude that the in-
vestigator-adjusters and the court investigators are not managerial
employees,e and we shall not deprive them of their right to representa-
tion by a labor organization. But we believe that any problems which
may arise with respect to investigator-adjusters and court investiga-
tors may best be solved by their representation in a unit separate from
the office and clerical employees. Their bargaining interests are sub-
stantially different from those of the clerical employees. They are
4 The parties agreed upon the exclusion from the unit of trial attorneys.
5 Our reasoning and findings herein with regard to investigator -adjusters also apply to
the employees classified by the Employer as court investigators , who spend virtually all
their time investigating cases rather than settling them, but whose conditions of employ-
ment and bargaining interests are similar to those of the investigator-adjusters.
0Matter of Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Co. of Chicago, footnote 3, supra . The Em-
ployer's motion to dismiss on this basis is hereby denied.
860 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
under separate supervision, have wider responsibilities, different hours
of work, and other varying conditions of employment. Therefore, we
shall place them in a unit of their own.7
In view of the foregoing, we find that the employees in the follow-
ing groups, excluding watchmen, guards, supervisors, and managerial
employees, constitute, separate units appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the act.
- 1. All office and clerical employees employed by the Employer in
its office at St. Louis, Missouri.
2. All investigator-adjusters and court investigators employed by
the Employer in its office at St. Louis, Missouri.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur=
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region, and subject to
Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the groups described in
paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll'
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also
excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Local No.
13, Office Employees International Union, A. F. L., for the purposes
of collective bargaining.
7 Compare Matter of Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Inc., 64 N. L. R. B. 780 , wherein
the Board established separate units of insurance agents and clericals , because of the dis-
similarity of their duties and working conditions.