Young World, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 10, 1975

216 N.L.R.B. 520 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

520 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Young World , Inc. and Michigan Council No. 55,
American Federation of State, County and Munici-
pal Employees, AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Cases 7-
RC-12180 and 7-RC-12298
February 10, 1975
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY ACTING CHAIRMAN FANNING AND
MEMBERS JENKINS AND PENELLO
On May 22, 1974, the Regional Director for Region
7 issued a Decision and Direction of Elections in the
above-entitled proceeding in which he asserted
jurisdiction over the Employer's proprietary day-care
center operations by applying the National Labor
Relations Board jurisdictional standard for educa-
tional Institutions,' and he found appropriate the
Petitioner's requested units of employees at two of
the Employer's day-care centers located in Lansing
and Delta Township, Michigan, respectively, exclud-
ing "lead teachers" from each unit as supervisors.
Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions, as amended, the Petitioner filed a timely
request for review of the Regional Director's decision
on the ground that he erred in finding the lead
teachers to be supervisors. The Employer filed
opposition thereto.
On July 18, the Board by telegraphic order denied
the Petitioner's request for review as to the superviso-
ry status of the lead teachers but, sua sponte, granted
review on the question of what jurisdictional stand-
ard, if any, is applicable to the Employer's opera-
tions, and it invited the parties to submit briefs on
the issue. Thereafter, the Employer filed a brief.
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, and makes the
following findings:
The Regional Director in his decision indicated
that he viewed the Employer's day-care centers as
essentially educational institutions. The Employer
asserts that its day-care centers are partially educa-
tional and partially custodial in nature, and it urges
that because of marked similarities between child
day-care centers and nursing homes the $100,000
jurisdictional yardstick established for nursing
i See The Windsor School, Inc., 200 NLRB 991 (1972)
2 See Kew Gardens Nursing Home Company, Inc, 194 NLRB 370 (1971).
3 Federal funds contributed by a community action program also
administered by the Department of Health, Education , and Welfare support
216 NLRB No. 97
homes 2 should be applied to child day-care centers.
For the reasons below, we shall affirm the Regional
Director's assertion of jurisdiction herein.
The Employer Is a Delaware corporation, orga-
nized for profit, operating 10 proprietary child day-
care centers in the State of Michigan. Its projected
revenues from all sources for its fiscal year 1973-74
total $1,037,675. Fifty percent of the centers' funds
are supplied on a state-matching basis by the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
through Title IV (a) of the Social Security Act. These
Federal funds are directed primarily to cover the
costs of providing care for welfare children, whose
families participate in Aid to Dependent Children or
Aid to Families with Dependent Children programs,
and who comprise over one-half of the children
attending the Employer' s centers .3 The Employer
purchases or leases over $50,000 in goods and
services from out-of-state suppliers: for example,
office supplies, which must be continually replen-
ished, from Ohio; toys from a New Jersey firm; cots
from a Minnesota firm; over $56,000 worth of
equipment from a New York company; and some
outdoor equipment from a supplier in Iowa. The
Employer also purchased large amounts of supplies
and equipment from out of State for its recently
constructed new facilities. The construction company
which builds the Employer's facilities is wholly
owned by the Employer and purchased large
amounts of materials from out-of-state sources. The
Employer participates in a national organization of
day-care centers and its directors travel to meetings
held around the country.
The centers, licensed to care for children 2-1/2
through 8 years, care for approximately 1,500
children primarily from the ages of 2-1/2 years
through kindergarten age, who live within a 4- to 8-
mile radius of the center they attend. An unspecified
number of out-of-state children also utilize the
Employer's services for an average period of 2-3
weeks at a time when they visit relatives living within
the State.
The centers are engaged in "developmental day
care" which combines custodial care and learning
experiences, such as field trips and reading skills.
Each center employs approximately four lead teach-
ers, four teachers, and teachers' aides proportionate
in number to the children at each center. Children
are usually cared for in groups of 12 to 20. The
majority of children attending the Employer's centers
have working parents. In order to accommodate
them, the centers are open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
the costs of the food program at two of the Employer 's centers . In addition,
the Employer participates in a federally funded research project conducted
by Michigan State University
YOUNG WORLD, INC. 521
Where the children are of school age, the centers care
for children before and after school. Thus, the
Employer operates a bus service, unconnected with
the public school bus service , to transport those
children attending school to and from the centers.
Each center also employs a cook, one or two drivers,
a secretary-receptionist, and a director.
While the centers are engaged in "developmental"
programs , described by the director of operations to
include "lunch, snacks, naps, and field trips," we
note that the emphasis is not on a formalized
educational program, but on custodial care which
incorporates learning experiences for young children.
Additionally, the Regional Director found that the
centers' teachers and teachers' aides do not have the
formal education which public school systems
usually require of their teachers. Thus, only some of
the lead teachers have college degrees, and the
teachers and teachers' a ides "are not required to have
any advanced education or technical training for
work involving the emotional development and well-
being and even the physical safety of quite young
children...."
It is clear from the foregoing that the Employer's
operations are distinguishable from those of an
educational institution . Nor do we see any basis in
the record for viewing its operations as an adjunct to
local public school systems in the areas served.4
Further, while we thus disagree with the Regional
4 In this respect the instant case is factually distinguishable from the
Board 's Advisory Opinion in Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board 209
NLRB 152 (1974), in which it was concluded that the day-care centers
involved were an adjunct to the public school system of Pittsburgh since
they primarily functioned as a "head start" program whose operations
focused on preparing preschool age children for public school education.
Member Fanning's participation herein should not be taken as an
endorsement of the Advisory Opinion in Pennsylvania Labor Relations
Board, supra.
D See Cornell University, 183 NLRB 329, 334 (1970)
8 See Stemons Mailing Service, 122 NLRB 81 (1958); University Nursing
Home, Inc, 168 NLRB 263 (1967), Drexel Home, Inc., 182 NLRB 1045
(1970); Jurisdictional Rule, NLRB Rules and Regulations , Sec. 103.1
Director's holding that the jurisdictional standard for
educational institutions is applicable to the Employ-
er's operations , we are not prepared at this time to
establish a jurisdictional standard for day-care
centers as a class. However, in the circumstances of
this case, we are satisfied that the commerce data
relating to the Employer's operations support a
finding that the Employer is engaged in commerce to
the extent that a labor dispute in connection
therewith would substantially affect interstate com-
merce .5 In so finding, we note that the Employer
meets every discretionary jurisdictional standard the
Board has applied to date.6 We conclude, therefore,
that it would effectuate the purposes of the Act to
assert jurisdiction herein.
Accordingly, the case is remanded to the Regional
Director for Region 7 for the purposes of conducting
elections pursuant to his Decision and Direction of
Elections,7 provided that the payroll period for
determining eligibility shall be that immediately
preceding the date of issuance of this Decision.8
[Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.]
MEMBER KENNEDY, dissenting:
For the reasons set forth in my dissenting opinion
issuing today in Lutheran Welfare Services of Illinois,
216 NLRB No. 96, I disagree with my colleagues in
extending the jurisdiction of this Board to the
Employer's day-care center operation.
7 The following , as found by the Regional Director, are the appropriate
units herein for purposes of collective bargaining
All teachers , teachers aides, cooks, drivers , and nders employed at
the Employer's Day Care Center located at 4711 South Logan Street,
Lansing, Michigan, excluding the director , lead teachers , and other
supervisors as defined in the Act, executives, confidential employees,
managerial employees, and all other employees
All teachers, teachers aides, cooks , drivers, and riders employed at
the Employer 's Day Care Center located at 4010 West Michigan, Delta
Township , Michigan , excluding the director, lead teachers , and other
supervisors as defined in the Act, executives , confidential employees,
managerial employees , and all other employees.