Animal Care Clinic

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 14, 2010

355 NLRB No. 46 (N.L.R.B. 2010)

355 NLRB No. 46
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
bound volumes of NLRB decisions. Readers are requested to notify the Ex-
ecutive Secretary, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C.
20570, of any typographical or other formal errors so that corrections can
be included in the bound volumes.
Tom Arand, P.C. d/b/a Animal Care Clinic and Equal
Justice Center. Case 16–CA–26387
June 14, 2010
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS SCHAUMBER, BECKER, AND PEARCE
The General Counsel seeks default judgment in this
case on the ground that the Respondent has failed to file
an answer to the compliance specification.
On March 31, 2009, the Board issued a Decision and
Order,1 that, among other things, ordered the Respondent
to offer reinstatement to discriminatees Wendy Castel-
lanos and James Turpin and make them whole for any
loss of earnings and other benefits resulting from their
unlawful discharges in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the
Act. On July 22, 2009, the United States Court of Ap-
peals for the Fifth Circuit entered its judgment enforcing
the Board’s Order.2
A controversy having arisen over the amount of back-
pay due the discriminatees, on February 26, 2010, the
Regional Director issued a compliance specification and
notice of hearing alleging the amount of backpay due
under the Board’s Order, and alleging that the Respon-
dent has failed to take any of the action required to com-
ply with the court-enforced Board Order. The compli-
ance specification notified the Respondent that it should
file a timely answer complying with the Board’s Rules
and Regulations. Although properly served with a copy
of the compliance specification, the Respondent failed to
file an answer.
By letter dated March 30, 2010, the Region advised the
Respondent that no answer to the compliance specifica-
tion had been received and that unless an answer was
filed by April 2, 2010, a motion for default judgment
would be filed.3 To date, the Respondent has failed to
file an answer.
On April 16, 2010, the General Counsel filed with the
Board a Motion for Default Judgment, with exhibits at-
tached. On April 16, 2010, the Board issued an order
transferring the proceeding to the Board and a Notice to

1 353 NLRB No. 128 (2009).
2 No. 09-60335.
3 According to the uncontroverted allegations of the motion for de-
fault judgment, the Respondent acknowledged receipt of the Region’s
March 30, 2010 letter via telephone message left with the Region on
April 1, 2010, and advised that it would not be able to file an answer by
April 2, 2010 and could not commit to a date certain as to when it
would be able to file an answer.
Show Cause why the motion should not be granted. The
Respondent again filed no response. The allegations in
the motion and in the compliance specification are there-
fore undisputed.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Ruling on the Motion for Default Judgment
Section 102.56(a) of the Board’s Rules and Regula-
tions provides that a respondent shall file an answer
within 21 days from service of a compliance specifica-
tion. Section 102.56(c) provides that if the respondent
fails to file an answer to the specification within the time
prescribed by this section, the Board may, either with or
without taking evidence in support of the allegations of
the specification and without further notice to the re-
spondent, find the specification to be true and enter such
order as may be appropriate.
According to the uncontroverted allegations of the mo-
tion for default judgment, the Respondent, despite having
been advised of the filing requirements, has failed to file
an answer to the compliance specification. In the ab-
sence of good cause for the Respondent’s failure to file
an answer, we deem the allegations in the compliance
specification to be admitted as true, and we grant the
General Counsel’s Motion for Default Judgment. Ac-
cordingly, we conclude that the net backpay due Castel-
lanos and Turpin is as stated in the compliance specifica-
tion, and we will order the Respondent to pay those
amounts to the discriminatees, plus interest accrued to
the date of payment. Further, we find that backpay, ex-
penses, and interest continue to accrue until the Respon-
dent makes a valid offer of reinstatement to the discrimi-
natees.4
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, Tom Arand, P.C. d/b/a Animal Care Clinic,
Round Rock, Texas, its officers, agents, successors, and
assigns, shall make whole Wendy Castellanos and James
Turpin, by paying them the amounts following their
names, plus additional backpay and interest that may

4 As indicated above, the compliance specification alleges that the
Respondent has failed to reinstate Castellanos and Turpin, to remove
the references of their unlawful discharges from its files, to notify them
in writing that the references have been removed from the Respon-
dent’s files, to post or duplicate and mail the required notices to em-
ployees, and to file a sworn certification with the Region setting forth
the steps taken to comply. By failing to file an answer, the Respondent
has effectively admitted that it has failed to do so. Nevertheless, we
find it unnecessary in this proceeding to order the Respondent to take
the actions described above, as those actions are included in our previ-
ous Order that has been enforced by the court of appeals. See Bryan
Adair Construction Co., 341 NLRB 247, 247 fn. 4 (2004).
DECISIONS AND ORDERS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD2
accrue in the absence of a valid offer of reinstatement,
plus interest accrued to the date of payment, as pre-
scribed in New Horizons for the Retarded, 283 NLRB
1173 (1987), and minus tax withholdings required by
Federal and State laws:
Wendy Castellanos $ 7,571.28
James Turpin 20,727.30
TOTAL BACKPAY DUE: $28,298.58
Dated, Washington, D.C. June 14, 2010
Peter C. Schaumber, Member
Craig Becker, Member
Mark Gaston Pearce, Member
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD