J. C. Penney Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 22, 1951

92 N.L.R.B. 1454 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

In the Matter of J . C. PENNEY COMPANY, INC.,' EMPLOYER and RETAIL
CLERKS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL No. 663, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 33-RC--225.Decided January 22,1951
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John F. Funke, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made -at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has
delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members, Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees 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 unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees of the Employer at its
store at Las Cruces, New Mexico, including office and clerical em-
ployees, but excluding guards, part-time employees working one full
day or less each week, school student trainees, Guy Dean, and all super-
visors. The Employer disputes only the proposed exclusion of part-
time employees, student trainees, and Guy Dean.
The Employer is a Delaware corporation which operates some 1,620
stores in all States. At its Store $k 402, located at Las Cruces, New
Mexico, there are approximately 39 employees.
The employees in dispute are as follows :
Part-time employees: The Employer has eight employees who work
only 1 day, or part of a day, each week.2 They perform duties similar
1 The name of the Employer appears as corrected at the hearing.
2 These employees work regularly on Saturdays , two for approximately 6 hours, five for
8 hours, and one for 11 hours.
92 NLRB NO. 218.
1454
J. C. PENNEY COMPANY, INC. 1455
to those of full-time employees, are paid at the same hourly rates, and
share the same supervision and working conditions. Inasmuch as
they are regular part-time employees, contrary to the Petitioner's con-
tention, we shall include them in the unit .3
School student trainees: The Employer, pursuant to a State_ dis-
tributive education program, employs three high school students who
work 251/2 hours a week during the school year, a period of 36 weeks.
If their services are satisfactory, and work is available at the conclusion
of their training period, they will be offered regular full-time employ-
ment. These trainees receive credit at their school for their work at
the store, but their wages are paid solely by the Employer. Their
duties and working conditions, like those of other part-time employees,
are the same as those of the Employer's full-time employees. We
shall include them in the unit.-
Guy Dean: The Petitioner would exclude Guy Dean from the unit
on the ground that he is assistant manager. The Employer concedes
that its assistant managers are supervisors, with authority to hire and
discharge, but asserts that it has had no assistant manager at its Las
Cruces store since May 1950.
The record shows that Dean was hired in July 1950 as a salesman,
with the expectation that he would be appointed assistant manager
after he had acquired experience. At the time. of the hearing, however,
he had not received the appointment; nor is there any certainty that,
if he is appointed, he will be assigned to the Las Cruces store.
Although he is paid approximately $50 a month more than.any other
employee and, unlike the others in his department, is responsible for
stock and has authority to place orders for merchandise, there is no
evidence that he has any present supervisory duties or authority. We
shall therefore include him in the unit.5
Five employees in other departments are also responsible for stock
and have authority to order merchandise. Like Dean, however, they
appear to have no supervisory authority; nor are they paid more than
the other employees. Contrary to the Petitioner's apparent conten-
tion, therefore, we find that they are not supervisors.
We find that all employees of the Employer at its Store #402, Las
Cruces, New Mexico, including office and clerical employees, part-time
employees, and ' school student trainees, but excluding guards,
professional employees, and all supervisors 6 as defined in the Act, con-
3 J. C. Penney Company-Store # 1518, 86 NLRB 920 ; F. W. Woolworth Company, 83
NLRB 439.
4 The P. B. Magrane Store, Inc., 84 NLRB 345.
6 Barmac, Inc., 89 NLRB 139.
4 Not including Guy Dean.
1456 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. The determination of representatives :
As indicated above, several of the employees in the unit herein
found appropriate work only from 6 to 11 hours, on one day a week.
As they are regularly employed, however, we shall, in accordance with.-
the Board's usual practice, permit them to vote in the election herein.?
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
7 Harms Hosiery Co., Inc., 91 NLRB 330; J. C. Penney Company-Store # 1518, supra.