Keystone Printing, Inc., d/b/a Keystone Millbrook Printing Group

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 27, 2020

369 N.L.R.B. 35 (N.L.R.B. 2020)

369 NLRB No. 35
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.
Keystone Printing, Inc., d/b/a Keystone Millbrook
Printing Group and Graphic Communications
Conference International Brotherhood of Team-
sters Local 25-M of District Council 3. Case 07–
CA–246458
February 27, 2020
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN RING AND MEMBERS KAPLAN
AND EMANUEL
The General Counsel seeks a default judgment in this
case on the ground that the Respondent has failed to file
an answer to the complaint. Upon a charge filed by
Graphic Communications Conference International
Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 25-M of District Council
3 (the Union) on August 9, 2019,1 the General Counsel
issued a complaint and notice of hearing on October 7
against Keystone Printing, Inc. d/b/a Keystone Millbrook
Printing Group (the Respondent), alleging that it had vio-
lated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act. The Respondent
failed to file an answer.
On November 25, the General Counsel filed a Motion
for Default Judgment with the Board. On November 27,
the Board issued an order transferring the proceeding to
the Board and a Notice to Show Cause why the motion
should not be granted. The Respondent filed no response.
The allegations in the motion are therefore undisputed.
Ruling on Motion for Default Judgment
Section 102.20 of the Board’s Rules and Regulations
provides that the allegations of a complaint shall be
deemed admitted if an answer is not filed within 14 days
from service of the complaint, unless good cause is shown.
In addition, the complaint affirmatively stated that unless
an answer was received on or before October 21, the
Board may find, pursuant to a motion for default judg-
ment, that the allegations in the complaint are true.

1 All dates are 2019 unless otherwise indicated.
2 The complaint was served on the Respondent by certified mail, and
the United States Postal Service tracking website shows that it was de-
livered on October 10. The October 30 letter was served on the Respond-
ent by regular and certified mail. Both copies of the letter were returned,
with the certified mail showing the message, “Moved, Left no Address”
and the regular mail stamped, “Return to sender. Not deliverable as ad-
dressed. Unable to forward.” The November 7 copy of the letter was
served on the Respondent’s Chief Operating Officer by email immedi-
ately after she sent the Board attorney an email from the same address
stating that “as of August 9, 2019, Keystone Millbrook has closed its
doors.” The email further noted the upcoming hearing date and asked
for the address at which the Respondent received documents. The
Further, the undisputed allegations in the General Coun-
sel’s motion disclose that the Region, by letter dated Oc-
tober 30, with a copy of the complaint attached, advised
the Respondent that unless it filed an appropriate answer
by November 6, a Motion for Default Judgment would be
filed with the Board. A copy of the same letter was served
on the Respondent’s Chief Operating Officer on Novem-
ber 7. The Motion for Default Judgment and a Notice to
Show Cause were served on the Respondent at its last
known address on November 25 and November 27, re-
spectively, and a Second Notice to Show Cause was
served on the Respondent on January 14, 2020. Neverthe-
less, the Respondent failed to file an answer.2
In the absence of good cause shown for the failure to
file a timely answer, we grant the General Counsel’s Mo-
tion for Default Judgment.
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. JURISDICTION
At all material times, the Respondent has been a corpo-
ration with an office and place of business located at 3540
Jefferson Hwy., Grand Ledge, Michigan (Grand Ledge fa-
cility), and has been engaged in providing commercial
printing and packaging services.
In conducting its operations during the calendar year
ending December 31, 2018, the Respondent derived gross
revenues in excess of $500,000 and purchased and re-
ceived at its Grand Ledge facility goods valued in excess
of $50,000 directly from points outside the State of Mich-
igan.
We find that the Respondent is an employer engaged in
commerce within the meaning of Section 2(2), (6), and (7)
of the Act and that the Union is a labor organization within
the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
II. ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
At all material times, the following individuals held the
positions set forth opposite their respective names and
have been supervisors of the Respondent within the mean-
ing of Section 2(11) of the Act and agents of the Respond-
ent within the meaning of Section 2(13) of the Act.
Respondent failed to reply. Subsequently served documents, including
the Motion for Default Judgment, the Notice to Show Cause, and the
Second Notice to Show Cause, were served on the Respondent at its last
known address but were also returned.
We find service sufficient. Service is accomplished when documents
are deposited in the mail to a respondent’s last known address.
Esztergalyos Enterprises, Inc., 337 NLRB 72, 74 fn. 2 (2002), citing Na-
tional Automatic Sprinklers, 307 NLRB 481, 482 fn. 1 (1992). Further-
more, the Respondent’s failure or refusal to provide for receiving appro-
priate service cannot serve to defeat the purposes of the Act. Spectrum
Mechanical Services LLC, 368 NLRB No. 85 (2019); Cray Construction
Group, LLC, 339 NLRB 247, 247 fn. 2 (2003).
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD2
Timothy Clark – Owner, Chief Executive Officer
Laura Hall – Chief Operating Officer
The following employees of the Respondent (the unit)
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All full-time and regular part-time employees perform-
ing work, processes, operations and production directly
related to printing; including garment operators, pick-n-
pack general employees, floor workers, building mainte-
nance, coatings operators, truck drivers, shipping and re-
ceiving, materials and logistics, mailing operators, mail-
ing coordinators, general bindery, bindery operators,
prepress assistants, electronic prepress, digital press op-
erators, small press operators 20” and below, press
helper, web press operators, press helpers, 2nd press-
men, six up to ten color sheet fed over 29” up to and in-
cluding 40”, and six color fed up to and including 29”
employees employed by Respondent at or out of its
Grand Ledge facility; but excluding confidential em-
ployees and guards and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
Since at least November 11, 2018, the Respondent has
recognized the General Communications Conference of
the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Detroit—To-
ledo—Lansing—Flint Local 2/289 M of the District
Council 3 (predecessor Union) as the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the unit. This recognition has
been embodied in successive collective-bargaining agree-
ments, the most recent of which is effective November 11,
2018 through November 7, 2021.
About July 1, the predecessor Union merged with an-
other local and became the Union. At all material times
since July 1, the Union has been the exclusive bargaining
representative of the employees in the unit.
At all material times since at least July 1, based on Sec-
tion 9(a) of the Act, the Union has been the exclusive col-
lective-bargaining representative of the unit.
About August 9, the Respondent announced to its unit
employees the permanent closure of its Grand Ledge fa-
cility and the permanent layoff of its employees in the unit.
The Respondent engaged in the above conduct without
prior notice to the Union and without affording the Union
a meaningful opportunity to bargain with the Respondent
with respect to the effects of this conduct.
About August 9, the Respondent failed to continue in
effect all the terms and conditions of the collective-bar-
gaining agreement by failing or refusing to pay unit em-
ployees the cash equivalent of any unused vacation earned
in the calendar year ending December 31, 2018, and ac-
crued vacation pay earned in the period from January 1
through August 9, as provided in article 26 of the collec-
tive-bargaining agreement described above.
The Respondent engaged in this conduct without the
Union’s consent, without prior notice to the Union, and
without affording the Union a meaningful opportunity to
bargain with the Respondent with respect to this conduct
and the effects thereof.
The subjects set forth above relate to wages, hours, and
other terms and conditions of employment of the unit and
are mandatory subjects for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
By the conduct described above, the Respondent has
been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in
good faith with the exclusive collective-bargaining repre-
sentative of its employees in violation of Section 8(a)(5)
and (1) of the Act. The Respondent’s unfair labor prac-
tices described above affect commerce within the meaning
of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent has engaged in cer-
tain unfair labor practices, we shall order it to cease and
desist and to take certain affirmative action designed to
effectuate the policies of the Act. Specifically, to remedy
the Respondent’s failure and refusal to bargain with the
Union about the effects of closing of its Grand Ledge fa-
cility and laying off the employees, we shall order the Re-
spondent to bargain with the Union, on request, about the
effects of its decision to close the facility. As a result of
the Respondent’s unlawful conduct, however, the unit em-
ployees have been denied an opportunity to bargain
through their collective-bargaining representative at a
time when the Respondent might still have been in need
of their services and a measure of balanced bargaining
power existed. Meaningful bargaining cannot be assured
until some measure of economic strength is restored to the
Union. A bargaining order alone, therefore, cannot serve
as an adequate remedy for the unfair labor practices com-
mitted.
Accordingly, we deem it necessary, in order to ensure
that meaningful bargaining occurs and to effectuate the
policies of the Act, to accompany our bargaining order
with a limited backpay requirement designed both to make
whole the employees for losses suffered as a result of the
violation and to recreate in some practicable manner a sit-
uation in which the parties’ bargaining position is not en-
tirely devoid of economic consequences for the Respond-
ent. We shall do so by ordering the Respondent to pay
backpay to the unit employees in a manner similar to that
required in Transmarine Navigation Corp., 170 NLRB
KEYSTONE PRINTING, INC., D/B/A KEYSTONE MILLBROOK PRINTING GROUP 3
389 (1968), as clarified by Melody Toyota, 325 NLRB 846
(1998).3
The Respondent shall pay its unit employees backpay at
the rate of their normal wages when last in the Respond-
ent’s employ from 5 days after the date of this Decision
and Order until occurrence of the earliest of the following
conditions: (1) the date the Respondent bargains to agree-
ment with the Union on those subjects pertaining to the
effects of the closure on the unit employees; (2) a bona
fide impasse in bargaining; (3) the Union’s failure to re-
quest bargaining within 5 business days after receipt of
this Decision and Order, or to commence negotiations
within 5 business days after receipt of the Respondent’s
notice of its desire to bargain with the Union; or (4) the
Union’s subsequent failure to bargain in good faith.
In no event shall the sum paid to these employees ex-
ceed the amount they would have earned as wages from
the date on which the Respondent ceased operations to the
time they secured equivalent employment elsewhere, or
the date on which the Respondent shall have offered to
bargain in good faith, whichever occurs sooner. However,
in no event shall this sum be less than the employees
would have earned for a 2-week period at the rate of their
normal wages when last in the Respondent’s employ.
Backpay shall be based on earnings that the unit employ-
ees would normally have received during the applicable
period, less any net interim earnings, and shall be com-
puted in accordance with F. W. Woolworth Co., 90 NLRB
289 (1950), with interest at the rate prescribed in New Ho-
rizons, 283 NLRB 1173 (1987), compounded daily as pre-
scribed in Kentucky River Medical Center, 356 NLRB 6
(2010).
In addition, having found that the Respondent violated
Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by failing to continue in effect all
terms and conditions of employment of its unit employees
by failing or refusing to pay them the cash equivalent of
any unused vacation earned in the calendar year ending
December 31, 2018, and accrued vacation pay earned in
the period from January 1 through August 9, as provided
in article 26 of the collective-bargaining agreement, we
shall order the Respondent to make the unit employees
whole by paying them those amounts, in the manner set
forth in Ogle Protection Service, 183 NLRB 682 (1970),
enfd. 444 F.2d 502 (6th Cir. 1971), with interest as pre-
scribed in New Horizons, 283 NLRB 1173 (1987), com-
pounded daily as prescribed in Kentucky River Medical
Center, 356 NLRB 6 (2010).
We shall order the Respondent to compensate the unit
employees for any adverse tax consequences of receiving
lump-sum backpay awards and to file a report with the

3 See also Live Oak Skilled Care & Manor, 300 NLRB 1040 (1990).
Regional Director for Region 7 allocating the backpay
award to the appropriate calendar years for each employee
within 21 days of the date the amount of backpay is fixed,
either by agreement or Board order, in accordance with
AdvoServ of New Jersey, Inc., 363 NLRB No. 143 (2016).
Finally, because the Respondent has closed its facility,
we shall order the Respondent to mail a copy of the at-
tached notice to the Union and to the last known addresses
of its former unit employees in order to inform them of the
outcome of this proceeding.
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the Re-
spondent, Keystone Printing, Inc., d/b/a Keystone
Millbrook Printing Group, Grand Ledge, Michigan, its of-
ficers, agents, successors, and assigns shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in
good faith with Graphic Communications Conference In-
ternational Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 25-M of Dis-
trict Council 3 (the Union) as the exclusive collective-bar-
gaining representative of bargaining unit employees about
the effects of its decision to cease operations at its Grand
Ledge facility.
(b) Failing to continue in effect all terms and conditions
of employment of its unit employees by failing or refusing
to pay them the cash equivalent of any unused vacation
earned in the calendar year ending December 31, 2018,
and accrued vacation pay earned in the period from Janu-
ary 1 through August 9, as provided in article 26 of the
collective-bargaining agreement.
(c) In any like or related manner interfering with, re-
straining, or coercing employees in the exercise of the
rights guaranteed them by Section 7 of the Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action necessary to
effectuate the policies of the Act.
(a) On request, bargain with the Union as the exclusive
collective-bargaining representative of the employees in
the following appropriate unit concerning the effects of its
decision to close the Respondent’s Grand Ledge facility
and reduce to writing any agreement reached as a result of
such bargaining:
All full-time and regular part-time employees perform-
ing work, processes, operations and production directly
related to printing; including garment operators, pick-n-
pack general employees, floor workers, building mainte-
nance, coatings operators, truck drivers, shipping and re-
ceiving, materials and logistics, mailing operators, mail-
ing coordinators, general bindery, bindery operators,
prepress assistants, electronic prepress, digital press
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD4
operators, small press operators 20” and below, press
helper, web press operators, press helpers, 2nd press-
men, six up to ten color sheet fed over 29” up to and in-
cluding 40”, and six color fed up to and including 29”
employees employed by Respondent at or out of its
Grand Ledge facility; but excluding confidential em-
ployees and guards and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
(b) Pay the unit employees their normal wages for the
period set forth in the remedy section of this decision, with
interest.
(c) Pay the unit employees the cash equivalent of any
unused vacation earned in the calendar year ending De-
cember 31, 2018, and accrued vacation pay earned in the
period from January 1 through August 9, 2019, as pro-
vided in the collective-bargaining agreement, with inter-
est.
(d) Compensate the unit employees for the adverse tax
consequences, if any, of receiving lump-sum backpay
awards, and file with the Regional Director for Region 7,
within 21 days of the date the amount of backpay is fixed,
either by agreement or Board order, a report allocating the
backpay awards to the appropriate calendar years for each
employee.
(e) Preserve and, within 14 days of a request, or such
additional time as the Regional Director may allow for
good cause shown, provide at a reasonable place desig-
nated by the Board or its agents, all payroll records, social
security payment records, timecards, personnel records
and reports, and all other records, including an electronic
copy of such records if stored in electronic form, neces-
sary to analyze the amount of backpay due under the terms
of this Order.
(f) Within 14 days after service by the Region, dupli-
cate and mail, at its own expense and after being signed
by the Respondent’s authorized representative, copies of
the attached notice marked “Appendix,”4 to the Union and
to all unit employees who were employed by the Respond-
ent at any time since August 9, 2019.
(g) Within 21 days after service by the Region, file with
the Regional Director for Region 7 a sworn certification
of a responsible official on a form provided by the Region
attesting to the steps that the Respondent has taken to com-
ply.
Dated, Washington, D.C. February 27, 2020

4 If this Order is enforced by a judgment of a United States court of
appeals, the words in the notice reading “Mailed by Order of the National
Labor Relations Board” shall read “Mailed Pursuant to a Judgment of the
______________________________________
John F. Ring, Chairman
_____________________________________
Marvin E. Kaplan, Member
_____________________________________
William J. Emanuel, Member
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
POSTED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government
The National Labor Relations Board has found that we vi-
olated Federal labor law and has ordered us to post and
obey this notice.
FEDERAL LAW GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO
Form, join, or assist a union
Choose representatives to bargain with us on your
behalf
Act together with other employees for your bene-
fit and protection
Choose not to engage in any of these protected ac-
tivities.
WE WILL NOT fail and refuse to recognize and bargain
with Graphic Communications Conference International
Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 25-M of District Council
3 as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of
our employees in the bargaining unit by failing and refus-
ing to bargain about the effects of our decision to cease
operations at our Grand Ledge, Michigan facility.
WE WILL NOT fail to continue in effect all terms and con-
ditions of employment of our unit employees by failing or
refusing to pay them the cash equivalent of any unused
vacation earned in the calendar year ending December 31,
2018, and accrued vacation pay earned in the period from
January 1 through August 9, 2019, as provided in article
26 of the collective-bargaining agreement.
United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an Order of the National Labor
Relations Board.”
KEYSTONE PRINTING, INC., D/B/A KEYSTONE MILLBROOK PRINTING GROUP 5
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere
with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the
rights guaranteed them by Section 7 of the Act.
WE WILL, on request, bargain with the Union as the ex-
clusive collective-bargaining representative of our em-
ployees in the following appropriate unit concerning the
effects of our decision to close our Grand Ledge facility
and, if an understanding is reached, embody the under-
standing in a signed agreement:
All full-time and regular part-time employees perform-
ing work, processes, operations and production directly
related to printing; including garment operators, pick-n-
pack general employees, floor workers, building mainte-
nance, coatings operators, truck drivers, shipping and re-
ceiving, materials and logistics, mailing operators, mail-
ing coordinators, general bindery, bindery operators,
prepress assistants, electronic prepress, digital press op-
erators, small press operators 20” and below, press
helper, web press operators, press helpers, 2nd press-
men, six up to ten color sheet fed over 29” up to and in-
cluding 40”, and six color fed up to and including 29”
employees employed by us or out of our Grand Ledge
facility; but excluding confidential employees and
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
WE WILL compensate our unit employees for the ad-
verse tax consequences, if any, of receiving lump-sum
backpay awards, and WE WILL file with the Regional Di-
rector for Region 7, within 21 days of the date the amount
of backpay is fixed, either by agreement or Board order, a
report allocating the backpay awards to the appropriate
calendar years for each employee.
KEYSTONE PRINTING, INC., D/B/A KEYSTONE
MILLBROOK PRINTING GROUP
The Board’s decision can be found at
www.nlrb.gov/case/07-CA-246458 or by using the QR
code below. Alternatively, you can obtain a copy of the
decision from the Executive Secretary, National Labor
Relations Board, 1015 Half Street, S.E., Washington, D.C.
20570, or by calling (202) 273-1940.