Griffin Security Agency, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 25, 2011

356 NLRB No. 101 (N.L.R.B. 2011)

356 NLRB No. 101
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.
Griffin Security Agency, Inc. d/b/a The Griffin Secu-
rity Agency and Special and Superior Officers
Benevolent Association. Case 2–CA–39687
February 25, 2011
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN LIEBMAN AND MEMBERS PEARCE
AND HAYES
The Acting General Counsel seeks a default judgment
in this case on the ground that the Respondent has failed
to file an answer to the amended complaint. Upon a
charge filed by the Union on January 12, 2010, the Act-
ing General Counsel issued the amended complaint on
October 25, 2010, against Griffin Security Agency, Inc.
d/b/a The Griffin Security Agency, the Respondent, al-
leging that it has violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the
Act. The Respondent failed to file an answer.
On December 17, 2010, the Acting General Counsel
filed a Motion for Default Judgment and a Memorandum
in Support of Motion with the Board. Thereafter, on
December 21, 2010, the Board issued an order transfer-
ring the proceeding to the Board and a Notice to Show
Cause why the motion should not be granted. The Re-
spondent filed no response. The allegations in the mo-
tion are therefore undisputed.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Ruling on Motion for Default Judgment
Section 102.20 of the Board’s Rules and Regulations
provides that the allegations in 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 amended complaint affirmatively
stated that unless an answer was received by the Re-
gional Office by November 8, 2010, the Board may find,
pursuant to a motion for default judgment, that the alle-
gations in the amended complaint are true. Further, the
undisputed allegations in the Acting General Counsel’s
motion disclose that the Region, by letter and email dated
November 16, 2010, notified the Respondent that unless
an answer was received by November 23, 2010, a motion
for default judgment would be filed. The Respondent
failed to file an answer.
In the absence of good cause being shown for the fail-
ure to file an answer, we grant the Acting General Coun-
sel’s Motion for Default Judgment.
On the entire record, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. JURISDICTION
At all material times, the Respondent, a New York
State corporation, with an office and place of business
located at 80 Maiden Lane, New York, New York, is
engaged in the business of providing security services to
companies in and around the New York City metropoli-
tan area.
Annually, in the course and conduct of its operations,
the Respondent receives goods and products valued in
excess of $50,000 from businesses located inside the
State of New York, which themselves receive goods and
products directly from entities located outside the State
of New York.
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, Special and Superior
Officers Benevolent Association, is a labor organization
within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
II. ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
The following employees of the Respondent (the unit)
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the
Act:
All full-time and regular part-time uniform guards, in-
cluding dispatchers presently employed and hereinafter
employed throughout the five boroughs of New York
City (Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Bronx, and
Manhattan), Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties,
including Sergeants, Lieutenants and Captains Supervi-
sors (not as defined in the Act) and excluding all other
personnel, including office clericals, professionals, and
supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations
Act, as amended.
At all material times, the Union has been the desig-
nated exclusive collective-bargaining representative of
the unit, and the Union has been recognized as the repre-
sentative by the Respondent. This recognition has been
embodied in successive collective-bargaining agree-
ments, the most recent of which is effective from Febru-
ary 1, 2010, through January 31, 2013.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD2
At all material times, based on Section 9(a) of the Act,
the Union has been the exclusive collective-bargaining
representative of the unit.
By letters dated September 11, October 14 and 22,
2009, the Union by its President Joseph Sciascia, repeat-
edly requested that the Respondent meet and bargain
with regard to a successor collective-bargaining agree-
ment.
About the middle of January 2010, by telephone, Un-
ion Recording Secretary Al Dooley repeated the Union’s
request to meet and bargain with regard to a successor
collective-bargaining agreement.
Since about September 11, 2009, and continuing until
about March 16, 2010, the Respondent failed and refused
to meet and bargain with the Union as the exclusive col-
lective-bargaining representative of its employees in the
unit described above.
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, and has thereby engaged in unfair
labor practices affecting 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, having
found that the Respondent has violated Section 8(a)(5)
and (1) by failing and refusing since about September 11,
2009, and continuing until about March 16, 2010, to
meet and bargain with the Union, we shall order it to
cease and desist. However, as the amended complaint
allegations show that the Respondent’s failure to bargain
ended on March 16, 2010, and that the Respondent and
the Union have reached a successor collective-bargaining
agreement effective from February 1, 2010, through
January 31, 2013, we shall not order the Respondent to
meet and bargain with the Union with regard to such
agreement.
ORDER1
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, Griffin Security Agency, Inc. d/b/a The

1 Consistent with our recently issued decision in J. Picini Flooring,
356 NLRB No. 9 (2010), we have ordered the Respondent to distribute
the notice electronically if it is customarily communicating with em-
ployees by such means. For the reasons stated in his dissenting opinion
in J. Picini Flooring, 356 NLRB No. 9, Member Hayes would not
require electronic distribution of the notice.
Griffin Security Agency, New York, New York, its offi-
cers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Failing and refusing to meet and bargain collec-
tively and in good faith with Special and Superior Offi-
cers Benevolent Association, as the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the employees in the follow-
ing appropriate unit:
All full-time and regular part-time uniform guards, in-
cluding dispatchers presently employed and hereinafter
employed throughout the five boroughs of New York
City (Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Bronx, and
Manhattan), Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties,
including Sergeants, Lieutenants and Captains Supervi-
sors (not as defined in the Act) and excluding all other
personnel, including office clericals, professionals, and
supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations
Act, as amended.
(b) 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) Within 14 days after service by the Region, post at
its facility in New York, New York, copies of the at-
tached notice marked “Appendix.”2 Copies of the notice,
on forms provided by the Regional Director for Region
2, after being signed by the Respondent’s authorized
representative, shall be posted by the Respondent and
maintained for 60 consecutive days in conspicuous
places, including all places where notices to employees
are customarily posted. In addition to physical posting of
paper notices, notices shall be distributed electronically,
such as by email, posting on an intranet or an internet
site, and/or other electronic means, if the Respondent
customarily communicates with its employees by such
means. Reasonable steps shall be taken by the Respon-
dent to ensure that the notices are not altered, defaced, or
covered by any other material. In the event that, during
the pendency of these proceedings, the Respondent has
gone out of business or closed the facility involved in
these proceedings, the Respondent shall duplicate and
mail, at its own expense, a copy of the notice to all cur-
rent employees and former employees employed by the
Respondent at any time since September 11, 2009.

2 If this Order is enforced by a judgment of a United States court of
appeals, the words in the notice reading “Posted By Order of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board” shall read “Posted Pursuant to a Judg-
ment of the United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an Order of the
National Labor Relations Board.”
GRIFFIN SECURITY AGENCY 3
(b) Within 21 days after service by the Region, file
with the Regional Director a sworn certification of a re-
sponsible official on a form provided by the Region at-
testing to the steps that the Respondent has taken to
comply.
Dated, Washington, D.C. February 25, 2011
Wilma B. Liebman, Chairman
Mark Gaston Pearce, Member
Brian E. Hayes, 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 vio-
lated 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
activities.
WE WILL NOT fail and refuse to meet and bargain col-
lectively and in good faith with Special and Superior
Officers Benevolent Association, as the exclusive collec-
tive-bargaining representative of our employees in the
following unit:
All full-time and regular part-time uniform guards, in-
cluding dispatchers presently employed and hereinafter
employed throughout the five boroughs of New York
City (Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Bronx, and
Manhattan), Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties,
including Sergeants, Lieutenants and Captains Supervi-
sors (not as defined in the Act) and excluding all other
personnel, including office clericals, professionals, and
supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations
Act, as amended.
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere
with, restrain, or coerce you in the exercise of the rights
guaranteed you by Section 7 of the Act.
GRIFFIN SECURITY AGENCY, INC. D/B/A THE
GRIFFIN SECURITY AGENCY