Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.

In the Matter of SYLVANIA' ELECTRIC PRODUCTS INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS, CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS, PETITIONER Case No. 9-RC-778 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND DIRECTION September 15, 1950 Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election 1 dated May 9, 1950, an election was conducted in this proceeding on June 8, 1950, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Ninth Region among the employees of the Employer in the unit heretofore found appropriate. At the close of the election a tally of ballots was furnished each of the parties in accordance with the Board's Rules and Regulations. The tally showed that 414 valid ballots were cast, of which 184 were for the Petitioner, 122 were for the Intervenor, 4 were against both the Petitioner and the Intervenor, and 104 were challenged. No objections to the conduct of the election were filed within the time provided therefor. As the challenged ballots were sufficient in number to affect the results of the election, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to the Board's Rules and Regulations, investigated the challenges, and on July 20, 1950, issued his report on challenged ballots, in which he recommended that all the challenges be overruled and the ballots opened and counted. Thereafter the Employer and the Petitioner filed exceptions to the Regional Director's report. The Employer and the Petitioner contend that all the challenged voters were ineligible to vote in the election because their status was that of permanently laidoff employees who had not been rehired prior to May 7, 1950, the payroll eligibility date fixed by the Board's Decision and Direction of Election. The Intervenor contends that 102 of the challenged voters were eligible to vote in the election because they had been rehired by the Employer prior to June 8, 1950, the date of the election, although none of them had been recalled before May 7, 1950. 'Unpublished. 91 NLRB No. 55. 296 SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS, INC. 297 Asa result of his investigation, the Regional Director made the fol- lowing undisputed findings in his report with respect to the challenged voters: (a) The largest group of challenged voters, consisting of 85 persons, was laid off in October 1949 because of cutbacks in produc- tion, but all these persons were rehired by May 26, 1950; (b) 7 other challenged voters in a second group were laid off at various times between February 8, 1949, and March 10, 1950, for the same reason, and they too were all rehired on or before May 26, 1950; (c) 10 challenged voters in a third group were on excused leaves of absence because of illness which commenced at various dates between December 2, 1948, and October 10, 1949, and all persons in this group returned to their employment by May 26, 1950; and (d) the 2 remaining challenged voters were also on excused leaves of absence because of illness which commenced on December 22, 1949, and March 1, 1950, respectively, and had not returned to their employment on June 8, 1950, the date of the election. We have held that laidoff employees who are rehired prior to the date of an election shall be considered as only. temporarily laid off, and therefore eligible to vote in the election.2 Accordingly, we find that the 92 challenged voters in the first 2 groups were temporarily laidoff employees on the eligibility date fixed by the Direction of Election, and therefore eligible to vote in the election.3 We find further that the 12 challenged voters in the last 2 groups who were on excused leaves of absence because of illness on the eligi- bility date were "ill" at that time within the meaning of the Direction of Election, and were therefore eligible to vote.4 In view of the foregoing findings, we shall, as recommended by the Regional Director, overrule the challenges to all 104 ballots and direct that these ballots be opened and counted. DIRECTION IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED that the Regional Director for the Ninth Region shall, pursuant to the Rules and Regulations of the Board, within ten (10) days from the date of this Direction, open and count the ballots cast by the employees listed in Appendix A, attached hereto, and thereafter prepare and serve upon the parties to this proceeding a 2 See The Whitcomb Locomotive Company, 60 NLRB 1160; St. Joseph Lead Company and Lead Belt Water Company, 66 NLRB 560; Holeproof Hosiery Co., 67 NLRB 1397. , Our holding in the cases cited in footnote 2 was made despite the fact that the circum- stances prior to the election indicated that the layoffs involved were permanent. We find it unnecessary, therefore, to resolve the disputed issues of fact in the instant case with respect to such prior circumstances. "Gastonia Combed Yarn' Corporation, et al., 73 NLRB 169; Standard-Coosa-Thatcher Company, 74 NLRB 1401. 298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL - LABOR RELATIONS BOARD supplemental tally of ballots, including therein the count of said challenged ballots. CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER STYLES took no part in the con- sideration of the above Supplemental Decision and Direction. APPENDIX A Adams, Geraldine Adkins, Norma Adkins, Peggy Altizer, Mary Baker, Mamie Ball, Mary Baumgardner, Alma Beard, Ramona Beatty, Kathryn Bentley, Betty Bentley, Evelyn Berry, Mary Berry, Rowena Bias, Nell Bledso, Louise Booth, Betty Bowen, Betty Brown; Evelyn Bunn, Glenna Bunn, Helen Burns, Thelma Bustetter, Alley Chaffin, Virginia Clark, Christine Cunningham, Mary Dailey, Eva Daniel, Helen Davis, Mary Ellen Deering, Nell Dunhen, Maricline Eads, Lois Ferguson, Charline Freeman, Lois Hall, Gladys Hamptan, Wilma Hensley, Arlene Hooser, Mary Howard, Pansy Hudgins, Anna Hughes, Loretta Hunter, Alice Johnson, Bonnie Jones, Ethel Keeser, Dorothy King, Ilene Kitchen, Elsie Knight, Margaret Knight, Ruth Laggins, Effie Lawhorn, Tressie Litz, Beula McComes, Lula Bell McCoy, Alice McCoy, Rosa Lee McGlone, Ruth Malone, Lena Metz, Readith Maynard, Erwin Miller, Virginia Montgomery, Darlene Morris, Mary Morrisson, Evelyn Napin, Ella Nelson, Margie Nunley, Frances Palrick, Irma Pack, Thomas Peyton, John Powell, Mary _Prellarman, Lois Preston, Jean Price, Pansy SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS, I1\-IC. APPENDIX A-Continued Pyles, Gladys Rice, Martha Roberts, Mildred Robinson, Dorothy Rolfe, Frances Rose, Katheryn Rose, Maxine Rose, Rosalie Rush, Dorothy Scarberry, Loretta Sharpe, Opal Virginia Shaw, Agnes Smart, Amy Sweat, Dorothy Thacker, Nora Thompson, Margaret Tiller, Edna Truex, Harriet Tucker, Cora Vance, Doris Vauis, Thelma Walker, Dorothy Watkins, Loretta Watson, Betty Weese, Lena Wheeler, Audrey Wheeler, Lois White, Ethel Wilgus, Betty Wilson, Pauline Winkler, Arlene Workman, Joan 299