Title Guarantee Corp.

44 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Abstract Title, Division Title Guarantee Corp. and Retail Store Employees Union Local 345, AFL- 'CIO," Petitioner. Case 3-RC-6445 - September 20, 1976 DECISION ON REVIEW By CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING AND JENKINS On November 19, 1975, the Acting Regional Di- rector for Region 3, issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which he found appropriate, contrary to the Employer's contention, a unit of "[a]ll abstract searchers and -tax searchers ^ employed . . . at the Monroe County Clerk's Office, (39'West Main Street), and its facility located at 19 West Main Street, Rochester, New York, excluding all office clerical employees,' profes- sional employees, managerial employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act." 2 Thereafter the Employer, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations, Board Rules and Regula- tions, Series 8, as amended, filed a timely request for review, contending that the Regional Director erred in excluding the clerical employees from the unit. By telegraphic order dated December 18, 1975, the Board granted the request for review. The Employer filed a brief on review. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. , The Board has considered the entire record in this proceeding with respect to the issue under review and makes the following findings: The Employer is engaged in the business of col- lecting and selling data regarding the marketability, insurability, and chain of title of real estate located in the State of New York. In addition it issues title in- surance policies which guarantee the accuracy of its data and the marketability of real estate titles. The documents produced by the Employer consist of ab- stracts of titles, tax searches, bankruptcy court searches, and title insurance policies. The Employer's principal business facility consists of offices located at 19 West Main Street, Rochester, New York. In addition, the Employer utilizes an area in the Mon- roe County clerk's office at 39 West Main Street which is provided by the county as a courtesy. 1 The name of the Petitioner appears as corrected by amendment at the hearing. 2 The petition, as amended at the hearing, requested a unit of all abstract searchers. The Employer employs approximately 22 employ- ees, 14 of whom are employed at 19 West Main Street and 8 at the Monroe County clerk's -office. The Employer's branch manager has overall responsibil- ity for the operations at both locations. The tax searcher, title function secretaries, bankruptcy clerk- typist, receptionist typist, bookkeeper,, billing and de- livery clerk, typist, And multilith operator-typist all work at 19 West -Main Street, With exception-of the tax searcher, the clerical employees are supervised by the typing supervisor, who reports `to the branch manager. The abstract searchers and one order and telephone clerk are employed at 39 West Main Street. The abstract coordinator, who is located at 19 West Main Street, and who also reports to the branch manager, supervises the abstract searchers, the order and telephone clerk, and the tax searcher. The Employer contends that the only appropriate unit is an overall unit embracing all employees in both facilities 3 and that the exclusion by the Acting Regional Director of clerical employees was errone- ous in view of the integrated nature of its operations, the participation of all employees in the work pro- cess, the centralized management, the community of interest shared by all employees, and the similarity of duties between the abstract and tax searchers and other company personnel. We find merit in the Employer's contentions. The Employer's clerical employees at both facili- ties perform functions which are interrelated with those of the abstract and tax searchers in the produc- tion of the ultimate abstract of title. All employees work on the same products and make an essential contribution to the production of the final product. When a request requiring a title abstract is made to either of its facilities, the person receiving the re- quest, who may be a clerical or title search employee, writes relevant notes from the customer concerning the person placing the order, the location of the property, the document requested, and then classifies the request as to whether it is to be a full title search or merely an update of a previous title search. If a full search is requested, for example, in the 19 West Main Street facility, the tax searcher removes the necessary information to perform the tax search. To meet production deadlines, a typist maybe assigned to assist the tax searcher for the final tax search. Once the tax searcher removes the information the file is passed to the abstract coordinator. The ab- stract coordinator assembles information, writes notes of instruction for the abstract searchers, and places the file in the county clerk's office basket for delivery to 39 West Main Street, normally by the bill- ing and delivery clerk. The order and telephone clerk 3 There is no history of bargaining among these employees. 226 NLRB No. 12 ABSTRACT TITLE 45 checks the orders on the control cards and places them in the drawer for the abstract searchers. The abstract searchers, following instructions previously noted in the file by the employees at 19 West Main Street, perform the clerical function of searching the records in the county clerk's office for title informa- tion with respect to the history of the land being ex- amined. They may call the bankruptcy clerk for bankruptcy reports. Once the search is completed, it is returned to 19 West Main Street, where the ab- stract is typed. The multilith operator-typist and re- ceptionist-typist spend significant portions of their time typing abstracts. The various typists, in prepar- ing the final abstract of title, and the title function secretaries, in preparing the title policy, utilize the information supplied by the tax searcher, bankruptcy clerk, abstract coordinator, and abstract searchers. There is similar participation in completing the final product, although fewer steps are involved, when a continuation search is conducted. Thus, the clerical employees are intimately involved in the production operations carried out between the two locations. Though the record disclosed that the functions of all employees are integrated in preparing the final products and that the title search employees as well as the other employees perform some clerical func- tions, the Acting Regional Director excluded the clerical employees from the production and mainte- nance unit because their work was essentially office clerical in nature. However, the case relied on by the Acting Regional Director to exclude the clerical em- ployees, Land Title Guarantee and Trust Co., 194 NLRB 148 (1971), reached a contrary result. In that case, the Board directed an election in a unit which included title examiners and clerical employees. The employer in Land Title was engaged in the business of researching, insuring, and guaranteeing title to real estate and acting as escrow agent in real estate transactions. Since the title examiners had only a high school education and needed only a few weeks' training to perform their work, separate representa- tion was not considered justified. Similarly in this case, the requisite skills for the abstract searchers and tax searcher are developed on the job. There are no special educational requirements even though a high school education is generally required. The Board's holding in Land Title thus supports the placement of the clerical employees, tax searcher, and abstract searchers in an overall unit. In addition, the title search and clerical employees share a strong community of interest. Since the nec- essary skills may be developed on the job, employees may transfer from one position to another. Two of the abstract searchers were previously employed as tax searchers. Another abstract searcher began as a billing and delivery clerk. As noted by the Acting Regional Director, employees at both facilities are subject to the same labor relations policy, hiring pro- cedures, promotion policy, and wage rates. They re- ceive the same hospitalization, medical and life insur- ance and other fringe benefits and are under the same retirement plan and vacation policy. In view of the clericals' tasks in colloborating with the abstract searchers and tax searcher in production of the ultimate abstract of title and title insurance policies, the regular contact and interchange, and the strong community of interest shared among all em- ployees, we find, contrary to the Acting Regional Di- rector, that the appropriate unit herein should in- clude all clerical employees. This result is in accord with the consistent policy of the Board to include clerical employees in' units of production or service employees where their duties relate directly to pro- ducing the product or providing the services. See, e. g., Mercy Hospitals of Sacramento, Inc., 217 NLRB 765 (1975). Accordingly, the matter is hereby remanded to the Regional Director for Region 3 for the purpose of conducting an election in the appropriate unit as modified herein,4 pursuant to his Decision and Di- rection of Election, except that the payroll period for determining eligibility shall be that immediately pre- ceding the date of issuance of this Decision on Re- view. [Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.] 4 The modified unit consists of- All clerical employees, abstract searchers, and tax searchers employed by the Employer at its Monroe County clerk's office (39 West Main Street), and its facility located at 19 West Main Street, Rochester, New York, excluding all professional employees, managerial employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act In the event the Petitioner does not wish to proceed to an election in the unit found appropriate herein, it shall so notify the Regional Director by written notice within 7 days of the date of issuance. Moreover, as the unit found appropriate is broader than that originally requested by the Peti- tioner, the Regional Director shall determine whether there is a sufficient showing of interest before proceeding with the election