NLRB v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 6075.
| Decision Date | 04 June 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 6075.,6075. |
| Citation | 317 F.2d 912 |
| Parties | NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, INC., Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Elliott Moore, Washington, D. C., with whom Stuart Rothman, Gen. Counsel, Dominick L. Manoli, Assoc. Gen. Counsel, Marcel Mallet-Prevost, Asst. Gen. Counsel, and Gary Green, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for petitioner.
Vernon C. Stoneman, Boston, Mass., with whom Alan S. Miller and Stoneman & Chandler, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for respondent.
Before WOODBURY, Chief Judge, and HARTIGAN and ALDRICH, Circuit Judges.
This is a petition of the National Labor Relations Board for enforcement of its order issued against respondent on March 30, 1962, following the usual proceedings under the Act. The Board, in adopting the opinion of its trial examiner, found that the respondent had discriminated with respect to the hire and tenure of one of its employees in violation of Section 8(a) (3) of the Act and had violated Section 8(a) (1) by interrogating this same employee. The issue here is whether substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole supports the Board's findings.
The pertinent facts may be briefly stated. Respondent operates a national parcel delivery service. In March 1960, it opened a new facility in Providence, Rhode Island, under the supervision of Michael J. Fitzgerald. At the very outset of the establishment of the Providence branch, the company agreed to recognize the Union.1 The act of immediate Union recognition was consonant with the respondent's uniform nationwide policy.2 Respondent also orally authorized the checkoff of Union dues from all employees, recognized one of the employees as the Union steward, following his appointment by the Union's business agent, and by May 1960, further required employees to become Union members within thirty days of their employment.
The record indicates that the respondent strives for a considerable selectivity in the employment of its parcel delivery drivers and utilizes scientific personnel recruitment techniques to achieve this end. Its reason is that it offers a highly specialized type of service. As part of this program, respondent regularly administers a written intelligence test to each delivery driver applicant. One of these tests is the so-called "Wonderlic" test. Under this examination, each applicant receives a raw score based on the number of correct answers out of a total of fifty questions.3 This raw score is thereafter converted by means of a table to a range between one and twenty. The record indicates that it was the policy of the company to restrict its hiring of parcel delivery drivers to those achieving a score of ten or more on the test, although its minimum score for these drivers is eight. For an employee to be considered for advancement to supervisory status, he must have received a score of twelve on the test. While these were the desired criteria, there was testimony that in special cases the respondent had permitted deviations from these norms.
Vincent J. Guertin was one of the parcel delivery drivers hired by respondent during the initial staffing of its Rhode Island operation in March, 1960. He was a member of the Union and was referred to the respondent by the Union's business agent. Guertin was hired by Fitzgerald — respondent's local manager — despite the fact that he only achieved a score of six on the personnel test. It is uncontradicted that this was the lowest score of any delivery driver employee that the company had hired in Rhode Island. At the hearing respondent explained its action of hiring Guertin — despite his low score — on the basis that most of the applicants referred to respondent by the Union during the initial organizational stage were highly unsatisfactory. However, to avoid any appearance of apparent Union discrimination, the respondent resolved to hire a few of the more "presentable" candidates, despite the demonstrably marginal status of their qualifications, as evidenced by the personnel test score. Guertin was one of the individuals thus hired.
Thereafter Guertin remained with respondent until he was discharged on May 26, 1961. There is no question that he was a satisfactory employee in all respects, a point evidenced by the fact that from time to time he was selected by respondent to train new delivery drivers. The reason why he was discharged presents the pivotal issue in this case.
It is respondent's position that in a routine review of personnel files, Guertin's extremely low score on the Wonderlic test had come to the attention of respondent's district operations manager — one Edward Polusky. Thereafter, over the course of his employment, Guertin's presence was apparently a source of continuing concern to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
N.L.R.B. v. Fall River Dyeing & Finishing Corp., 85-1019
...of multiplication of minutiae cannot be regarded as substantial evidence to support a finding by the Board. N.L.R.B. v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 317 F.2d 912, 914 (1st Cir.1963). "Substantial evidence" means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support......
-
NLRB v. South Rambler Company
...on opposition to union activities. Farmers Co-Operative Co. v. N. L. R. B., supra, 208 F.2d at 303-304; N. L. R. B. v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 1 Cir., 317 F.2d 912, 914 (1963); N. L. R. B. v. Local 294, International Bros. of Teamsters, Etc., 2 Cir., 317 F.2d 746, 749 (1963). Furthermo......
-
Jays Foods, Inc. v. N.L.R.B.
...979-81 (8th Cir. 1966); N.L.R.B. v. Garner Tool and Die Mfg. Co., 493 F.2d 263, 267-68 (8th Cir. 1974); N.L.R.B. v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 317 F.2d 912, 914 (1st Cir. 1963); N.L.R.B. v. Prince Macaroni Mfg. Co., 329 F.2d 803, 806 (1st Cir. 1964); N.L.R.B. v. Dixie Terminal Co., 210 F.......
-
NLRB v. Simplex Time Recorder Company
...upon which respondent principally relies in another connection, openly takes this matter for granted. See also, NLRB v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 1 Cir., 1963, 317 F.2d 912; NLRB v. Dan River Mills, Inc., 5 Cir. 1960, 274 F.2d 381, 2 Respondent objects also to paragraph 1 (a), ordering r......
-
Law, Fact, and the Threat of Reversal From Above
...Yes No287 F.2d 469 No Yes288 F.2d 818 Yes No292 F.2d 770 No Yes305 F.2d 763 Yes Yes308 F.2d 230 Yes No310 F.2d 89 Yes No311 F.2d 1 Yes No317 F.2d 912 Yes No325 F.2d 126 Yes No326 F.2d 488 Yes No331 F.2d 165 Yes No336 F.2d 115 Yes No336 F.2d 942 Yes Yes344 F.2d 47 No Yes351 F.2d 771 Yes Yes3......