Opinion ID: 282416
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Termination of Tokes

Text: 64 The Trial Examiner found that on December 23, 1963, respondent posted a notice on the bulletin board to the effect that since there had been some dissension among stage technicians on the matter of receiving gratuities or tokes, they were no longer to be accepted. 65 Prior to December 23, 1963, tokes had been customarily received by stage technicians from entertainers in excess of $300 per year. This appears to be supported by amounts received in 1963 and by employee record of tokes in 1962 and part of 1961. Generally, the tokes were handed in envelopes to each stage technician on the last night of the show by one of respondent's supervisors, such as Mr. Barkow or Mr. Lein. Occasionally the performer himself would give the tokes to the technicians. 66 After the posting of the notice in December, 1963, the tokes were no longer received from performers by stage technicians or any other employees of respondent with the exception of one electric razor to employee Paul Jordan. 67 Respondent contends that the notice of December 23, 1963, precluding the taking of tokes, was posted by reason of controversy which arose in December, 1962, over failure of Stage Manager Lein to distribute a toke of $800    given by the Flower Drum Song Show   . 68 Early in 1964, the respondent, in a reprinting of its booklet, You and Your Job, order that no tokes be taken when a service is performed, not for a customer but for someone doing contractual work for Harrah's, and when Harrah's pays the employee specifically for performing such service. Prior to 1964 and since June, 1963, tokes to employees from customers of Harrah's had been approved in the booklet, You and Your Job. 69 The Trial Examiner found that the notice of December 23, 1963, prohibiting tokes to stage technicians from performers or entertainers,    was caused by and in retribution for their Union activities, and although respondent had the right to discontinue the receiving of tokes, it could not do so as retribution for employee's Union activities. 70 He also found that toking was general practice in the entertainment business although there were places where it was not done. The prohibition against tokes, the Examiner said, unilaterally changed a condition of employment and the remuneration of the stage technicians in violation of section 8(a) (5) of the Act. 71 The propriety of the consideration by the Trial Examiner and the Board of the findings in the prior case of NLRB v. Harrah's Club, supra, regarding respondent's motives in terminating the receipt of tokes has been discussed hereinabove. 72 In holding that the respondent engaged in unfair labor practice by its unilateral termination of tokes on December 23, 1963, the Board cites the case of NLRB v. Wonder State Mfg. Co., 344 F.2d 210, 213 (8 C.A.1965). The court there states: 73 The rule is that gifts per se — payments which do not constitute compensation for services — are not terms and conditions of employment, and an employer can make or decline to make such payments as he pleases, but if the gifts or bonuses are so tied to the remuneration which employees received for their work that they were in fact a part of it, they are in reality wages and within the statute. This is a question of fact and, if the Board's finding to that effect is supported by substantial evidence, the finding must be accepted on review. [Citing numerous cases.] 74 There is no doubt that tips such as those from customers to employees are often so tied to the wages of the employee as to make them, in fact, a part thereof. The tokes here involved may well be termed tips to employees for services rendered by them to the entertainers employed by respondent and may be deemed comparable to tips from customers to employees which are generally regarded as part of the employee's salary in the restaurant trade. Club Troika, Inc., 2 N.L.R.B. 90, 94. 75 The Trial Examiner found that tokes had been customarily received by stage technicians from entertainers in excess of $300 per year for over two years prior to the termination on December 23, 1963. It appears there was substantial evidence to support the Board's conclusion that the unilaterial discontinuance of the receiving of tokes by the stage technicians was an unfair labor practice. The toking between performers and stage technicians was a term or condition of their employment within the meaning of section 8(d) of the Act which the employer could not unilaterally change without consulting the employees' representative, regardless of his motive. 76 As stated by the court in NLRB v. Detroit Resilient Floor Decorators Local Union No. 2265 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 317 F.2d 269, 270 (6 C.A. 1963): 77    `wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment' include all emoluments of value or other benefits accruing to employees out of their relationship with their employer. 78 The tokes were an emolument of value which accrued to the stage technicians out of their employment relationship. NLRB v. Central Illinois Public Service Co., 324 F.2d 916, 919 (7 C.A.1963).