DTG Operations, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 2011

357 N.L.R.B. 2122 (N.L.R.B. 2011)

DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
357 NLRB No. 175
2122
DTG Operations, Inc. and Teamsters Local Union No.
455, International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Case 27–RC–008629
December 30, 2011
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN PEARCE AND MEMBERS BECKER
AND HAYES
On January 28, 2011, the Regional Director for Region
27 issued a Decision and Order in which she found that
the petitioned-for unit of 31 rental service agents (RSAs)
and lead rental service agents (LRSAs) at the Employer
DTG Operations, Inc.’s Denver International Airport
rental car facility is not an appropriate unit for bargain-
ing.1 Instead, the Regional Director found that the small-
est appropriate unit is a wall-to-wall unit containing all
109 of the Employer’s hourly employees.2 Because the
Petitioner expressly declined to participate in an election
to represent that larger unit, the Regional Director dis-
missed the petition.
Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the
National Labor Relations Board’s Rules and Regulations,
the Petitioner filed a timely request for review. The Em-
ployer filed an opposition. On April 29, 2011, the Board
granted the Petitioner’s request for review. Both parties
filed briefs on review.
Having carefully considered the entire record in light
of our recent decision in Specialty Healthcare & Reha-
bilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011), we
reverse the Regional Director’s finding that the peti-
tioned-for bargaining unit is not appropriate. Applying
Specialty Healthcare, we find, first, that the RSAs and
LRSAs share a community of interest and, second, that
the Employer failed to demonstrate that the additional
employees it seeks to include share an overwhelming
community of interest with the RSAs and LRSAs. Ac-
cordingly, we conclude that the petitioned-for
RSA/LRSA unit constitutes an appropriate unit for bar-
gaining, and we remand to the Regional Director to di-
rect an election in that unit.
Facts
The Employer operates a rental car facility near Den-
ver International Airport (DIA), where it rents cars and
light-duty vehicles under the trade names Dollar-Rent-A-

1 Pertinent portions of that decision are attached as an appendix to
this Decision and Order.
2 The wall-to-wall unit would include, in addition to the RSAs and
LRSAs, the facility’s 3 staff assistants, 2 lead staff assistants, 9 return
agents, 6 lot agents, 9 service agents, 4 lead service agents, 1 fleet
agent, 9 exit booth agents, 2 shuttlers, 21 courtesy bus drivers, 2 lead
courtesy bus drivers, 3 mechanics, 4 assistant mechanics, 2 bus me-
chanics, and 1 building maintenance technician.
Car and Thrifty Car Rental. The Employer maintains a
13-acre facility on “rental car row,” located a few miles
from DIA, that includes separate Dollar and Thrifty rent-
al buildings and a common maintenance garage and
carwash building. All the Employer’s employees are
required to have a high school diploma and a driver’s
license, and all are called on to move vehicles around the
lot when necessary. Employee pay ranges from $7.28 an
hour for the lowest-paid shuttler to $30 an hour for the
highest-paid mechanic. All employees wear company
uniforms, but the color of the uniforms depends on their
classification. RSAs’ and LRSAs’ uniforms are, as the
Regional Director found, “‘classier’ uniforms that are
made of better quality material” than other uniforms.
The Employer operates the facility 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, in three 8-hour shifts. The RSA/LRSA
function is staffed 24 hours a day, but most other jobs are
staffed for only parts of the day. For example, mainte-
nance operates from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and no lot or re-
turn agents are scheduled past 10:30 p.m. The Employer
holds two daily planning meetings, at 8:30 a.m. and 4:30
p.m., with representatives from the various employee
classifications.
The Employer has nine operations managers, who ro-
tate as the supervisor on duty for the facility each shift.
Most of the employees on a given shift are subject to the
overall supervision of the operations manager on duty,3
but different operations managers are responsible for
different groups of employees with regard to scheduling,
granting time off, and other administrative tasks.
The Petitioned-For Unit: RSAs and LRSAs
Upon arrival at the airport, customers ride the Employ-
er’s courtesy buses to the Employer’s facility, which is
several miles from the airport. The bus drivers drop the
customers off at one of the two car-rental counters,
staffed by the 25 RSAs and 6 LRSAs.
An RSAs primary duties are to greet customers, pro-
cess rental contracts, sell optional services, answer and
receive telephone calls, resolve overdue rentals, and re-
spond to customer questions and complaints. Each RSA
is responsible for entering information into the Employ-
er’s database about the customers, their rental contracts,
vehicle upgrades, and additional products sold with any
contract. A typical RSA completes hundreds of rental
agreements each month.4 As discussed below, RSAs
also fill in for lot agents during lot agents’ breaks and
perform lot and return agent duties on the overnight shift.

3 The day-shift mechanics are separately supervised by Charlene
Donovan.
4 The record indicates that RSAs and LRSAs who worked all 12
months in 2010 averaged about 368 rental agreements per month.
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2123
RSAs must have at least 9 to 12 months of car rental or
sales experience. They are paid between $8.50 and
$12.75 an hour.
LRSAs perform all of the regular duties of the RSAs.
In addition, LRSAs represent the RSA classification at
the two daily planning meetings; assist in scheduling
RSA breaks and lunches; and have primary responsibility
for handling frequent customers. LRSAs must have 1 to
2 years of sales experience in the car rental industry,
preferably with some lead experience, and they are paid
between $9.50 and $14.25 an hour.
The Employer operates a mandatory “Incentive Com-
pensation Plan” covering only its RSAs and LRSAs.5
Under this plan, RSAs/LRSAs do not receive any credit
for simply renting vehicles as the customers reserved
them. Rather, RSAs/LRSAs earn incentive pay by sell-
ing upgrades and additional products to customers, such
as rental of a more expensive vehicle or a GPS unit and
purchase of insurance coverage or prepaid fuel. An
RSA/LRSA does not receive any incentive pay unless the
additional sales exceed a monthly threshold established
by the Employer.6 RSAs and LRSAs who do not con-
sistently meet that threshold are subject to transfer (to a
different classification) or discharge under the Employ-
er’s “Core Model for Sales” performance-improvement
plan.7 Although many of the other employee classifica-
tions participate in separate incentive plans, none of
those plans has any such disciplinary component.
Employees Who Work Outside On and Around the Lot:
Lot Agents, Exit Booth Agents, Return Agents, Service
Agents, Lead Service Agents, the Fleet Agent,
and Shuttlers
After the RSA/LRSA completes her work with a cus-
tomer, the RSA/LRSA directs the customer out of the
rental building to the lot, where the customer is greeted
by a lot agent. The lot agent directs the customer to the
pool of vehicles from which the customer makes a selec-
tion. Although lot agents can encourage customers to

5 Although the evidence is somewhat contradictory on this point,
both the Employer’s witness who testified about the program and the
document describing the program indicate that the program applies to
non-RSA/LSFA employees only if they complete at least 100 rental
contracts per month. Moreover, the Employer acknowledges that “in
essence it pertains to” the RSAs and LRSAs only.
6 The threshold amount is set by the corporate office and varies by
month and rental location. The amount credited toward the threshold
varies by product sold.
7 The Employer identified at least four former RSAs/LRSAs who
were transferred to staff assistant, return agent, or lot agent positions
during the past few years as a result of failing to improve under the
Core Model, as well as one who was discharged upon refusing a trans-
fer. Further, after placement in the Core Model, one employee quit and
another—current lead service agent Harold Moss—decided that “sales
was not for him.”
purchase upgrades, it appears that they are unable to pro-
cess those upgrades themselves. Lot agents are also re-
sponsible for monitoring the supply and cleanliness of
vehicles on the lot. They must have 1 year of customer
service experience. They are paid between $9.50 and
$13.50 an hour and are eligible for incentive pay under
the return agents’ incentive program described below.8
Lot agents are not scheduled to work after 10:30 p.m.
because the Employer’s business is slower at night. Af-
ter that time, RSAs/LRSAs perform lot agent duties as
needed. RSAs/LRSAs also regularly fill in for lot agents
when lot agents take breaks.
After choosing a vehicle, the customer drives it to the
exit booth, where an exit booth agent electronically scans
the vehicle identification and contract. Before finalizing
the rental contract, the exit booth agent offers the cus-
tomer another opportunity to purchase additional options,
such as loss damage waivers, prepaid fuel, and toll booth
passes.9 Exit booth agents are paid between $9 and
$13.50 an hour and are eligible to participate in an incen-
tive plan that pays them 2-1/2 percent of the value of all
additional items they sell.10 The employer prefers that
exit booth agents have at least 9 to 12 months of car rent-
al or sales experience.
When a customer returns a vehicle to the facility, a re-
turn agent assists the customer in checking the vehicle
for personal belongings and inspects the car for damage.
The return agent also checks the fuel level and the odom-
eter reading, and uses a handheld computer to generate a
final statement and close out the contract. The return
agent then directs the customer to the courtesy bus
pickup area. Return agents are paid between $9.50 and
$14.25 an hour. They also have an incentive program,
which rewards them for closing duties including
handheld close percentages, accident reports obtained,
and either preventive maintenance or fuel recovery.11
Return agents must have 1 year of customer service ex-
perience. They are not scheduled to work after 10:30
p.m.

8 It appears that until sometime recently, lot agents and return agents
comprised a single classification called “greeters.” The incentive plan
that applies to both current classifications still uses that job title.
9 The contract is not finalized until after the customer has chosen the
vehicle she wishes to rent. Thus, the exit booth agent updates the con-
tract to include the vehicle identification information.
10 Exit booth agents need not meet any minimum threshold of addi-
tional sales to receive incentive pay.
11 Handheld close percentages, preventative maintenance, and fuel
recovery must meet a minimum threshold to generate incentive pay for
return agents and lot agents; however, return agents are paid a flat fee
of $5 for each signed accident report they obtain from a customer.
When RSAs/LRSAs fill in for lot or return agents, the RSAs/LRSAs do
not participate in the lot and return agents’ incentive program.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2124
Once a rental car is returned, the service agents and
lead service agents on the lot clean and prepare it for re-
rental. Their duties include inspecting the vehicle for
damage, refueling it, and performing preventive mainte-
nance. Service agents are paid between $8.50 and
$12.75 an hour, and lead service agents are paid between
$9.50 and $14.25 an hour. Service agents also receive a
monthly cash incentive based on a formula related to the
number of cars, above a minimum threshold, that they
clean in a given month. Service agents must have some
previous work experience.
The Employer also has a fleet agent on the premises
who processes vehicles to be added to the rental fleet and
disposes of used rental vehicles. The fleet agent, who is
paid between $10.50 and $15.75 an hour, must have at
least 1 year of experience in car rental and 1 year in body
shop repair or maintenance.
The Employer has two shuttlers, who move cars within
and to and from the facility and who otherwise assist
service agents and the fleet agent. Shuttlers are paid
$7.28 to $10.92 an hour. The Employer prefers that they
have a high school diploma or the equivalent.
Mechanics, Assistant Mechanics, Bus Mechanics,
Building Maintenance Technician, Courtesy
Bus Drivers, and Lead Courtesy Bus Drivers
The Employer’s mechanics, assistant mechanics, and
bus mechanics work in the maintenance building per-
forming mechanical and maintenance work on the Em-
ployer’s vehicles. Mechanics are required to have at
least two Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certifi-
cations and 3 years of experience in HVAC, electrical
repair, or general mechanics. They are paid between $18
and $27 an hour. Assistant mechanics must have voca-
tional training or the equivalent in automotive mechanics
or a related field and 1 year of automotive repair or relat-
ed experience in the car rental industry. They are paid
between $10 and $15 an hour. Mechanics and assistant
mechanics have incentive programs based on the number
of preventive maintenance measures and warranty collec-
tions they complete each month.
Bus mechanics must have vocational training or the
equivalent in automotive mechanics or a related field,
ASE certification, and 3 years of experience in HVAC,
electrical repair, or general mechanics. They communi-
cate with bus drivers via two-way radio regarding any
bus repair needs and then perform the needed repairs.
Bus mechanics are paid between $20 and $30 an hour.
Courtesy bus drivers, who drive the buses that
transport customers between the airport and the rental
facility, must hold a commercial driver’s license (CDL).
The Employer prefers that they have a high school di-
ploma or the equivalent. They earn between $10 and $15
an hour and may accept tips from customers; they have
no other incentive pay program. The two lead courtesy
bus drivers hold the same qualifications and perform the
same functions as the courtesy bus drivers, but they also
maintain a uniform flow of buses throughout the route.
Lead bus drivers earn between $11 and $16.50 an hour.
The building maintenance technician, who performs
facility maintenance, must be certified in mechani-
cal/electrical engineering or a related field and have 1 to
3 years of experience. His pay range is from $10.50 to
$15.75 an hour.
Staff Assistants and Lead Staff Assistants
There are three staff assistants and two lead staff assis-
tants. Two of the staff assistants work in the Dollar rent-
al building in upstairs administrative offices; they are
responsible for generating computer reports to monitor
the rental operations, receiving and responding to cus-
tomer calls, and monitoring the lost and found. When
the rental counters are busy, these two staff assistants,
along with some managers, perform RSA duties.12 The
staff assistants are eligible to receive incentive pay under
the RSA/LRSA incentive program for upgrades they sell
when performing the RSA function, but they are not sub-
ject to the Core Model’s disciplinary consequences for
not meeting minimum monthly thresholds. A third staff
assistant, who primarily works in the maintenance area
doing computer work to assist mechanics in titling and
registering vehicles, does not perform any RSA work.
Staff assistants—whom the Employer classifies at two
levels depending on experience—range from having 1 to
2 years of experience in data processing or a related field
to having 3 to 5 years of experience in data processing or
bookkeeping and, preferably, college course work in
accounting. They are paid between $9 and $15 an hour.
One of the two lead staff assistants works in the
maintenance building and handles subrogation files, in-
cluding accident reports. She does not perform any RSA
work. The other lead staff assistant works in the Dollar
building’s administrative offices. She handles accounts
payable for the facility, oversees the work of the other

12 Employer records indicate that during 2010, Mark Chiara and De-
siree Newell, the two staff assistants who performed RSA duties, aver-
aged approximately 73 and 112 rental agreements per month respec-
tively. Chiara—a former RSA who was moved to the staff assistant
position as a consequence of the Core Model—thus averaged just under
20 percent, while Newell averaged about 30 percent, of the 368 agree-
ments per month generally completed by each of the RSAs/LRSAs.
Newell apparently worked on rental agreements during only 5 months
of 2010, and the vast majority of her completed agreements were in
only 2 months (September and October), with comparatively few or
none during the rest of the year.
Managers apparently assist with RSA/LRSA duties more often than
staff assistants.
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2125
staff assistants, and orders supplies. She also performs
RSA work during busy times, but only on a very limited
basis.13 Like the higher-level staff assistants, lead staff
assistants must have 3 to 5 years of experience in data
processing or bookkeeping, and the Employer prefers
that they also have some college work in accounting.
They are paid between $11 and $16.50 an hour.
Employee Interchange
As described above, RSAs/LRSAs perform necessary
lot and return functions when covering for employees in
those classifications on breaks and during the night shift,
when no one in those classifications is on duty. It also
appears that RSAs have filled in for exit booth agents if
an exit booth agent calls in sick, but there is no evidence
regarding how frequently this has occurred. As de-
scribed above, two staff assistants and one lead staff as-
sistant perform RSA duties during busy periods for vary-
ing amounts of time. In addition, one of the four lead
service agents, Harold Moss, who formerly worked as an
RSA, occasionally filled in for absent RSAs in 2010, and
one return agent, April DeBerry, asked to be trained at
the rental counter.14
Employee Interaction
RSAs/LRSAs communicate with the lot agents when
they cover for the lot agents on breaks and on those in-
frequent occasions when both classifications work to-
gether to assist a customer with disabilities.
RSAs/LRSAs also have limited interaction with return
agents when the return agents enter the building to obtain
blank accident forms or when a customer requests a larg-
er discount from a return agent than the return agent has
authority to grant. RSAs/LRSAs work side by side with
two of the three staff assistants and, on very limited oc-
casions, with one of the lead staff assistants when they
help with RSA work during busy periods. RSAs/LRSAs
may also have sporadic interaction with bus drivers on
occasions when the bus drivers unload luggage and store
it in the sales office. In the rare instances that a customer
with disabilities needs a hand-controlled vehicle, LRSAs
communicate about it with the mechanics during the dai-
ly planning meetings.15

13 That lead staff assistant, Taira Wright, averaged only about 14
rental agreements per month in 2010.
14 Records indicate that Moss averaged approximately 38 rental
agreements per month during the 8 months that he did RSA work that
year; he was, however, still an RSA for at least part of that time. De-
Berry averaged only about nine rental agreements per month for the 4
months of 2010 that she worked on rental agreements.
15 The Regional Director made extensive findings regarding inter-
change and interaction among employees in classifications other than
the RSAs/LRSAs. But what is at issue here is the community of inter-
est between the petitioned-for RSAs/LRSAs and the other hourly em-
Analysis
The Board’s recent decision in Specialty Healthcare
and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934
(2011), set forth the principles that apply in cases like
this one, in which an employer contends that the smallest
appropriate bargaining unit must include additional em-
ployees (or job classifications) beyond those in the peti-
tioned-for unit. As explained in that decision, the Board
first assesses, as in the usual case, whether the peti-
tioned-for unit is an appropriate bargaining unit by ap-
plying traditional community-of-interest principles.16
Id., slip op. at 8–9. If the petitioned-for unit satisfies that
standard, the burden is on the employer to demonstrate
that the additional employees it seeks to include share an
overwhelming community of interest with the petitioned-
for employees, such that there “is no legitimate basis
upon which to exclude certain employees from” the larg-
er unit because the traditional community-of-interest
factors “overlap almost completely.” Id., slip op. at 11–
13, and fn. 28 (quoting Blue Man Vegas, LLC v. NLRB,
529 F.3d 417, 421, 422 (D.C. Cir. 2008)). Applying this
framework here, we find that the RSAs/LRSAs share a
community of interest, and the Employer has not shown
that the additional employees that it seeks to include
share an overwhelming community of interest with the
RSAs/LRSAs. Accordingly, we find that the petitioned-
for unit is appropriate.
The RSAs/LRSAs Share a Community of Interest
Under Section 9(b) of the Act, the Board “shall decide
in each case whether, in order to assure to employees the
fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by this
Act, the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining shall be the employer unit, craft unit, plant
unit, or subdivision thereof.” As explained above, we
therefore begin by considering whether the bargaining
unit described in the Union’s petition is appropriate. As
we have often stated, “[t]here is nothing in the statute
which requires that the unit for bargaining be the only
appropriate unit, or the ultimate unit, or the most appro-
priate unit; the Act only requires that the unit be ‘appro-
priate.’”17 Overnite Transportation Co., 322 NLRB 723,

ployees. Because we find that the RSA/LRSA unit, exclusive of those
other employees, is an appropriate unit for bargaining, we need not
consider the extent of interchange and interaction—and of shared inter-
ests generally—among classifications within the excluded group.
16 The Board will also apply established presumptions, if appropri-
ate. The Regional Director recognized, and we agree, that there are no
unique presumptively appropriate units in the rental car industry; the
Board has found various types of units to be appropriate, including
separate service units that exclude rental agents. See, e.g., Budget
Rent-A-Car of New Orleans, Inc., 220 NLRB 1264 (1975).
17 Based on the plain language of the Act, “it is well-settled [ ] that
there is more than one way in which employees of a given employer
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2126
723 (1996) (emphasis in original), reaffirmed in Special-
ty Healthcare, supra, slip op. at 9. Therefore, a union is
“not required to request representation in the most com-
prehensive or largest unit of employees of an employer
unless an appropriate unit compatible with th[e] request-
ed unit does not exist.” Specialty Healthcare, supra, slip
op. at 11 (quoting Overnite, 322 NLRB at 723).
Here, we find that the petitioned-for unit of
RSAs/LRSAs is an appropriate bargaining unit—subject
to the Employer’s proving that the unit must include ad-
ditional employees—because the RSAs/LRSAs unmis-
takably share a community of interest. In determining
whether employees in a proposed unit share a community
of interest, the Board examines:

whether the employees are organized into a separate
department; have distinct skills and training; have dis-
tinct job functions and perform distinct work, including
inquiry into the amount and type of job overlap be-
tween classifications; are functionally integrated with
the Employer’s other employees; have frequent contact
with other employees; interchange with other employ-
ees; have distinct terms and conditions of employment;
and are separately supervised.

Specialty Healthcare, supra, slip op. at 9 (quoting United
Operations, Inc., 338 NLRB 123, 123 (2002)). We find that
the 25 RSAs and 6 LRSAs share virtually all of the com-
munity-of-interest factors listed above. There are only
slight differences between the RSA and LRSA classifica-
tions: unlike RSAs, LRSAs attend the Employer’s twice-
daily planning meetings; they assist in scheduling RSAs’
breaks; and they have 1–2 years, rather than 9–12 months,
of experience. Accordingly, LRSAs are paid slightly more
than RSAs. In all other respects relevant to the community
of interest factors, the RSAs and LRSAs are identical. The
Employer does not assert otherwise.18
The RSAs/LRSAs Do Not Share an Overwhelming
Community of Interest with the Other Hourly Employees
The Regional Director expressly found that the RSAs
and LRSAs share an overwhelming community of inter-
est with the 78 other employees that the Employer seeks
to include in the bargaining unit. We agree that this is
the proper standard. See Specialty Healthcare, supra,
slip op. at 11–13.19 We nonetheless reverse the Regional

may be appropriately grouped for purposes of collective bargaining.”
Overnite, 322 NLRB at 723.
18 Moreover, no party contends that the LRSAs are supervisors.
19 The Regional Director’s decision issued before Specialty
Healthcare, which clarified that it is the Employer who bears the bur-
den of demonstrating the existence of an overwhelming community of
interest when it seeks to expand the bargaining unit beyond an other-
wise-appropriate petitioned-for unit. Id., slip op. at 12–13 fn. 28. Here,
Director’s finding. Because RSAs/LRSAs work sepa-
rately from other employees and perform distinct sales
tasks with distinct qualifications, distinct expectations,
and distinct consequences for the failure to meet those
expectations, we conclude, as explained below, that the
record evidence does not demonstrate that RSAs/LRSAs
share an overwhelming community of interest with the
other hourly employees.
We begin by emphasizing what the Employer does not
argue. The Employer does not argue that some, but not
all of the other hourly employees share an overwhelming
community of interest with the RSAs/LRSAs. Rather,
the Employer argues that the smallest appropriate unit
includes all the hourly employees, i.e., that they all share
an overwhelming community of interest with the
RSAs/LRSAs.
Only the RSAs and LRSAs regularly work behind
sales counters inside the two rental buildings, separate
from virtually all of the other hourly employees. Except
for the staff assistants, who work in the rental buildings’
upstairs administrative offices, all other hourly employ-
ees work elsewhere—either on the lot, in buses, in exit
booths hundreds of yards away from the rental buildings,
or in the separate maintenance building. The
RSAs/LRSAs also wear uniforms that are different from
those of all other employees.
The RSAs/LRSAs also have distinct functions: they
are the only classification that is primarily responsible
for executing rental agreements and offering and pro-
cessing vehicle upgrades and GPS devices. The sales
functions are entirely distinct from the functions of me-
chanics, bus drivers, and the building maintenance tech-
nician. While lot agents and exit booth agents may en-

it is not clear whether the Regional Director allocated the burden of
proof to the Employer. Nonetheless, because she found that there was
an overwhelming community of interest, rather than finding that there
was not, we need not determine whether she placed the burden of proof
on the proper party.
In reversing the Regional Director’s conclusion that an overwhelm-
ing community of interest exists, we expressly place the burden of
proof on the Employer. Even assuming that Specialty Healthcare
changed the assignment of this burden, rather than simply clarifying the
existing burden, we find that imposing the burden of proof on the Em-
ployer is not a retroactive change that “work[s] a ‘manifest injustice.’”
See SNE Enterprises, 344 NLRB 673, 673 (2005) (citations omitted).
As in SNE Enterprises, there is no evidence that the Employer relied on
any precedent relieving it of the burden of proof; indeed, the Employer
presented extensive evidence aimed at demonstrating the extent of the
community of interest between the RSAs/LRSAs and the other em-
ployees. Id. Moreover, like SNE Enterprises, this is a representation
case where the Board’s ordinary rule is to apply its decisions retroac-
tively, including to all pending cases. Id. at 673–674. Finally, impos-
ing the burden on employers in the limited circumstances specified in
Specialty Healthcare “d[oes] not otherwise represent a significant
departure from a well-settled area of the law.” SNE Enterprises, 344
NLRB at 674.
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2127
courage a small number of upgrades or add-ons, the lot
agents cannot consummate sales and that is not the pri-
mary function of exit booth agents. Other than staff as-
sistants and exit booth agents who finalize car rentals, no
other employees work with computers,20 and none per-
form the range of contract-processing functions that
RSAs/LRSAs perform on a daily basis.
RSAs and LRSAs are also the only classification re-
quired to have at least 9 months of car rental or sales
experience. (The Employer “prefer[s]”—but does not
require—exit booth agents to have such qualifications.)
And typically, RSAs/LRSAs have none of the special-
ized licensing or training required of some of the other
classifications, including the mechanics, the building
maintenance technician, and the bus drivers.
The above factors strongly militate in favor of a sepa-
rate unit of rental service agents. See Avis Rent-A-Car
System, Inc., 132 NLRB 1136 (1961) (rejecting employ-
er’s claim that rental agents who occasionally helped
deliver equipment or clean vehicles during rush periods
must be included in a petitioned-for unit consisting of
employees similar to lot and service agents, mechanics,
and other support employees); see also Budget Rent-A-
Car of New Orleans, Inc., 220 NLRB 1264 (1975) (re-
jecting an employer’s similar claim that rental agents
must be included in petitioned-for unit of service em-
ployees).
Of critical importance in demonstrating that the
RSAs/LRSAs have separate and distinct interests from
those of other hourly employees is the RSAs’/LRSAs’
required participation, unlike any other classification of
employees, in a potentially punitive incentive program.21
Although some of the other employees participate in in-
centive programs, which offer employees the opportunity
to earn extra pay, only the exit gate agents’ plans are
based on sales and no other plan potentially imposes ad-
verse consequences, let alone such drastic ones: only the
RSA/LRSA incentive program creates a mandatory quota
of extra products that RSAs/LRSAs must sell simply to
maintain their positions.22 The high stakes associated
with the RSA/LRSA incentive plan and the Core Model

20 Return agents do use handheld devices to generate a final state-
ment for the customer, but the modifications they can make to a con-
tract are significantly more limited than those that RSAs/LRSAs can
make. For example, a discount of more than 10 percent must be pro-
cessed by an RSA/LRSA.
21 Cf. Overnite, 331 NLRB at 663–664 (excluding classification of
drivers when, “significantly,” drivers were only classification that could
be sent home for lack of work).
22 Cf. Dollar Rent a Car & Thrifty Car Rental, 357 NLRB 97 (2011)
(RSAs at Employer’s Las Vegas operation were lawfully discharged
both for aggressive tactics in selling add-ons and for “manipulating the
rental process for personal gain” by failing to rent to customers that did
not purchase add-ons).
create for RSAs/LRSAs a set of interests regarding their
terms and conditions of employment shared by none of
the other classifications that the Employer seeks to in-
clude in the bargaining unit.23
The evidence reflects little to no interchange between
the petitioned-for unit of RSAs/LRSAs and the other
hourly classifications. RSAs/LRSAs perform other clas-
sifications’ work when they cover breaks and the over-
night shift for lot and return agents. Lot and return
agents, however, do not perform RSA duties (other than
one return agent, April DeBerry, who has processed a
very limited number of rental agreements because she
individually requested training at this task).
RSAs/LRSAs apparently have occasionally filled in for
an exit booth agent who is out sick.
Other classifications’ performance of RSA/LRSA
work is largely limited to some staff assistants/lead staff
assistants who help with RSA duties during busy periods.
As discussed above, staff assistants Chiara and Newell
averaged, at most, under one-third of the rental agree-
ments per month typically completed by each of the
RSAs/LRSAs. And lead staff assistant Wright, the only
other member of the staff assistant/lead staff assistant
classification who performed any RSA duties, completed
only a fraction as many agreements as Chiara and Newell
completed. Overall, most of the staff assistants and lead
staff assistants performed little or no RSA work. Signifi-
cantly, even when the staff assistants and lead staff assis-
tant perform RSA duties, they are not subject to the con-
sequences imposed by the Core Model (though they are
apparently eligible for incentive pay if they meet the in-

23 In support of its contention that the Core Model does not create a
significant enough difference between RSAs/LRSAs and the other
hourly employees to cause RSAs/LRSAs to have a separate and distinct
community of interest, the Employer cites K.G. Knitting Mills, 320
NLRB 374 (1995); Sears, Roebuck & Co., 319 NLRB 607 (1995); and
Levitz Furniture Co. of Santa Clara, 192 NLRB 61 (1971). K.G. Knit-
ting is wholly inapposite as the Board in that postelection challenged
ballot case merely held that the disputed employees fit within the unit
description. In Sears, the Board disagreed with the factual findings
upon which the Regional Director had found a proposed unit consisting
of a diverse group of classifications to be appropriate despite its exclu-
sion of sales employees. The decision does not suggest that a unit
limited to the sales employees would not have been an appropriate unit.
Finally, in Levitz, the Board rejected proposed warehouse and drivers
units in the absence of any separate supervision and sufficient geo-
graphic separation, and after finding that the temporary interchange of
all employees was “frequent and regular.” In doing so, the Board ex-
pressly distinguished prior cases dividing sales from nonsales employ-
ees. 192 NLRB at 62. Moreover, none of the cases cited by the Em-
ployer considered whether the disputed employees shared an over-
whelming community of interest with the unit employees. Id. at 11–13.
Finally, although not solely dispositive, none of the cited cases in-
volved circumstances in which the employees in the proposed unit, but
not the disputed employees, were subject to a minimum sales threshold
with the serious consequences that exist here.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2128
centive program’s qualifications). Further, RSAs/LRSAs
never perform staff assistants’ duties. Such limited, one-
way “interchange” does not require that the staff assis-
tant/lead staff assistants be included in a unit with the
RSAs/LRSAs, especially given that two out of five em-
ployees in the staff assistant classification (one of whom
is a lead staff assistant) performed no RSA work during
2010.24
The Regional Director’s reliance on the Board’s find-
ing in United Rentals, Inc., 341 NLRB 540 (2004), that a
wall-to-wall unit was the smallest appropriate unit, is
misplaced. United Rentals involved a small equipment
rental facility with a total of 18 employees (in contrast to
the 109 here), “all” of whom “pitch[ed] in” and “per-
form[ed] the functions of different classifications.” Id. at
541. The employees at issue in that case performed peti-
tioned-for work “regularly and in many instances every
day,” and vice versa. Id. The infrequent and limited
employee interchange between RSAs/LRSAs and the
other hourly classifications here is not analogous to the
frequent and broad interchange that existed in United
Rentals. In cases more like this one, the Board has found
that infrequent and limited interchange does not preclude
a finding that the petitioned-for unit had a distinct com-
munity of interest.25
Although the Employer’s facility is functionally inte-
grated, with all employees working toward renting vehi-
cles to customers, each classification has a separate role
in the process. As a result, and unlike United Rentals,
RSAs/LRSAs have only limited interaction with the oth-
er classifications, as shown above.
The Employer nevertheless contends that the Regional
Director properly found only a wall-to-wall unit appro-
priate because all hourly employees “work under com-
mon supervision [and] receive similar hourly pay and
fringe benefits.” To be sure, there is some evidence of
cross-supervision of classifications by the operations

24 We do not consider RSAs’/LRSAs’ forced transfers as an alterna-
tive to discharge under the Core Model as evidence of interchange
demonstrating a community of interest between RSAs/LRSAs and the
classifications into which they may be transferred. To the contrary, as
explained above, such transfers highlight the fundamental disparity
between the interests of RSAs/LRSAs, whose very employment de-
pends on meeting their incentive program’s thresholds, and the interests
of the other employees, whose maintenance of their employment is not
conditioned on earning incentives.
25 See, e.g., Home Depot USA, 331 NLRB 1289 (2000) (finding sep-
arate unit of delivery drivers appropriate despite drivers’ performance
of “puller” work—i.e., pulling merchandise off of store shelves in
preparation for delivery—when pullers were not on duty); Budget, 220
NLRB at 1264 (rental representatives occasionally moved vehicles, did
some refueling, and cleaned vehicles for service agents); and Avis, 132
NLRB at 1136 (rental representatives occasionally delivered vehicles to
customers or cleaned vehicles during rush periods, and a utilityman
regularly handled rental agent duties every day).
managers on duty during a given shift (except for the
separately supervised mechanics on the day shift). As
noted above, however, RSAs/LRSAs are separately su-
pervised by a designated operations manager for purpos-
es of scheduling, granting time off, and other administra-
tive tasks. They are also separately represented in the
daily planning meetings. Given all the circumstances,
the degree of common daily supervision present here
does not outweigh the other factors demonstrating that
RSAs/LRSAs do not share an overwhelming community
of interest with the other employees. See Overnite
Transportation Co., 331 NLRB 662, 663–664 (2000)
(rejecting employer’s contention that a wall-to-wall unit
was smallest appropriate unit despite evidence of “cross-
supervision” when there was also evidence of “separate
immediate supervision”).
The similarity between the RSAs’/LRSAs’ base wages
and those of some of the other classifications also does
not render the separate unit of RSAs/LRSAs inappropri-
ate. Similarity of wage rates alone is not determinative.
See, e.g., Specialty Healthcare, supra (finding separate
unit of certified nursing assistants appropriate despite
similarity between their wage ranges and those of ex-
cluded classifications). Moreover, if similarity in wages
were given great weight here, the RD’s finding that a
wall-to-wall unit is appropriate would be undermined by
the wide range of wages from the shuttlers (as low as
$7.28 an hour) to the bus mechanics (up to $30 an hour).
Finally, because of the distinct incentive programs appli-
cable to RSAs/LRSAs and other employees, any similari-
ty in base wages proves little about the employees’ actual
earnings and less still about any commonality in the
working conditions and the performance expectations
that determine the employees’ actual earnings.
In sum, we find that the petitioned-for RSAs’ and
LRSAs’ primary job functions and duties, skills and
qualifications, uniforms, work areas, schedules, incen-
tives, risks, and supervision are different from all other
employees. RSAs/LRSAs, therefore, have employment
interests that are materially different from the other em-
ployees that the Employer seeks to include in the bar-
gaining unit. Accordingly, we reverse the Regional Di-
rector’s finding that the RSAs/LRSAs share an over-
whelming community of interest with those other hourly
employees and her resulting determination that a wall-to-
wall unit is the only appropriate unit.
Conclusion
For the reasons explained above, we find that the
RSAs and LRSAs share a community of interest among
themselves but do not share an overwhelming communi-
ty of interest with the Employer’s other hourly employ-
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2129
ees.26 Under Specialty Healthcare, the petitioned-for
RSAs/LRSAs thus constitute an appropriate unit for bar-
gaining. We therefore remand the case to the Regional
Director to hold an election in the petitioned-for unit.27
ORDER
It is ordered that the Regional Director’s finding that
the only appropriate bargaining unit is a wall-to-wall unit
is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Regional
Director for further appropriate action.

MEMBER HAYES, dissenting.
My colleagues’ reversal of the Regional Director to
find that the petitioned-for unit is appropriate provides
further confirmation of the predictable effects of their
outcome-driven Specialty Healthcare1 test for determin-
ing whether a unit is appropriate for bargaining. The
Regional Director here actually found that a unit limited
to Rental Service Agents and Lead Rental Service agents
was inappropriate because they share an “overwhelming
community of interests” with all of the car rental Em-

26 The dissent does not address the specific facts of this case. Be-
cause the legal and policy arguments made in the dissent were fully
addressed in Specialty Healthcare, supra, and Northrop Grumman, 357
NLRB 2015 (2011), we do not respond further here.
27 We also disagree with the Regional Director’s finding that the
staff assistants are more akin to plant clericals than office clericals and
therefore must be included in the unit. See generally Caesars Tahoe,
337 NLRB 1096, 1098 (2002) (test to determine if employees are in-
cludable in production unit as “plant clericals” or excludable as “office
clericals” is whether employees’ principal functions and duties relate to
the production process as distinguished from general office operations);
see also Fireman’s Fund Insurance, 173 NLRB 982, 984 (1968)
(Board’s normal practice is to exclude office clericals from other units).
General Manager Klier testified that the primary functions of the staff
assistants, who normally work in second-floor offices above the rental
counters and away from the customer areas, are office clerical in na-
ture. To be sure, two of the staff assistants and one lead staff assistant
sometimes fill in for and work alongside the RSAs/LRSAs. Neverthe-
less, the record supports Klier’s testimony that the staff assistants’
primary duties are office clerical in nature: they prepare reports (in-
cluding reports regarding the work of RSAs/LRSAs), answer phones,
and administer the lost-and-found. Those functions require them to
have skills and qualifications typical of office clericals: data pro-
cessing, bookkeeping, and/or accounting. See also L.M. Berry & Co.,
198 NLRB 217, 219 (1972) (excluding clericals from unit of sales
employees despite evidence that clericals performed tasks related to
sales campaigns and interacted with sales employees, where clericals,
working in separate office area, prepared reports and handled incoming
calls).
The Employer relies on Caesars Tahoe, in which the Board found
that a particular employee was a plant clerical, rather than an office
clerical. Id., 337 NLRB at 1098. But that employee split his time be-
tween performing maintenance work like that of employees in the
petitioned-for maintenance unit and performing dispatching duties,
which are more closely related to maintenance/production work than
the office work of the staff assistants and lead staff assistants here. We
find that Caesar’s Tahoe is not analogous to this case.
1 357 NLRB 934 (2011). I adhere to my dissenting views expressed
there at slip op. 948–952.
ployer’s hourly employees working at the same facility.
Prior to Specialty Healthcare, the phrase “overwhelming
community of interests” may have been a correct factual
description of a grouping of employees in a particular
case, but it was not legally required.2 Now, however, a
petitioned-for unit of employees will be found appropri-
ate, if they share a community of interests among them-
selves, unless a party contesting it can prove that other
employees share an overwhelming community of inter-
ests with them.
One would think that the Regional Director’s factual
findings under the very test espoused by my colleagues
would not be susceptible to reversal under the Board’s
“clearly erroneous” request for review standard.3 Unfor-
tunately, one would be wrong. There is no need to ex-
amine the particular inter-classification distinctions
drawn by my colleagues in reversing the Regional Direc-
tor. The larger truth is that it is difficult to imagine a
multiclassification, multifunction workplace where the
jobs of all workers are nevertheless so homogeneous that
such distinctions cannot be drawn. As long as a union
does not make the mistake of petitioning for a unit that
consists of only part of a group of employees in a partic-
ular classification, department, or function, i.e., a so-
called fractured unit,4 it will be impossible for a party to
prove that an overwhelming community of interests ex-
ists with excluded employees. Board review of the scope
of the unit has now been rendered largely irrelevant.5 It
is the union’s choice, and the likelihood is that most un-
ions will choose to organize incrementally, petitioning
for units of the smallest scale possible. The days of tra-
ditional all-inclusive production and maintenance units,
technical units, or service and maintenance units—much
less wall-to-wall plant units—are numbered. I adhere to
the previously expressed view that giving the Board’s
imprimatur to this balkanization represents an abdication
of our responsibility under Section 9 and may well dis-
rupt labor relations stability by requiring a constant pro-
cess of bargaining for each micro-unit as well as pitting
the narrow interests of employees in one such unit
against those in other units.6

2 See Newton-Wellesley Hospital, 250 NLRB 409, 411–412 (1980),
and NLRB v. Lundy Packing Co., 68 F.3d 1577, 1581 (4th Cir. 1995).
3 See Board Rules and Regulations Sec. 102.67(c)(2).
4 See Odwalla Inc., 357 NLRB 1608 (2011).
5 I suppose there may remain some disputes about the appropriate-
ness of some petitioned-for units based on function. Member Becker,
after all, dissented from the majority’s finding in Wheeling Island Gam-
ing, Inc., 355 NLRB 651 (2010), that a petitioned-for unit of poker
dealers, separate from other card game dealers, was not appropriate.
6 See my dissent in Northrop Grumman, 357 NLRB 2015, 2021–
2022 (2011).
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2130
For the reasons expressed above and in my prior dis-
sents to the Specialty Healthcare test, I would affirm the
Regional Director’s decision and dismiss the petition.
APPENDIX
. . .
DECISION AND ORDER

On December 15, 2010, the Petitioner, Teamsters Local Un-
ion No. 455 (Petitioner), filed a petition under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act,1 seeking to represent certain
employees of DTG Operations, Inc. (Employer), at its Denver
International Airport location (DIA). The Employer operates a
car rental facility housing both the Dollar and Thrifty car rental
brands adjacent to DIA.
The issue to be resolved in this case is the appropriate scope
of the bargaining unit. At the hearing, the Petitioner amended
its petition to reflect that it seeks to represent approximately 24
rental sales agents and 6 lead rental sales agents (RSA) em-
ployed by the Employer at its DIA facility. The Employer,
however, contends that because of the similarity of the hourly
employees’ terms and conditions of employment, shared super-
vision, and the regular interchange and interaction among all
the hourly employees working at the DIA facility, the peti-
tioned-for unit is not appropriate. Instead the Employer asserts
that the only appropriate unit is a single-facility, wall-to-wall
unit at its DIA operations, including all the regular and lead
RSAs.2
I conclude for the reasons enunciated below that the peti-
tioned-for unit sought by the Petitioner limited to RSAs and
lead RSAs is not an appropriate unit for collective-bargaining.
Instead, I find that the Employer has met its burden of estab-
lishing that its DIA operations are so functionally integrated
that the smallest appropriate unit must consist of all hourly
employees employed by the Employer at its DIA facility. See
United Rentals, Inc., 341 NLRB 540 (2004).3
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 3 and 4, 2011, a hearing was held before Hearing
Officer Kristyn A. Myers. Following the close of the hearing,
the parties timely filed briefs. Under Section 3(b) of the Act,
the Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding to me.
Upon the entire record in this proceeding, I find:
1. The hearing officer’s rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
2. The parties stipulated, and I find, that the Employer is en-
gaged in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7)
of the Act and that it is subject to the jurisdiction of the Nation-
al Labor Relations Board (Board). Specifically, I find that the
Employer is an Oklahoma corporation with facilities located
throughout the United States, including an office and place of

1 29 U.S.C. 151, et seq.
2 The record reflects that the Employer also operates a location in
Aspen, Colorado, but the Parties stipulated that any appropriate unit
should consist only of employees employed by the Employer at its DIA
location.
3 I am dismissing the petition on the basis that the Petitioner express-
ly declined to proceed to an election in a wall-to-wall unit.
business located at Denver International Airport, 23520 East
78th Avenue, Denver, Colorado, where it is engaged in the
retail automotive rental business. The Denver, Colorado opera-
tions are the only operations at issue herein. During the past 12
months, a representative period, in conducting its business op-
erations, the Employer derived gross revenues in excess of
$500,000, and during the same period, the Employer purchased
and received at its DIA facility goods valued in excess of $5000
directly from points located outside the State of Colorado.
3. The parties stipulated, and I find, that Petitioner is a labor
organization within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
4. Based upon the record herein, no question affecting
commerce exists concerning the representation of the peti-
tioned-for employees within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and
Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act for the reasons set forth below.4
STATEMENT OF FACTS
A. Employer’s Operations
1. Choice business model
The Employer’s DIA airport operation is designated as a
CHOICE rental facility. This is a relatively new business mod-
el in the rental industry that provides for greater customer input
on the model of car rented by the customer. Under this busi-
ness model, customers are no longer assigned to a particular
vehicle. Instead, the customer can choose the specific model
vehicle he desires from an available pool of vehicles in a par-
ticular rental class, or elect to upgrade to another class of vehi-
cles if the customer sees something he prefers elsewhere on the
lot. Thus, while the Employer has some idea what vehicle
classes need to be available based on reservations on a particu-
lar shift, the CHOICE business model requires availability of a
wide selection of models in various rental classes at all times to
ensure that customers truly have a “choice” of what vehicle
they ultimately drive off the lot.
2. Airport rental counter
While vehicle rentals are exclusively processed at the Em-
ployer’s off-site “rental car row” facility, the Employer does
maintain and staff a joint Dollar/Thrifty rental counter located
inside DIA. The purpose of this airport counter is to provide
customers with rental information in advance of their arrival at
the off-site facility, and to direct customers to the courtesy bus-
es that will transfer them to the rental facility. The Employer

4 Based on my findings, the smallest appropriate unit would be de-
scribed as:
INCLUDED: All full-time and regular part-time employees
employed by the Employer at its facilities located at Denver In-
ternational Airport, Denver, Colorado in the following classifica-
tions: rental sales agent, lead rental sales agent, lot agent, return
agent, service agent, lead service agent, exit booth gate agent,
courtesy bus driver, lead courtesy bus driver, staff assistant I, staff
assistant II, lead staff assistant, fleet agent, shuttler, mechanic, as-
sistant mechanic, bus mechanic and building maintenance techni-
cian.
EXCLUDED: All other employees, managers, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations Act.
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2131
schedules one of its six lot agents to staff the DIA rental coun-
ter, Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.5
3. Car rental facility
The Employer operates a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week, full-
service rental car facility adjacent to DIA that primarily serves
customers traveling through the airport. The Employer oper-
ates both the Dollar Rent-A-Car (Dollar) and Thrifty Car Rental
(Thrifty) brand names at a single facility. The airport facility is
located on a 13-acre parcel of land approximately 5 miles from
DIA on “rental car row.” Currently, the Employer has a fleet of
approximately 2600 rental cars, which fluctuates seasonally,
and can increase to 3000 during the peak months. The Employ-
er employs approximately 109 nonmanagerial, hourly employ-
ees, and 10 managers to staff its DIA operation, including the
counter at DIA and the off-site facility.
Two rental buildings and a maintenance building are located
on the property. One of the rental buildings is a two-story
structure that contains the rental counter for the Dollar rental
car brand, and houses most of the Employer’s offices on the
second floor. The other rental building is a one-story structure,
which houses the rental counter for the Thrifty rental car brand
and an office. The maintenance building houses some office
space. Although the rental counters for each brand are in sepa-
rate buildings, all other rental functions are combined and car-
ried out without respect to brand. In this regard, the rental
pick-up and return lines are interchangeably used by customers
for both brands. Similarly, the Employer has an on-site car
wash facility and maintenance facilities used to service the
entire rental fleet. The maintenance facility is also used to
repair and maintain the courtesy buses used to transport cus-
tomers between the airport and rental car facility. Adjacent to
the maintenance building are three exit booths where rental
customers for both brands finalize their rental car contracts and
exit the property.
4. Rental process
Upon arrival at the airport, a customer may approach the
Dollar/Thrifty information counter and inquire about how to
rent a vehicle or how to pick up a reserved vehicle. The coun-
ter employee provides the information and directs the customer
to the courtesy bus pick-up area to be transported to the rental
facility.6 Customers can exit on the east or west side of the
terminal and go to the designated Dollar/Thrifty pick-up area.
From there, the customers board a courtesy shuttle to be trans-
ported to the off-site rental facility. During transport, custom-
ers are given a prepared speech explaining how the rental pro-
cess will work and encouraged to purchase the add-on options
discussed more fully below. Depending on customer prefer-
ence, the shuttle drops the customer off at either the Dollar or
Thrifty rental building.

5 While the Employer stated in its post-hearing brief that the DIA
counter is staffed Monday through Friday, the referenced transcript
page establishes that it is not staffed on Sundays and Mondays.
6 If it is a weekend or between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. cus-
tomers are instructed to proceed directly to the courtesy bus pick-up
area by a sign.
At the drop off points, customers are told to enter the rental
building and approach the rental counters. Once inside, an
RSA will greet the customer and begin the process of generat-
ing the rental car agreement. The RSA will input customer
information into the Company database and try to sell the cus-
tomer additional products available with the car rental. Once
that transaction is complete, the customer is directed to exit the
building to choose a vehicle.
Upon exiting the building, the customer is greeted by a lot
agent. The lot agents direct the customer to the pool of vehicles
that are available based on the class of car the customer has
rented. The lot agents also encourage the customers to upgrade
to higher vehicle classes and add on additional products, but do
not process such upgrades. If a lot agent convinces a customer
to upgrade, the customer is either directed to return to the rental
counter, or the upgrade is noted on the contract jacket and pro-
cessed by the exit booth gate agent as the customer leaves the
facility.
Once the customer chooses a vehicle, the customer drives
towards the exit and stops at an exit booth. The exit gate booth
agent scans the vehicle identification and the rental contract and
finalizes the rental agreement. The exit agent also offers the
customer another opportunity to purchase the additional options
offered by the RSA, including toll passes, fuel options, vehicle
upgrades, or additional insurance. The customer will then exit
the rental premises onto the highway.
When the customer return the vehicle to the facility, he en-
ters the premises and proceeds to the designated return lanes.
There, the customer is met and greeted by a return agent. The
return agent assists the customer in checking the vehicle for
personal belongings, and proceeds through the steps of closing
out the contract for the customer. The return agent checks for
vehicle damage, fuel level, and odometer readings and then
uses a handheld computer to generate a final statement for the
customer. Once the contract is closed, the return agent directs
the customer to the courtesy bus pickup area where the custom-
er will board the shuttle and be transported back to the airport.
The rental car is then turned over to a service agent to be
prepared for return to the rental fleet. The service agent checks
the vehicle and determines if it just needs to be cleaned and
washed or whether the vehicle maintenance. If the vehicle
simply needs to be cleaned, the service agent will perform the
necessary cleaning and return the vehicle to the ready line. The
service agents are responsible for identifying vehicles which
require preventive maintenance or repairs before being returned
to the rental fleet. If the vehicle needs any maintenance or
repairs, the service agents move the car to the maintenance area
for repair or maintenance by the mechanics.
B. Organizational Structure
1. Supervisory hierarchy
Richard Klier is the General Manager for the Employer’s
DIA operation. His office is located on the second floor of the
Dollar building. Reporting directly to Klier are nine Operations
Managers. They are: Seth Spaulding, City Fleet Manager;
Charlene Duran, Fleet Maintenance Manager; Todd Trueblood,
Senior Operations Manager; Keith Johnson, Senior Operations
Manager; Kristen Sloan, Operations Manager; Jeff Pitts, Opera-
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2132
tions manager; Margaret Savelio, Operations Manager; Mark
Peters, Operations Manager and Tammy Birkendahl, Opera-
tions Manager.7
Because the Employer is in operation 24-hours a day, 7-days
a week, it has established a so-called “flat line” reporting man-
agement structure. This means that while each of the nine op-
erations managers is assigned to manage certain specific classi-
fications of employee with respect to scheduling, tracking at-
tendance and approving leave,8 on a daily basis scheduled hour-
ly employees report directly to whichever managers are actual-
ly on duty.9 There is no human resources office at the DIA
airport facility. Instead, all personnel matters except for sched-
uling, approving leave requests and approval of time cards are
handled through the Corporate office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If an
operations manager determines that an hourly employee needs
to be disciplined, the manager must submit the disciplinary
recommendations to Human Resources at the Employer’s
headquarters before discipline can be meted out. Once Human
Resources approves the disciplinary action, the discipline is
imposed in the presence of two managers who hold a discipli-
nary meeting with the employee.
General Manager Klier schedules a “station manager” to
oversee the entire operation of the rental facility for each par-
ticular shift. Todd Trueblood, Keith Johnson, Kirsten Sloan,
Jeff Pitts, Margaret Savelio, Mark Peter, and Tammy Birken-
dahl are the only managers eligible to be designated as station
managers.10 One or two operations managers are also sched-
uled on each shift to assist the designated station manager. The
management team scheduled for a given shift runs the entire
operation during the course of that shift without regard to em-
ployee classification, with the exception of the weekday
maintenance employees who are supervised on day shift by
Charlene Duran. However, since maintenance is in operation

7 The parties stipulated that the general manager and nine operations
managers are statutory supervisors on the basis that they possess and
exercise one or more of the supervisory indicia enumerated in Section
2(11) of the Act. Since this stipulation is supported by the record evi-
dence, the general manager and operations managers should be exclud-
ed from any bargaining unit found appropriate.
8 The record is silent with respect to which managers directly super-
vise attendance for the lot agents, exit booth agents, shuttlers, return
agents, the staff assistant II and the building maintenance employee.
The record does establish that the fleet agent report to Seth Spaulding
and that the assistant mechanics, mechanics, and bus mechanics report
to Charlene Duran for matters regarding attendance and leave. Similar-
ly, RSAs and lead RSAs report to Todd Trueblood and Margaret
Savelio; staff assistants and lead staff assistants report to Tammy
Birkendahl; lead courtesy bus drivers and the bus drivers report to
Mark Peters; and service agents and lead service agents report to Jeff
Pitts.
9 While the general manager testified that the operations managers
are also responsible for the “job performance” of the classifications of
employees they oversee for payroll purposes, the record evidence estab-
lishes that the Employer eliminated formal job evaluations several
years ago. The record is silent as to how the operations managers cur-
rently assess employee job performance.
10 It appears that City Fleet Manager Seth Spaulding and Fleet
Maintenance Manager Charlene Duran primarily work the day shift in
the maintenance area, which is why they are not scheduled as station
managers.
from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., 7 days a week, maintenance employees
report to whichever managers are scheduled when Duran is not
working.
The Employer holds two daily planning meetings. The first
meeting is held at 8:30 a.m., and the second meeting is held at
4:30 p.m. These meetings are run by the station manager, and
attended by the operations managers scheduled to work at those
times, and lead employee representatives from most job classi-
fications.11 The purpose of these meetings is to discuss the
demands of the day. This includes determining where the most
help will be needed, what types of vehicles are in high demand,
how to get the high demand vehicles available for rental as
quickly as possible, and the scheduling of employee breaks.
The managers and employee participants report back to the
employees in their respective classifications what was dis-
cussed at the meeting. After the meeting the managers com-
municate anticipated needs to the maintenance department with
respect to the priority of getting certain vehicles ready for rent-
al.
2. DIA facility job classifications
The wall-to-wall unit proposed by the Employer includes
approximately 109 employees classified as follows: 6 lead
RSAs, 24 RSAs, 4 lead service agents, 9 service agents, 9 re-
turn agents, 6 lot agents, 2 lead staff assistants, 3 staff assis-
tants, 2 lead courtesy bus drivers, 21 courtesy bus drivers, 3
mechanics, 4 assistant mechanics, 2 bus mechanics, 1 building
maintenance technician, 9 exit gate booth agents, 1 fleet agent,
and 2 shuttlers.12
3. Employment and personnel policies
All the managerial and hourly employees at the Employer’s
airport location are subject to the same employment policies
and enjoy the same benefit package set forth in the Company’s
Employee Handbook.
All hourly employees keep track of their attendance in the
Employer’s Kronos time system and receive identical
paychecks from the Employer which are issued under the DTG
name, not branded as Dollar or Thrifty. In this regard, employ-
ees may clock in on any of the three time clocks, which are
located in the Dollar, Thrifty, and maintenance buildings. Sim-
ilarly, all employees have access to the three break rooms lo-
cated in each of those three buildings.
All hourly employees are required to have a high school di-
ploma or equivalent and a valid driver’s license because they
may be called upon to move cars at any time based on opera-
tional needs. All hourly employees are paid on a grid pay scale
that includes step pay increases. As set forth more fully below,
many of the Employer’s job classifications are entitled to par-
ticipate in sales incentive programs tailored to their job func-
tions in addition to their hourly pay.

11 If a lead employee is not available or the job classification does
not have leads, a regular employee attends these meetings instead.
12 The Parties stipulated and the record supports a finding that the
various employees classified as lead employees do not possess or exer-
cise supervisory authority under Sec. 2(11). Accordingly, I find that the
lead employees should be included in any unit found appropriate.
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2133
All employees wear unbranded name tags and similarly col-
ored uniforms, which are provided by the Employer. The actu-
al color of the uniforms depends on the employee’s job classifi-
cation. Some classifications, such as the courtesy drivers wear
uniforms rented Cintas, while other classifications, such as
RSAs, receive a set of permanent uniforms. The RSAs that
work behind the rental counter wear “classier” uniforms that
are made of better quality materials. All employees, including
RSAs, are supplied with identical winter coats because their job
duties require them to work outside in the elements at least
some of the time.
D. Job Duties
1. RSAs
There are 25 RSAs employed by the Employer at its DIA lo-
cation. The primary duties of the RSAs are to greet customers,
process rentals, sell optional services, answer and receive tele-
phone calls, resolve overdue rentals, and respond to customer
questions and complaints. The RSAs work behind the rental
counter in either the Dollar or Thrifty building. They are re-
sponsible for entering information into the Employer’s database
about the customers, the rental contract, rental upgrades, or
additional products sold with any contract. RSAs rotate in one-
month intervals between work at the Dollar and Thrifty rental
counters. They may, however, be assigned to either counter if
necessary to fill in for employee absences or based on rental
demands under either brand name. The Dollar and Thrifty
rental counter are staffed 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. RSAs
work 40 hours a week and can be assigned to the day shift,
afternoon shift or night shift.
RSAs must have at least 9-12 months of car rental or sales
experience. They are paid between $8.50 and $12.75 an hour,
and are required to participate in the Employer’s incentive
compensation plan.
The RSA compensation plan works as follows. With each
rental transaction an RSA has the opportunity to “upsell” a
customer. These upgrades result in what the company refers to
as incremental revenue. Each RSA’s incremental revenue is
automatically computed on a monthly basis when the RSA
enters the details of the rental contract into the computer sys-
tem. Incremental revenue sales include upgrades to more ex-
pensive vehicles, renting GPS devices, selling toll passes re-
ferred to as “Pass 24,” selling a variety of additional insurance
plans, and selling various pre-paid fuel options. Corporate
headquarters calculates minimum requirements for each RSA
on a monthly basis, deriving a target number of incremental
sales that an individual RSA must achieve in order to receive
any incentive compensation for that month. Once an RSA
reaches his or her target incremental sales, the RSA will receive
a predetermined amount of money for each additional sale he or
she made that month.
The Company generates monthly reports titled “RSA Peer
Rankings,” showing how the RSAs performed that month and
ranking the agent’s performance based on their incremental
sales. All this information is stored in the company’s electronic
database and is accessible by all RSAs to gauge their perfor-
mance during the month. If an RSA fails to meet the target
incremental sales for a month, the agent is put on the “Core
Model for Sales” program. The “Core Model for Sales” pro-
gram involves a five step process to assist RSAs in improving
their sales. If an RSA is unable to meet the sales requirements
over an extended period of time, the RSA may be transferred to
a different position or terminated.
RSAs have a significant amount of daily interchange with lot
agents and return agents. In this regard, RSAs are scheduled to
cover for breaks and lunch hours of lot agents on a daily basis.
Generally, the RSAs rotate this break coverage during a given
week. As discussed below, lot agents and return agents are not
scheduled to work during late evenings and the night shift, so
during the times there are no lot agents or return agents, RSAs
perform these duties. On average RSAs as a group are assigned
to perform lot agent duties at least 8.5 hours a day, and return
agent duties at least 7.5 hours a day. When RSAs cover for a
lot agent or a return agent, they continue to earn their hourly
wage but do not earn any money towards their incremental
sales targets.
Additionally, RSAs regularly work side-by-side with staff
assistants because the staff assistants work at the rental sales
counter when there are too many customers in line for the num-
ber of scheduled RSAs to process. The use of staff assistants to
fill in for RSAs is so common that the RSAs announce a “code
10-100” to page staff assistants when the RSAs need assistance
at the rental counter. The RSA work performed by the staff
assistants is included on the monthly RSA Peer Ranking Re-
port. The peer reports entered into the record establish that
during some months, certain staff assistants process as many
contracts as employees officially classified as RSAs.
The RSAs also have some interaction with service agents re-
garding which vehicles are available for rental and when the
RSAs are performing lot and return agent duties. RSAs also
interact with shuttle bus drivers with respect to unloading cus-
tomer luggage and customer transportation needs, particularly
when a customer has special needs. Finally, RSAs occasionally
communicate with mechanics regarding vehicle availability
after the daily planning meetings.
2. Lead RSAs
The Employer employs six lead RSAs at its DIA location.
These lead RSAs perform all the regular duties of the RSAs. In
addition, the lead RSAs attend the two daily planning meetings
and report back to the RSAs about what occurred at the meet-
ing. The leads also assist in scheduling RSA breaks and lunch-
es.
The Employer offers an express rental service for customers
allowing frequent customers to bypass the rental counter and
head directly to the parking lot to pick up their vehicles. The
lead RSAs have primary responsibility for the “Express Rental
Board” services. The lead RSAs pre-print the express rental
agreements and place them in cars. Lead RSAs also handle the
cash box maintained behind the rental counter and fill out any
associated paperwork with cash transactions.13
The lead RSAs must have one to two years sales experience
in the car rental industry, including some lead experience.

13 Regular RSAs also occasionally balance money in drawers, re-
trieve money collected during the shift, complete deposit slips, and
place money in the safe.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2134
Lead RSAs are paid between $9.50 and $14.25 an hour and
participate in the same incentive compensation plan as the
RSAs. Lead RSAs work the same hours as RSAs and have the
same work contacts and interaction with other employee classi-
fications as the RSAs.
3. Service agents
The Employer employs nine service agents at its DIA loca-
tion. Service agents are responsible for cleaning cars and pre-
paring them to be put back into the rental fleet. This includes
servicing rental vehicles by inspecting them for damage or
preventive maintenance, refueling vehicles, and cleaning and
washing the vehicles. Service agents also maintain fuel logs on
vehicles using hand held computers. Once a vehicle is ready to
be put into service, the service agents drive the vehicle from the
servicing area to the ready line. Service agents also drive vehi-
cles requiring maintenance to the maintenance area.
The Employer has a hiring preference for individuals with
some previous work experience. Most service agents work 40
hours a week and are scheduled to work on shifts between 6
a.m. to 10:30 p.m., 7 days a week, but one service agent is
scheduled to do inventory at night and works until 2:30 a.m.
Service agents are paid between $8.50 and $12.75 an hour, and
participate in an incentive compensation plan. Service agents
receive a monthly cash incentive based on a formula related to
the number of cars they clean in a given month, minus any
failed spot inspections.
Service agents regularly communicate with return agents re-
garding service and maintenance issues for specific returned
vehicles. Service agents also regularly communicate with me-
chanics about which vehicles need preventive maintenance or
repairs and when the service agents transport those vehicles to
the maintenance area. During times of high demand, mechan-
ics and assistant mechanics help perform service agent func-
tions, and return agents help move cars to the ready line. The
record is silent as to how frequently this occurs.
4. Lead service agents
The Employer employs four lead service agents at its DIA
facility. In addition to the duties performed by the regular ser-
vice agents, the lead service agents attend the daily planning
meetings and report back to the service agents about what was
discussed at the meeting. The lead service agent is responsible
for coordinating the service agents, assisting in scheduling
breaks, and in inspecting the quality of the work of the service
agents. Lead service agents work the same hours as service
agents. The lead service agents are paid between $9.50 and
$14.25 an hour, and participate in the same incentive compen-
sation plan as service agents.
The lead service agents have the same work contacts and in-
teractions as the regular service agents, with the exception of
lead service agent Herman Moss, who is occasionally fills in
for absent RSAs. Moss also possesses a commercial driver’s
license (CDL), which is required for the Employer’s courtesy
shuttle bus drivers, so Moss also fills in as a courtesy driver as
needed.
5. Return agents
The Employer employs nine return agents at its DIA facility.
Return agents greet customers returning rental cars, and go
through the appropriate procedures to check-in vehicles at the
conclusion of the rental term. These duties include checking
mileage, inspecting the vehicle for damage, checking the fuel
level, and closing out customer contracts on their hand-held
computers. Return agents also direct customers to the courtesy
shuttle buses.
Return agents are required to have at least 1 year of customer
service experience. Return agents work 40 hours a week, on
shifts scheduled from 5 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Return agents are
paid between $9.50 and $14.25 an hour, and are eligible to
participate in an incentive compensation plan. Agents receive
$5 for each signed accident report that they turn in. Also, each
time a return agent charges a customer for refueling a vehicle
that is returned with less than a full tank, that revenue goes into
a pool and the return agents receive a percentage of that reve-
nue based on the number of rental contracts they have closed on
their hand-held computers. The service agents must meet a
monthly threshold before being entitled to participate in the fuel
incentive pool.
With regard to interchange, return agents and the lot agents
discussed immediately below are actually cross-trained, and
scheduled interchangeably to perform return agent and lot agent
duties. Return agents assist the service agents and shuttlers in
moving cars around the lot and parking cars at the ready line.
As noted, RSAs are scheduled on a daily basis to fill in for
return agents on their breaks and RSAs perform all of the return
agent duties during the hours when no return agents are sched-
uled. There is also one return agent who fills in for absent
RSAs on a sporadic basis.
Return agents interact with RSAs when customers report an
accident with the vehicle. Return agents contact RSAs when
they are sending a customer to the rental service counter for
discounts larger than what return agents have authority to grant.
Return agents communicate with mechanics about vehicles
recalls, and about specific vehicles that need repairs. As noted
above, return agents communicate with service agents about
vehicles ready to be serviced, or when service agents need as-
sistance moving vehicles to the ready line.
6. Lot agents
The Employer employs six lot agents at its DIA location.
Lot agents are responsible for monitoring the supply and clean-
liness of vehicles in the various car class parking areas, direct-
ing customers to vehicles, and showing them where to exit the
premises. Lot agents also encourage customers to upgrade and
initiate the upgrade process when they are successful. Lot
agents must have at least one year customer service experience,
with a preference for one year of car rental experience. Lot
agents are scheduled to work 40 hours a week, 7 days a week,
on shifts running from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Lot agents are paid between $9 and $13.50 an hour. Since
lot agents and return agents are scheduled interchangeably, they
have the same work interactions and are eligible to participate
in the same incentive compensation plan available to return
agents when these employees work in the return area.
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2135
When working as lot agents, these employees communicate
by two-way radio with service agents about which vehicles
should be brought to the ready line. Lot agents also communi-
cate with mechanics about vehicle maintenance issues that arise
after a car has been placed in service. Finally, lot agents are
occasionally contacted by RSAs regarding what models of cars
are available for rental because of customer inquiries.
7. Exit Gate booth agents
The Employer employs nine exit gate booth agents at its DIA
facility. The exit gate booth agents greet customers as they exit
the rental facility and give directions as requested by custom-
ers. These exit gate booth agents actually finalize the contracts
initiated by the RSAs because under the CHOICE model, the
RSA does not know the actual vehicle selected by the customer.
The exit gate booth agents scan the vehicle identification for
the vehicle selected by the customer and electronically “attach”
the vehicle to the rental agreement that was initiated by the
RSA. These exit gate booth agents are required to obtain signa-
tures on the contracts of the Express customers who bypassed
the rental counter, and to verify their driver’s licenses. Exit
gate booth agents also process upgrades initiated by lot agents,
and “soft sell” additional products to customers including in-
surance packages, fuel options, and toll passes.
Exit booth gate agents must have at least 9–12 months of car
rental or sales experience. This position is staffed 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, and these agents generally work 40 hours a
week. Exit gate booth agents are paid between $9 and $13.50
an hour and are eligible to participate in an incentive compen-
sation plan. Exit gate booth agents receive $.50 for each pre-
paid fuel contract sold at the gate. Agents also receive a per-
centage payment for all their sales of upgrades, insurance, Pass
24 toll tags.
With regard to interchange, one exit gate booth agent has a
CDL and occasionally works as a courtesy bus driver. The exit
booth agents send a representative to the daily planning meet-
ings. They also communicate with mechanics if a vehicle leav-
ing the gate needs a repair.
8. Fleet agents
The Employer employs one fleet agent at its DIA location.
The primary function of the fleet agent is processing new vehi-
cles to be entered into the rental fleet, and disposing of used
rental vehicles by transporting them to Company sales lots or
local vehicle auctions. The fleet agent also documents vehicle
histories, and coordinates vehicle repairs.
The fleet agent must have at least one year car rental experi-
ence and one year in body shop repair or maintenance. This
individual generally works five days a week, from 8 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. The fleet agent is paid between $10.50 and $15.75 an
hour, and is not eligible for any incentive compensation plans.
Because of the sporadic nature of the fleet agent’s regular
job duties, the fleet agent is regularly scheduled to perform
either service agent duties or preventive maintenance mechani-
cal duties. The fleet agent also assists the building maintenance
technician with snow plowing and other duties as needed, and
assists the vehicle shuttlers in moving vehicles to off-site loca-
tions.
During the course of his regular duties, the fleet agent inter-
acts with return agents to inform them which cars need to be
taken out of service, and interacts with mechanics to discuss
which cars need what repairs.
9. Staff assistants
The Employer employs three staff assistants at its DIA loca-
tion. Two of the staff assistants work in the Dollar building and
are primarily responsible for receiving and responding to tele-
phone customer complaints and inquiries. They also monitor
the lost and found for the entire operation. This entails logging
in found items, investigating and recording who the owner of
the item might be based on the nature of the item or location at
which it was found, and contacting customers to make ar-
rangements to get the belongings returned. These staff assis-
tants also generate various computer operations reports used by
the Employer to monitor the rental operations.
As noted above, the staff assistants regularly perform RSA
work and they also are called upon to move vehicles around the
lot in emergency situations. The record is silent as to the inter-
actions between staff assistants and other classification relating
to their lost and found responsibilities.
The third staff assistant primarily works in the maintenance
area performing computer functions to assist mechanics, titling
and registering new vehicles with the Colorado Department of
Motor Vehicles. This staff assistant rarely performs RSA du-
ties, but she does moves cars to the ready line when necessary.
A staff assistant I must have at least one to two years experi-
ence in data processing or a related field. The Employer pre-
fers that employees classified as staff assistant level II have
some college course work in accounting with three to five years
of experience in data processing or bookkeeping. Staff assis-
tants are paid between $9 and $15 an hour, depending on their
level. Staff assistant are scheduled to work between 7:30 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m., with coverage on weekdays and weekends.
10. Lead staff assistant
The Employer employs two lead staff assistants at its DIA
location. One individual is located in the maintenance building
and handles subrogation files, which includes obtaining acci-
dent reports and loading the information into the computer
system for use by headquarters. The other lead staff assistant is
located in the Dollar building, and handles the accounts payable
for the DIA location and coordinates that process through
headquarters. These two leads also attend the daily planning
meetings and report back to the other staff assistants. The lead
located in the Dollar building generally oversees the duties of
the other staff assistants. She will also order supplies. The
Employer prefers that lead staff assistants have some college
course work in accounting, and three to five years of experience
in data processing or bookkeeping is required. One lead staff
assistant works from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the other lead works
from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, 40 hours a
week. Lead staff assistants are paid between $11 and $16.50 an
hour and are not eligible for any sales incentive programs. The
lead staff assistant located in the Dollar building regularly per-
forms RSA work, and both of the staff assistants move cars to
the ready line when necessary.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2136
11. Courtesy bus driver
The Employer employs approximately 21 courtesy bus driv-
ers at its DIA location. The primary function of the courtesy
driver is to transport customers between the airport and rental
facility. The bus drivers follow a general circuit at the airport,
picking up at the east and west terminals of the airport. When
the bus arrives back at the rental lot, the drivers first drop off
customers at the Thrifty building, then at the Dollar building.
The drivers then they retrieve returning airport customers at the
Dollar building, return to the Thrifty building to pick up addi-
tional customers, and then proceed back to the airport. The
drivers have a script they recite to inform customers at the time
of pick-up about additional products, such as GPS or Pass 24,
that are available at the rental counter.
All drivers must have a valid CDL to operate the shuttles.
This position is scheduled 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and
most drivers work 40 hours a week. The bus drivers are paid
between $10 and $15 an hour, and may accept tips from cus-
tomers in lieu of an incentive program.
The record establishes that if the Employer has scheduled
more courtesy bus drivers than the available number of buses,
the extra drivers are not sent home, but are used as service
agents. The Employer also schedules the exit booth agent,
assistant mechanic, or lead service agent that possess CDLs to
drive shuttle buses to cover for absences and vacations.
The bus drivers interact with RSAs to the extent that they un-
load customer luggage and place it in the sales office, or if an
RSA asks a driver to wait for a specific customer. They will
also communicate with bus mechanics via two-way radio about
any issues they may be having with their bus.
12. Lead courtesy bus drivers
The Employer employs two lead courtesy bus drivers at its
DIA facility. The primary function of the lead courtesy bus
drivers is to maintain the flow of buses throughout the airport.
The lead drivers operate courtesy shuttles like the regular driv-
ers, but are responsible for communicating via two-way radio
with the other scheduled drivers to make sure that the spacing
between buses is consistent with timing required by the Em-
ployer with respect to customer pickup. At the end of their
shift, the lead drivers also document mechanical issues with the
buses on their respective shifts and provide that information to
the bus mechanic, the maintenance manager and general man-
ager. The lead bus drivers work on the same shifts as other
drivers, but are paid between $11 and $16.50 an hour. They
also may accept tips. Their interaction with other classifica-
tions is the same as for courtesy bus drivers.
13. Mechanics
The Employer employs three mechanics at its DIA facility.
Generally, mechanics inspect and repair fleet vehicles, perform-
ing preventive maintenance on vehicles. They also evaluate
and coordinate repairs under warranty and perform inspections
on new vehicles. The mechanics do not do heavy mechanical
work. If such work is required the vehicle is removed from the
fleet. The mechanics must supply their own tools. Mechanics
are required to have at least two Automotive Service Excel-
lence (ASE) certifications, and 3 years experience in H/VAC,
electrical repair, or general mechanics. Mechanics work 40
hours a week. Their shifts run between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., 7
days a week.
Mechanics are paid between $18 and $27 an hour and they
are eligible to participate in an incentive program. Mechanics
are paid $1 for each Preventative Maintenance (PM) they per-
form once they meet an overall PM percentage target for the
location. When mechanics submit warranty collections over
$2000 to headquarters in a month, they receive a percentage of
the warranties that they submitted for collection.
Mechanics may shuttle cars off premises to an auction. They
may also move cars from the service area if the return area is
full. Mechanics perform the bulk of their duties in the garage
area but they occasionally interact with return agents with re-
spect to which vehicle has what problems, and which types of
cars are under recall. Mechanics may interact with an exit gate
booth agent if a customer sees something wrong with their car
when they are leaving the premises. Service agents transport
vehicles to the maintenance area to be repaired or maintained.
14. Assistant mechanics
The Employer employs approximately 4 assistant mechanics
at its DIA location. The assistant mechanics perform preven-
tive maintenance on vehicles, assist the mechanics in repairing
vehicles, and assist the fleet agent with bringing new vehicles
into the fleet and preparing older vehicles for removal from the
fleet. Assistant mechanics must have vocational training or the
equivalent in automotive mechanics or a related field, and one
year automotive repair or related experience in the car rental
industry. The assistant mechanics work 40 hours a week and
are scheduled to work between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Assistant mechanics are paid between $10 and $15 an hour
and are eligible to participate in an incentive compensation
plan. Assistant mechanics must perform 175 preventive
maintenance (PM) measures per month in order to qualify for
an incentive. Once they hit that target, they are entitled to re-
ceive a cash payment for each PM they perform. Similar to the
mechanics, if they submit warranty collections over $2000 to
headquarters in a month, they receive a percentage of the war-
ranties that they submitted for collection. The assistant me-
chanics have similar contact and interchange with other classi-
fications as the mechanics.
15. Bus mechanic
The Employer employs two bus mechanics at its DIA facili-
ty. The bus mechanics work in the same building as the me-
chanics and assistant mechanics. Bus mechanics are responsi-
ble for repairing the fleet of shuttle buses. This includes per-
forming preventive maintenance on the buses, evaluating and
coordinating repairs under warranty, and performing inspec-
tions to ensure all buses meet Department of Transportation
regulations. Bus mechanics must have vocational training, or
the equivalent, in automotive mechanics or a related field, and
ASE certification in T4 and T5 or S4 and S5. They also must
have 3 years experience in H/VAC, electrical repair, or general
mechanics. Bus mechanics work 40 hours a week and are
scheduled to work between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Bus mechanics are paid an hourly rate that ranges from $20
to $30 an hour and are not eligible for any incentive compensa-
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2137
tion plans. The record reflects that the bus merchants com-
municate with courtesy bus drivers via two-way radio about
any issues with the fleet buses.
16. Building maintenance technician
The Employer employs one building maintenance technician
at its DIA facility. This individual is responsible for perform-
ing facility maintenance, ensuring that corporate property im-
age standards are met, performing preventive maintenance, and
identifying and correcting safety problems at the facility. This
employee performs minor repairs to the premises and will ar-
range for an outside contractor to perform larger tasks that are
beyond the technician’s expertise. Building technicians must
have a certification for mechanical/electrical engineering or
related fields and one to three years of related experience. The
building maintenance technician works Monday through Fri-
day, 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and his pay rate ranges from $10.50 to
$15.75 an hour.
The building maintenance technician will occasionally wash
cars or move cars to the ready line. The building maintenance
technician also assists mechanics with light repairs and oil
changes if the mechanics have more work than they can handle
to meet the vehicle needs. Finally, any employee who observes
a problem with the company premises may page the mainte-
nance technician and inform him of the problem.
17. Shuttlers
The Employer employs two shuttlers at its DIA facility. The
shuttlers are responsible for transporting rental vehicles around
the lot, to and from rental locations, vendors, and auctions. The
shuttlers also assist the service agents and fleet agent. Shuttlers
works 40 hours 5 days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Their pay
ranges from $7.28 to $10.92 an hour. Shuttlers move vehicles
all over the property, so they are in contact with various classi-
fications.
ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
A. Positions of the Parties
The Union seeks a unit consisting only of lead RSAs and
RSAs at the Employer’s DIA facility.14 While the parties agree

14 The Petitioner cites Fireman’s Fund Insurance, 173 NLRB 982
(1968), and LM Berry & Co., 198 NLRB 217 (1972), in support of its
contention that office clericals should be excluded from the RSA unit it
seeks because the staff assistants constitute a separate stand alone office
clerical unit. I find the facts in those cases differ from the facts present
in this matter because while those clericals had daily contact with sales
people, they had no interchange of work duties, had separate supervi-
sion, and had a bare minimum of customer contact. I find that the
record evidence establishes that the staff assistants are more akin to
plant clericals than office clericals, and that it is appropriate to include
them in the bargaining unit on the basis that the staff assistants’ “prin-
cipal functions and duties relate to the production process, as distin-
guished from general office operations.” See Caesars Tahoe, 337
NLRB 1096 (2002), and the cases cited therein. In this regard, there is
a significant amount of interchange between the staff assistants and
RSAs. Moreover, while the evidence shows that several of the staff
assistants engage in some duties which might be characterized as “of-
fice clerical” such as running routine reports, ordering supplies, and
keeping track of accounts payable, a substantial portion of their duties
involve direct interaction with the same customers served by the RSAs,
that the lead RSAs and RSAs should be included in any unit
found appropriate, the Employer contends that because of the
functional integration of its DIA airport operations, the smallest
appropriate unit must be a wall-to-wall unit consisting of the
agreed-upon lead RSAs and RSAs, as well as lead service
agents, service agents, return agents, lot agents, fleet agents,
lead staff assistants, staff assistants, lead courtesy bus drivers,
courtesy bus drivers, mechanics, assistant mechanics, bus me-
chanics, building maintenance technician, exit gate booth
agents, fleet agent, and shuttlers.
At the close of the hearing, the Petitioner took the position
that if an election is directed in a unit larger than the RSA unit
it is seeking, it would consider whether it wished to proceed to
an election depending on the composition of that unit. The
Petitioner, however, expressly declined to proceed to an elec-
tion in the wall-to-wall unit urged by the Employer.
B. General Legal Principles
The Petitioner correctly asserts that the Board has long held
that a unit need not be the “most” appropriate or “ultimate”
appropriate unit, but must merely be “an” appropriate unit.
Overnite Transportation Co., 322 NLRB 723 (1996). In Over-
nite, the Board stated:

The Board’s procedure for determining an appropriate unit
under Section 9(b) is to examine first the petitioned-for unit.
If that unit is appropriate, then the inquiry into the appropriate
unit ends. If the petitioned-for unit is not appropriate, the
Board may examine the alternative units suggested by the par-
ties and also has discretion to select an appropriate unit that is
different from the alternative proposals of the parties. [Cita-
tions omitted.]15

Based on my determination that a unit consisting only of
RSAs and lead RSAs is not appropriate, I must make a deter-
mination as to the smallest appropriate unit in this case. Over-
nite Transportation makes clear that Section 9(b) of the Act
authorizes units composed of “subdivisions” of a “plant,” and
that “the . . . employees of an employer may be grouped togeth-
er for purposes of collective bargaining in more than one ap-
propriate unit.” Id. at 723. As stated by the Board in The Boe-
ing Co., 337 NLRB 152, 153 (2001): “The Board generally
attempts to select a unit that is the smallest appropriate unit
encompassing the petitioned-for employee classifications.” See
also, e.g., Bartlett Collins Co., 334 NLRB 484 (2001), and
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 163 NLRB 677
(1967).
As noted by the Petitioner, there are a number of cases in
which the Board has made unit determinations in the vehicle
rental industry, but has not established any particular presump-
tively appropriate units. Rather, the Board has employed tradi-
tional community of interest analysis and has determined that

lot agents, return agents and bus drivers. As noted, the staff assistants
regularly function as RSAs, and are the primary point of contact with
customers regarding the Employer’s extensive lost and found depart-
ment.
15 The Petitioner did not suggest any alternative units for me to con-
sider in the event I found that the RSA unit was not an appropriate unit.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2138
various combinations of employees constitute appropriate units.
See, e.g., Avis Rent-A-Car System, Inc., 132 NLRB 1136
(1961) (unit including garagemen, mechanics, mechanics help-
ers, lotmen, lubrication men, tiremen, and gasmen, but exclud-
ing rental agents found appropriate); Budget Rent-A-Car of
New Orleans, Inc., 220 NLRB 1264 (1975) (appropriate unit
included only service representatives whose duties related to
vehicle movement, washing, cleaning, inspection for damage,
refueling, and obtaining odometer readings, and who had little
customer contact, and excluded rental agents who primarily had
customer contact); Alamo Rent-A-Car, 330 NLRB 897 (2000)
(Board found multi-facility unit including service agents, shut-
tlers, PDI/fleet control employees, ready line agents, PSR’s,
and parts clerk and inventory clerk, excluding rental agents,
administrative clerks, cashiers, mechanics, and mechanics help-
ers to be appropriate); Budget Rent A Car Systems, Inc., 337
NLRB 884 (2002) (Board found separate petitioned-for units
consisting of customer service coordinators, service agents, and
mechanics at one location and separate unit of customer service
coordinators and service agents at another location inappropri-
ate based on functional integration between all five of the em-
ployer’s Detroit area facilities and remanded case to the Re-
gional Director); United Rentals, Inc., 341 NLRB 540 (2004)
(Board reversed Regional Director’s finding that the petitioned-
for unit of drivers, yard employees, and mechanics was appro-
priate and directed an election in wall-to-wall based on undis-
puted evidence of overlapping duties and interchange between
the excluded employees and the petitioned-for employees, as
well as common terms and conditions of employment).
In reaching its unit composition determinations in the above
line of vehicle rental company cases, the Board employed its
community of interest analysis and analyzed various factors
including bargaining history, work contacts among the several
groups of employees, extent of interaction and interchange of
employees, differences in skills, or type of work required, cen-
tralization of management and supervision, functional integra-
tion of the employer’s operation and geographic locations. See,
e.g., Overnite Transportation, supra at 724, and the cases cited
immediately above. None of the vehicle rental cases cited
above involved unit determinations in operations using the
CHOICE type of business model present in this matter, which
appears to involve an increase in interaction between the vari-
ous classifications of employees at issue.
C. Unit Determination
Under the circumstances presented, I conclude that the
smallest appropriate unit of the employees is a wall-to-wall unit
consisting of all of the hourly employees employed at the Em-
ployer’s DIA airport location. Specifically, I find that the unit
proposed by the Petitioner consisting solely of RSAs and lead
RSAs is not an appropriate unit because of the overwhelming
community of interest between the RSAs, lead RSAs, lead ser-
vice agents, service agents, return agents, lot agents, fleet
agents, lead staff assistants, staff assistants, lead courtesy bus
drivers, courtesy bus drivers, mechanics, assistant mechanics,
bus mechanics, building maintenance technician, exit gate
booth agents, fleet agent, and shuttlers. Accordingly, the
smallest appropriate unit must also include all of these classifi-
cations.
I base this determination primarily on my finding that the
hourly employees enjoy identical benefits, and have very simi-
lar identical terms and conditions of employment, share com-
mon supervision at the lowest level on evenings, nights, and
weekends, have significant daily interaction, and regular inter-
change. The RSAs also have significant overlap of duties with
the lot agents and return agents, and upsell the same products as
the exit gate booth agents. In United Rentals, Inc., supra at
540, the Board based its decision on strong and undisputed
evidence of common terms and conditions of employment,
overlapping duties and interchange between the excluded em-
ployees and the petitioned-for employees, finding that those
factors mandated a determination that a wall-to-wall unit was
the only appropriate unit. The Board found it particularly sig-
nificant that the employees “all ‘pitch in’ and perform the func-
tions of different classifications when necessary.” Id. at 541.
Much like in United Rentals, the record evidence establishes
that due to the functional integration of the Employer’s opera-
tions because of the demand for flexibility and efficiency relat-
ed to the CHOICE business model, the duties of all classifica-
tions overlap with at other classifications resulting in signifi-
cant amounts of interaction, interchange. and overlap in job
duties during the daily operation of the facility.
1. Hourly employees have identical terms and conditions
of employment
The record establishes that all hourly employees at the DIA
facility are subject to identical benefits and employment poli-
cies, and wear similar uniforms. All employees share the same
breakrooms and everyone swipes their time cards on the same
Kronos time system at one of three time clocks located on the
property.
The hourly employees also have similar wage ranges. In this
regard, while the lowest paid classification of shuttlers have
wage rates which range from $7.28 to $10.92 an hour and the
highest paid mechanic classification wages range from $20 to
$30 an hour, the vast majority of employees, including RSAs,
lot agents, return agents and staff assistants, fall somewhere in
the middle with wages ranging between $9 and $16.50 an
hour.16
The Petitioner argues that the incentive program for the
RSAs warrants a finding that they have sufficiently distinct
terms and conditions of employment warranting a finding that
they constitute a separate bargaining unit. While the RSAs do
participate in a wage incentive program unique to their posi-
tion, six other classifications of employees at the Employer’s
facility also participate in the various incentive compensation

16 While there is a significant difference between the mechanics’
high end potential wage rates and the rates of other employees, I find
that this factor standing alone does not require me to exclude the me-
chanics from the bargaining unit. In this regard, the record is silent as
to the actual wage rates of the mechanics and bus mechanics. Moreo-
ver, the Board regularly includes higher paid maintenance employees in
bargaining units with lower paid sales or production employees.
DTG OPERATIONS, INC. 2139
plans described above.17 Moreover, the RSAs, exit booth gate
agents, return agents and lot agents all sell some combination of
pre-paid fuel, toll passes, vehicle upgrades, and insurance.
Finally, while the courtesy bus drivers do not receive incentive
pay through the Employer, they do collect tips. They are also
responsible for “advertising” the availability of the incentivized
products to customers while in route to the rental lot.
2. Common supervision
As noted above, the Employer does not have departmental
lines of daily supervision. Rather, with the exception of the
maintenance employees on the day shift, the hourly employees
report to whichever station and operation managers are sched-
uled on their shift. This means that employees scheduled on
evening, night, and weekend shifts may not see the operations
manager to whom they report for scheduling and payroll pur-
poses. Even day shift hourly employees report the scheduled
station manager during daily meetings because these station
managers are responsible for coordinating the flow of vehicles
and directing employees to perform work outside their normal
duties. Thus, the station managers are the managers with
whom employees address any issue arising during the shift.
For example, if there is a high demand for SUVs on a given
shift, the station manager on duty directs the service agents and
mechanics to get those vehicles ready for rental before other
models of vehicle are serviced, and may reassign employees
from other classifications to help expedite the process. The
record evidence also shows that employees are free to discuss
any work issues with any manager, including General Manager
Klier.
3. Daily interaction
The record establishes that there is a significant amount of
daily interaction between the majority of classifications at the
DIA location. Of particular significance is the interaction be-
tween the RSAs, staff assistants, return agents, lot agents and
bus drivers outlined above. In this regard, while The RSAs
primarily work behind the rental counter and the lot agents and
service agents work outside, they are in contact with respect to
what vehicles are available for rental and concerning when the
RSAs will cover the lot and return agents for breaks. RSAs are
also contacted by return agents when customers request a larger
discount than the return agent has authority to grant.
Similarly, service agents regularly interact with return
agents, mechanics and lot agents, shuttlers, and the fleet em-
ployee. Fleet agents regularly interact with mechanics and
assistant mechanics to discuss which cars need what repairs and
which cars need to be grounded. Mechanics and assistant me-

17 These seven include service agents, lot agents, return agents, exit
gate booth agents, mechanics, and assistant mechanics.
chanics also interact with exit booth agents if there is some-
thing wrong with a customer’s vehicle when exiting the com-
pany premises. The building maintenance technician has regu-
lar contact with any employee who reports a problems on the
premises that needs to be repaired. Finally, the bus drivers are
in contact by two-way radio with the bus mechanics with re-
spect to any problems they may have with their vehicles, and
interact with return agents regarding customers awaiting trans-
portation to the airport.
4. Regular interchange
The most significant factor warranting a finding that the
wall-to-wall unit is the only appropriate unit herein is the ex-
tensive amount of interchange between classifications of em-
ployees. In fact, the record establishes that there is evidence of
actual temporary interchange between each classification and at
least one other classification, except for the two bus drivers.
The RSAs actually have such interchange on a daily basis with
the lot agents, return agents, and staff assistants. Specifically,
the day shift RSAs cover the breaks of the lot agents and return
agents on a daily basis. During the evening and night shifts,
RSAs perform all of the duties of the lot and return agents be-
cause there are no scheduled lot and return agents. Additional-
ly, the staff assistants are regularly called upon to work at the
rental sales counters whenever customer demands warrant call-
ing them to assist.
With regard to interchange of other classifications of em-
ployees, the record establishes that one exit gate booth agent,
one assistant mechanic, and one return agent possess CDLs and
fill in as bus drivers to cover vacations and absences. Finally,
during periods of high demand, mechanics and assistant me-
chanics perform service agent functions, and staff assistants
help shuttle vehicles around the lot when necessary.
Conclusion
Based on the forgoing and the record as a whole, I find that
the smallest appropriate unit must include all hourly employees
employed at the Employer’s DIA airport location because they
share an overwhelming community of interest based on the
functional integration of the Employer’s operations.
ORDER
At the hearing, the Petitioner declined to proceed to an elec-
tion in the event it was determined that the smallest appropriate
unit is the wall-to-wall unit proposed by the Employer. The
Petitioner did state that it may be willing to proceed to an elec-
tion in a smaller unit, depending on how such a unit was de-
fined. Based on my finding for the reasons set forth above, that
the smallest appropriate unit is a wall-to-wall unit:
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein is dismissed.