WATONWAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 17, 2012

18-WH-076505 (N.L.R.B. May. 17, 2012)

St. James, MN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
WATONWAN COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
Employer
and Case 18-WH-076505
LAW ENFORCEMENT LABOR SERVICES, INC.
Petitioner
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVE AS BONA FIDE
UNDER SECTION 7(B) OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938
On March 13, 2012, Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc. filed with the
Regional Director for Region 18 of the National Labor Relations Board a request for
certification of representative as bona fide under Section 7(b) of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 207(b).
On March 21, 2012, the Regional Director served on the parties an Order to
Show Cause why the Board should not grant the request. No response was filed. As
the Region’s investigation revealed that the Petitioner is the recognized collective-
bargaining representative of the unit employees,1 the Regional Director recommended
to the Board that the requested certification be issued.2

1 The parties are signatory to a collective-bargaining agreement effective from
January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2014.
2 On April 4, 2011, in Case 18-WH-21, the Board certified Watonwan County
Dispatchers (International Association of Firefighters – 911 Dispatcher Local #3928)
as a bona fide representative of the Employer’s 911 dispatchers under Section 7(b)
of the Fair Labor Standards Act. However, on December 22, 2011, the Minnesota
Professional Fire Fighters Association notified the State of Minnesota Bureau of
Mediation Services that it was releasing Watonwan County Dispatchers, IAFF Local
#3928, as members of its association, effective immediately. Thereafter, on
December 28, 2011, the State of Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services issued a
Unit Clarification Order in response to the communication from the Minnesota
Professional Fire Fighters Association and a petition jointly filed by the Employer
2
No party having shown cause why the requested certification should not be
issued, the National Labor Relations Board hereby certifies that Law Enforcement Labor
Services, Inc. is a bona fide representative, for purposes of Section 7(b) of the FLSA, of
the employees employed in the Watonwan County Sheriff’s Department in the following
unit:3
All non-licensed essential employees in the Watonwan County Sheriff’s
Department bargaining unit as identified by the Bureau of Mediation
Services, certification of Exclusive Representative dated April 13, 1999,
case 99-PCE-1119, excluding supervisory, confidential and essential
licensed employees, and Unit Clarification Order dated December 28,
2011, BMS Case No. 12PCL0564.
Dated, Washington, D.C., May 17, 2012
By direction of the Board:
Lester A. Heltzer
__________________________
Executive Secretary

and the Petitioner, which requested the accretion of the 911 dispatchers into an
existing unit of non-licensed essential employees of the Sheriff’s Department,
currently represented by the Petitioner. Accordingly, the State of Minnesota Bureau
of Mediation Services found that the Fire Fighters Union is no longer the exclusive
representative of the 911 dispatchers of Watonwan County, and that the bargaining
unit of non-licensed essential employees of the Sheriff’s Department is amended to
include the 911 dispatchers.
3 A certificate of representative as bona fide for purposes of the FLSA does not
necessarily establish the right of the organization so certified to be recognized as
the exclusive bargaining representative of employees within a particular bargaining
unit under the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act. See County of
Alameda, 322 NLRB 614 (1996).