Damon Medical Center

DAMON MEDICAL CENTER Center For Laboratory Medicine, Inc. d/b/a Damon Medical Center and Industrial Workers Union Local 837, affiliated with International Brother- hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Petitioner. Case 4-RC- 12704 January 24, 1978 DECISION AND ORDER DISMISSING PETITION BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND PENELLO Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hear- ing was held before Hearing Officer William Josem on June 21, 1977, and continued before Hearing Officer Phyllis Allen on July 12, 1977. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula- tions and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, the case was transferred to the Board for decision. Thereafter, the Employer filed a brief in support of its unit position.l Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officers' rulings made at the hearing and finds them free from prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby affirmed. 1. The Center for Laboratory Medicine, Inc., is a Pennsylvania corporation engaged in testing human specimens at its Trevose, Pennsylvania, facility. During the 12 months immediately prior to the date of the hearing the Employer sold or shipped services valued in excess of $50,000 directly to points located outside of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We find that Damon Medical Center is an employ- er within the meaning of Section 2(2) of the Act and that it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. Petitioner is a labor organization and claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. I The Employer's bnef was filed in the instant case and in connection with the proceedings in Case I -RC- 15120 in which a different labor organization petitioned for a similar unit limited to drivers at one of the Employer's laboratories located in another State. The Employer also moved the Board to consolidate the two proceedings (the Employer's request for review of the Regional Director's Decision and Direction of Election in Case I-RC-15120 having been granted by the Board by telegraphic order dated June 28, 1977). Inasmuch as a hearing has been held and a full record developed independently in each of these proceedings, and absent any showing why these proceedings should now be consolidated, the Employer's motion is hereby denied. I There are approximately 35 employees in the unit requested by the Petitioner and 350 employees in the unit which the Employer contends is 234 NLRB No. 56 3. A question concerning commerce exists con- cerning the representation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(cXl) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. Petitioner seeks a unit of all drivers employed at the Employer's Trevose, Pennsylvania, laboratory excluding any other drivers employed by the Em- ployer at any other facility or at any other location. The Employer contends that the appropriate unit would include all technicians, medical technologists, laboratory aides, laboratory assistants, cytotechnolo- gists, phlebotomists, customer relations employees, maintenance employees, accession employees, data point employees, telex operators, stockroom employ- ees, plant clericals, data processing employees, dis- patchers, drivers, and lead drivers at the Trevose laboratory, and at the area served by the Trevose laboratory on a daily basis. 2 The Employer also urged at the hearing and in its brief to the Board that it is a health care institution within the meaning of the 1974 health care amendments and hence that any unit determination must be made in light of the congressional admonition against undue prolifera- tion of bargaining units in the health care industry.3 The Employer's main laboratory is located in Trevose, Pennsylvania, and operates on a 24-hour- per-day, 7-day-per-week basis. In addition to the main laboratory at Trevose, the Employer operates six bleeding stations-one at the main laboratory and the remaining five at separate locations. The Employer serves hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and private doctors by examining human medical specimens and interpreting test results. In addition to the 35 drivers employed at the Trevose facility, the Employer also employs nine housecall technicians who visit bedridden patients in nursing homes and private homes to take specimens. Specimens are transported to the main laboratory either by drivers who have assigned routes or by the housecall technicians. Both the drivers and the housecall technicians drive the same type of compa- ny car. Specimens brought to the laboratory are either delivered directly to the appropriate laboratory department or taken to the accessioning room where they are logged in by the driver and preprocessed for appropriate. In addition to the drivers assigned to the main laboratory and included in the unit sought by the Petitioner it appears from the record that there are full- and part-time drivers assigned to other locations to pick up and deliver specimens from other areas. 3 We are not persuaded by this contention. As the legislative history of the health care amendments makes clear, the special provisions of the Act applicable to health care institutions relate to "patient care situations" and not to "purely administrative health care connected facilities." See 120 Cong. Rec. H4594 (daily ed. May 30, 1974); 120 Cong. Rec. S73 10 (daily ed. May 7, 1974). We conclude that since testing human medical specimens does not involve patient care, the Employer is not a health care institution within the meaning of the amendments. See Damon Medical Laboratory, Inc. 234 NLRB 333 (1977). 387 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD testing by employees classified as accessioners. When specimens are delivered directly to a laboratory department the driver and the laboratory technician working in that department are jointly responsible for unpacking the specimens. After a specimen is tested the results may be telexed, telephoned, or sent by data point directly to the hospital or other customer. In less pressing cases, test results are delivered by a driver to the customers on his assigned route. In addition to collecting specimens and delivering test results, drivers also deliver medical supplies used by customers for taking blood and other specimens. Each morning drivers go to the laboratory stockroom where they pick up such supplies. Drivers also have occasion to enter the customer service area of the laboratory to check on customer orders for supplies and to discuss customer complaints or problems with customer service personnel. Drivers are under the overall supervision of the traffic and materials manager who also supervises phlebotomists, housecall technicians, and stockroom employees. Drivers enjoy the same fringe benefits as other employees including life insurance, vacation pay, pension plan, sick leave, and medical plan. All employees have access to an employee cafeteria and to an employee lounge. The same evaluation form is used for all employees. All nonexempt employees, including drivers, are paid on an hourly basis and on the same payroll. All employees assigned to the Trevose laboratory punch the same timeclock. No special training or educational background is re- quired for employment as a driver or for several other employee classifications such as phlebotomist, stockroom employees, laboratory aid, or accessioner. Phlebotomists and stockroom employees, as well as drivers, are required to have valid drivers' licenses. The Employer posts all nonexempt vacancies and all employees are allowed to bid on vacancies. At least 4 See Mc-Mor-Hon Trucking Co., Inc., 166 NLRB 700 (1967), and cases cited therein. 5 Compare, Damon Medical Laboratory, Inc., supra. There a labor organization petitioned for a unit limited to drivers at one of the employer's four employees currently working as drivers began their employment in other classifications. The Board has found that a unit of drivers may be an appropriate unit for collective bargaining when it is established that the drivers comprise a distinct and homogeneous group who share a community of interest sufficiently different from that of other employees. 4 Consideration of all of the relevant factors in the instant proceeding demonstrates, how- ever, that the drivers in issue here enjoy no such distinct community of interest as to warrant their separate representation.5 Thus the record indicates that although drivers spend most of their time away from the main laboratory, they have frequent and varied work contacts with other classifications of employees including accessioners, laboratory assis- tants, stockroom employees, and customer service personnel. Not only do drivers share common benefits and conditions of employment with other laboratory employees but drivers are also grouped under the same supervision as several other classifi- cations of employees. Furthermore, there is evidence of substantial overlap of job functions and responsi- bilities between drivers and other classifications of employees. For example, housecall technicians col- lect specimens and return them to the laboratory using company cars; laboratory employees other than drivers regularly deliver test results to custom- ers; and stockroom employees using company vehi- cles regularly deliver medical supplies. In light of these findings, and inasmuch as the Petitioner at the hearing disclaimed interest in representing drivers in any unit other than the one petitioned for, we shall order that the petition be dismissed. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. laboratories located in Massachusetts. On review of the Regional Director's Decision and Direction of Election finding such a unit appropriate for collective bargaining, the Board ordered the petition dismissed. 388