Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace

SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF PEACE 797 Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace' and Retail Clerks Lo- cal No. 240, Chartered by Retail Clerks Interna- tional Association, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 19-RC-7252 - May 5, 1975 DECISION ON REVIEW AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act,,as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Henrik M. Sortun of the National Labor Relations Board. On November 21, 1974, the Acting Regional Director for Region 19 is- sued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above- entitled proceeding, in which he found that the Em- ployer's business office clerical employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain- ing within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act. Thereafter, the Employer, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, filed a request for review of the decision of the Acting Regional Direc- tor on the ground that he erred in directing an election in a unit of business office clericals. On January 16, 1975, the Board, having determined that this and a number of other cases in the health care industry presented issues of importance in the adminis- tration of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, scheduled oral argument in several of the cases, including this one, as well as oral argument on the general question of the composition of appropriate bargaining units in the health care industry. Member Kennedy dissented from the grant of oral argument. Oral arguments were heard on January 27, 1975, Briefs amici curiae were filed by interested parties and have been duly considered by the Board. By telegraphic order dated February 4, 1975, the Board granted the Employer's request for review and stayed the election pending decision on review. The Board has considered the entire record in this case, with respect to the issues under review, including the brief and statement on review and the amici briefs, and makes the following findings: The Employer, a nonprofit Washington corporation, operates several schools, a retirement center, a provin- cial convent, and several health care facilities, includ- ing a nonprofit hospital in Bellingham, Washington, known as St. Joseph Hospital. The employees in the I Referred to by the Employer in correspondence with the Board subse- quent to the hearing at St Joseph Hospital However, at the hearing the caption was amended from St Joseph Hospital to Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, as reflected above, pursuant to a statement on the record by the Employer's counsel Accordingly, we do not believe it appropriate to grant the Employer's subsequent, ex parte requests for further caption change unit sought herein work at St. Joseph Hospital, which provides 103 beds for in-patients and has approxi- mately 275 employees, including approximately 100 registered nurses or licensed practical nurses currently represented by two labor organizations other than the Petitioner, and approximately 140 employees, exclud- ing supervisors, currently unrepresented. The Petitioner sought to represent a unit consisting of all business office employees, medical records em- ployees, and ward clerks at St. Joseph Hospital, but is willing to participate in an election involving any less comprehensive unit found appropriate. The Employer originally contended that the only appropriate unit was a hospitalwide unit including all unrepresented clerical and nonclerical employees at St. Joseph Hospital. The Acting Regional Director found appropriate a unit of business office clerical employees only, includ- ing the switchboard operators, admitting employees, patient billing employees, credit department em- ployees, accounts payable clerks, business office cash- iers, and electronic data processing (EDP) coordina- tors. The Acting Regional Director based this finding, on grounds, inter alia, that employees in the aforemen- tioned classifications are primarily engaged in typical office clerical duties, are subject to some degree of com- mon supervision apparently not shared by any other employees in the hospital, and spend most or all of their working time in the business office area. The Acting Regional Director excluded from the unit the medical records employees and the ward clerks. The Employer bases its request for review on the absence of Board precedent on the issue of appropriate bargaining units in nonprofit hospitals and on the need for reconsideration of the policy enunciated by the Act- ing Regional Director regarding the separation of cleri- cal and nonclerical employees in nonprofit hospitals. Arguing that the petitioned-for unit is too small and would result in severe fragmentation of units in the health care industry, the Employer attacks the Acting Regional Director's carving out an even smaller unit of business office employees and asserts that there is no basis for excluding medical records employees and ward clerks. The Board has considered the entire record with respect to the issues on review2 and has carefully 2 The Employer at the hearing reserved its position as to the appropriate- ness of the single-plant unit as opposed to a multiplant unit comprised of all or several of the Employer 's health care facilities. However, the Employer's request for review does not challenge the Acting Regional Director's finding that the single hospital unit is appropriate. No party has requested review of the Acting Regional Director's exclu- sion of pharmacy and radiology clerks, the purchasing assistant, diet aides, the personnel department's part-time secretary, and the personnel depart- ment's part-time health nurse; we adopt the Acting Regional Director's findings as to these individuals. Likewise, as the Employer has not requested review of the Acting Regional Director's determinations concerning the supervisory status of certain individuals, we adopt his conclusions excluding from the unit as supervisors the business office manager and the patient (Continued) 217 NLRB No. 135 798 _, DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD weighed the considerations concerning the units appro- priate in the health care industry and the necessity of preventing the proliferation of units therein. We agree with the Acting Regional Director and adopt his con- clusions. Like him, and for the reasons set forth in greater detail in Mercy Hospitals, we find that a sepa- rate unit of business office clerical employees in the health care industry is appropriate.' We further agree with the Acting Regional Direc- tor's exclusion of the medical records employees and ward clerks. Although the employees engage in clerical functions, they work with different people, on different types of records, and for different immediate objectives. Further, they are not located in the central business office complex, do not share common supervision with the business office employees, and do not appear to share close working relationships sufficient to establish a significant community of interest with the business office clerical employees. Rather, the record reveals that the medical records employees construct medical records to assist physi- cians, with whom they work closely, in caring for pa- tients. Those employees are normally hired based on certain nonclerical qualifications, primarily association with medical terminology obtained through schooling or experience. Moreover, only one of the three medical record areas is located near the central business office; even the medical records employees in that office are gone from the area about half of the time. Similarly, the ward clerks spend approximately 90 to 95 percent of their time at or near the nursing stations in the patient care areas and are supervised by nursing personnel, having little personal contact with the business office employees. In these circumstances, we have determined that the medical records employees and the ward clerks do not share a community of interest with the business office clerical employees, but rather with a broader unit of service and maintenance employees! Accordingly, we shall direct an election in the fol- lowing unit of employees which we find to be appropri- ate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All full-time and regular part-time business of- fice clerical employees, including switchboard op- erators, admitting employees, patient billing em- ployees, credit department employees, accounts payable clerks, business office cashiers, and ADP coordinators employed by the Employer in the Employer's central business office area at St. Jo- seph Hospital in Bellingham, Washington, but ex- eluding all other employees, confidential em- ployees, professional employees, and guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omit- ted from publication.] accounts director, and allowing the "communications supervisor" and the admitting office registrar to vote subject to challenge 3 Mercy Hospitals of Sacramento, Inc, 217 NLRB 765 (1975). See also St Catherine's Hospital of Dominican Sisters of Kenosha, Wis., 217 NLRB 787 (1975) 4, St Catherine's Hospital, supra See also North Dade Hospital, Inc., etc, 210 NLRB 588 (1974); The Swanholm, an operation of The Martin Luther Foundation, Inc, 186 NLRB 45, 46-47 (1970)