Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, Inc.

GNADEN HUETTEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital , Inc. and District 1199P, National Union of Hospital & Health Care Employees, RWDSU, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Cases 4-RC-11177, 4-RC-11178, 4-RC-11179, and 4- RC-11180 July 17, 1975 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND PENELLO Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a consol- idated hearing was held on various days during Sep- tember, October, November, and December 1974 be- fore Hearing Officer Joan F. Homer at Jim Thorpe and Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section 102.67 of the National La- bor Relations Board Rules and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, the case was transferred to the Board for decision. Briefs have been filed on behalf of both parties. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Hearing Officer made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the pur- pose of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The labor organization involved claims to rep- resent certain employees of the Employer. The Petitioner seeks to represent in four separate units the registered nurses, the licensed practical nurses, the service and maintenance employees, and the clerical employees at this nonprofit hospital. While it contends that a fifth separate unit consisting of technical and professional employees is also ap- propriate, the Petitioner has not petitioned for and does not seek to represent this group of employees. The Employer takes the position that there are only two appropriate units, one consisting of the reg- istered nurses and all professional employees, and another unit consisting of all nonprofessional em- ployees. The parties are not in agreement regarding the eligibility and/or unit placement of several cate- gories of employees. 235 The Appropriate Units The Petitioner contends that a separate unit of reg- istered nurses excluding all other professional em- ployees is appropriate. The Employer contends that all of the professional employees of the hospital and nursing home should be in one unit. In Mercy Hospitals of Sacramento, Inc., 217 NLRB No. 131 (1975), we found that registered nurses evi- dence a greater degree of separateness than that pos- sessed by other employees in view of their peculiar role and responsibilities in the health care industry. Inasmuch as the registered nurses herein are sought as a separate unit, we find that, if they desire, they are entitled to separate representation.' The Employer contends that the head nurses and the charge nurses in the nut sing service are supervi- sors under the Act. The Petitioner, on the other hand, contends that they are "employees" and should be placed in the unit. The record reveals the following. There are 99 registered nurses in the nursing ser- vice. Approximately I1 of them are designated head nurses and approximately 27 are designated charge nurses. In addition, the nursing service include 48 LPN's, 58 nursing aides, 13 orderlies, and 6 floor clerks. Under the director of patient care services, there are shift supervisors 2 on each of the three shifts that the hospital operates. There are head nurses assigned to the various wings and floors of the hospital during the day shift and there are charge nurses with parallel authority on the afternoon and evening shifts. The head nurses spend about 10 percent of their time performing staff RN duties,' and the charge nurses spend about 20 percent of their time perform- ing RN duties. Both head and charge nurses spend their remaining time performing administrative and supervisory functions. The head and charge nurses have the authority to effectively recommend that others be disciplined and that personnel be transfer- red. Head and charge nurses are responsible for the work assignments of other RN's, the LPN's, floor clerks, aides, and orderlies. They have the authority 1 The record supports the Employer 's contention that the degreed social worker, the mental health II employees, and the degreed accountant are professional employees within the meaning of the Act However, the Union does not seek to represent these employees in a separate unit and we will not include them as a part of the registered nurses unit Since the record does not show that the registered nurses who have had courses in anesthesia are supervisors, we shall include them in the nurses unit The parties stipulated that all except the record shift supervisor, who sometimes performs the duties of a charge nurse , are supervisors as defined by the Act 3 There are, however, three head nurses who perform no staff duties but spend their entire shift performing administrative and supervisory duties Inasmuch as the record indicates they are supervisors , it Is not necessary to determine their unit placement 219 NLRB No. 79 236 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD to grant time off to employees as well as to schedule vacations. The head and charge nurses are responsi- ble for the training of newly assigned aides and or- derlies and are required to evaluate the performance of these employees as well as the performance of other RN's. Although only the shift supervisor has the authori- ty to move personnel from one floor to another, the recommendations of the head or charge nurse for ad- ditional staff on a particular shift are generally fol- lowed by the shift supervisor. In addition to schedul- ing days off, vacations, holidays, and workloads, the head and charge nurses make recommendations on transfer requests which are given considerable weight by the director of patient services. Head and charge nurses attend management train- ing meetings which are not open to other staff regis- tered nurses and at which personnel and administra- tive policies are viewed and discussed. Head nurses receive an additional 20 cents per hour for perform- ing head nurse duties and charge nurses receive an extra 10 cents per hour for performing charge nurse duties. While we are mindful of the fact that the head and charge nurses as health care professionals exercise professional judgment incidental to the treatment of patients, the record herein shows that they possess the traditional indicia of supervisory status. Thus, they effectively recommend the transfer and disci- pline of personnel and responsibly direct the work of other staff nurses and personnel. They grant time off, schedule vacations, and evaluate the performance of other nurses and employees. On the basis of the foregoing we are of the view that head nurses and charge nurses are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Accordingly, we shall exclude them from the unit of registered nurses. The Petitioner also requested a separate unit con- sisting solely of LPN's and would exclude all other employee categories from that unit. The Employer contends the evidence does not warrant finding that the proposed LPN unit is an appropriate one. In St. Catherine's Hospital of Dominican Sisters of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Inc., 217 NLRB No. 133 (1975), we stated that the legislative history of the recent amendments to the Act weighs against our finding appropriate a separate unit of licensed practical nurs- es. Thus we seek to avoid the undue proliferation of bargaining units which Congress intended the Board to avoid by finding in_ nonprofit hospital cases, as in other Board cases, that an appropriate unit may con- sist of employees who do not reach the strict require- ments of the term professional employee, but whose work may be described as of a technical nature. Such work involving the use of independent judgment re- quires the exercise of specialized training usually ac- quired in college or technical schools or through spe- cial courses and, in hospital cases, is often, though not necessarily, evidenced by fulfillment of certifica- tion, licensing, and registration requirements, and the actual achievement of such certification, license, or registration. The licensed practical nurses in this case are technical employees and belong in such a unit along with the other employees who may be defined as "technical" employees within the meaning of the Act. A careful review of the record also demonstrates that the lab technologist and the licensed physical therapist fall within the classification of technical employees. However, the Petitioner takes the posi- tion that it does not seek to represent these other employees defined as technical employees. Since a unit consisting only of licensed practical nurses is in- appropriate, we shall not direct an election in this technical unit. The Petitioner also seeks a separate unit of service and maintenance employees. The Petitioner proposes that this unit include nurses aides, orderlies, house- keeping employees, maintenance employees, phar- macy aides, and purchasing department employees. For the reasons stated in Newington Children's Hospi- tal, 217 NLRB No. 134 (1975), we find that a unit of service and maintenance employees is an appropriate one. We have carefully examined the record herein and conclude that in addition to the above-men- tioned employees, the following employees also be- long in the service and maintenance unit: all medical record clerical employees, the laboratory secretary, the physical therapy aides, the pharmacy assistants, and the recovery room employees 4 We shall also, however, as we did in Newington, include in the ser- vice and maintenance unit all of the clerical employ- ees who are not business office clerical employees. The final requested unit is for one consisting of all clerical employees. Since we have found that all cleri- cal employees other than the business office clericals belong in the service and maintenance unit, the re- maining question is the appropriateness of a separate unit of business office clericals. For the reasons stat- ed in Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, 217 NLRB No. 135 (1975), we answer that question in the affirma- tive. Accordingly, we shall direct an election in a unit consisting of-the Employer's business office clerical employees.5 Accordingly, based upon the foregoing, we shall 4 We shall note the inhalation therapists under challenge because ,we find the record inadequate to enable us to determine whether they are technical or nontechnical employees. S The hospital employs an accountant who has no degree. The present record does not, however, provide us with sufficient evidence to determine his professional status. Accordingly, we shall permit him to vote subject to challenge in the business office clerical unit. GNADEN HUETTEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 237 direct elections among employees in the following units which we find appropriate for collective-bar- gaining purposes within the meaning of Section 9(c) of the Act. Unit A: All registered nurses employed at Gna- den Huetten Memorial Hospital , Inc., at Lehighton, Pennsylvania, excluding all head and charge nurses, all other employees, guards, and supervisors as de- fined in the Act. Unit B: All full-time and part-time service and maintenance employees employed at Gnaden Huet- ten Memorial Hospital, Inc., at Lehighton, Pennsyl- vania, including nurses aides, orderlies, housekeeping employees, maintenance employees , pharmacy aides and assistants, all medical records clerical employees, the laboratory secretary, the physical therapy aides, the inhalation therapists , and the recovery room em- ployees, but excluding all licensed practical nurses, all technical employees , all other employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. Unit C: All business office clerical employees em- ployed at the Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, Inc., at Lehighton, Pennsylvania, including switch- board operator, cashier, clerk typist, posting room clerks, admissions office clerk, and billing clerks, but excluding the medical records clericals, the laborato- ry secretary, all other employees, guards and supervi- sors as defined by the Act. [Direction of Elections and Excelsior footnote om- itted from publication.] MEMBER PENELLO, dissenting in part: I agree with my colleagues that a unit of business office clericals is appropriate and would direct an election in that unit. Based on the dissenting opinion in Nathan and Miriam Barnert Memorial Hospital As- sociation d/b/a Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, 217 NLRB No. 132 (1975), and as stated in my con- curring opinion in Mount Airy Foundation, d/b/a Mount Airy Psychiatric Center, 217 NLRB No. 137 (1975), however, I disagree with the failure of my colleagues to include the technical employees, in- cluding licensed practical nurses, in the service and maintenance unit.