Alexian Brothers Hospital

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 14, 1975

219 N.L.R.B. 1122 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

1122 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Alexian Brothers of Elizabeth, Inc. d/b/a Alexian
Brothers Hospital ' and District 1199, National
Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees,
RWDSU, AFL-CIO,2 Petitioner. Cases 22-
RC-6181, 22-RC-6189, and 22-RC-6195
August 14, 1975
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTIONS
BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND JENKINS
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a consol-
idated hearing was held on September 24, October
10, 11, 16, and 30, and November 14, 1974, before
Hearing Officer Bruce Taylor. Pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, and by direc-
tion of the Acting Regional Director for Region 22,
this case was transferred to the National Labor Rela-
tions Board for decision . Thereafter, the Employer
and the Petitioner filed briefs in support of their re-
spective positions.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Hearing
Officer made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. Alexian Brothers of Elizabeth , Inc., is a New
Jersey corporation that operates a 210-bed hospital
in Elizabeth , New Jersey . In the past 12 months the
Hospital has received gross revenues in excess of
$250,000 . During the same period the Hospital has
purchased goods valued in excess of $50,000 from
suppliers located outside the State of New Jersey.
The parties stipulated, and we find, that the Hospital
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act. Accordingly, we shall assert jurisdiction here.
2. The labor organization involved claims to rep-
resent certain employees of the Hospital.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Hospital within the meaning of Sections 9(cXl) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. In three separate petitions District 1199 sought
elections for service and maintenance employees
(22-RC-6189); licensed practical nurses (22-
RC-6195); and technical employees (22-RC-6181).
At the hearing the Hospital declined to take a posi-
The Employer's name appears as corrected at the hearing.
2 The Petitioner's name appears as corrected at the hearing.
tion concerning the appropriateness of the units
sought but thereafter, in its brief, maintained that
only an overall unit consisting of the Hospital's non-
professional employees was appropriate.
In accordance with our recent decisions concern-
ing the health care industry we find that a separate
bargaining unit consisting solely of licensed practical
nurses as petitioned for in Case 22-RC-6195 is inap-
propriate and we shall dismiss the petition in that
case.' However, we find that an appropriate bargain-
ing unit in Case 22-RC-6181 consists of all of the
Hospital's technical employees, including the li-
censed practical nurses.4 We shall include in the tech-
nical unit, in addition to the licensed practical nurs-
es, the following employee classifications: X-ray
technologist, blood bank technologist, laboratory
technician II, and respiratory therapy technician.
With the exceptions of certain respiratory therapy
technicians,' all employees in these classifications are
certified, registered, or licensed .6
'See St. Catherine 's Hospital of Dominican Sisters of Kenosha, Wisconsin,
Inc., 217 NLRB No. 133 (1975).
4 St. Catherine's Hospital, supra; Nathan and Miriam Barnert Memorial
Hospital Association d/b/a Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, 217 NLRB
No. 132 (1975).
3 The Hospital employs both certified and noncertified respiratory thera-
py technicians . Both are responsible for administering oxygen treatments
and performing related tests . In connection with these duties , both operate
respirators and ventilators (the noncertified technicians operate ventilators
only under supervision) and both perform blood gas and pulmonary func-
tion tests . The Hospital requires that the noncertified respiratory therapy
technician have a high school education and be eligible for certification,
that is, have at least I year of experience in the field. We conclude that the
noncertified respiratory therapy technicians share a community of interest
with other technical employees and we shall, therefore , include them in the
technical unit . See Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, supra; Trumbull Me-
mortal Hospital, 218 NLRB No. 122 (1975).
6 At the hearing and in its brief to the Board the Petitioner maintained
that the nuclear medicine or radioisotope technologist classification should
be included in the technical unit found appropriate . At present, however,
the hospital employs only one person in this classification and the parties
stipulated that he is a supervisor . As such, we shall exclude the nuclear
medicine or radioisotope technologist from any unit found appropriate.
We shall also exclude from any unit found appropriate the physical thera-
pist and the laboratory technologist.
For the position of physical therapist the Hospital requires a degree in
physical therapy from a 4-year college , a 1-year internship , and successful
completion of a test for both state and national registry . The physical thera-
pist sets goals for patients requiring therapy and plans therapeutic programs
to achieve these goals . The therapist engages in a variety of treatments and
regularly consults with , and makes effective recommendations to, doctors
regarding the care of patients . The method and degree of treatment varies
from patient to patient , and it appears that the therapist exercises substan-
tial discretion and judgment in treating patients.
The Hospital's educational requirements for the position of laboratory
technologist include a bachelor of science degree and 1 year of clinical
experience . The Hospital also requires laboratory technologists to be regis-
tered with the American Society of Clinical Pathologists or to be in the
process of obtaining registry . The laboratory technologists work principally
in the laboratory in processing and testing blood which they obtain from
patients in the nursing units . The laboratory technologists also perform ser-
ology tests, urinalysis , cytology examinations, and other special chemical
tests and are responsible for accurately gathering and reporting information
provided by the tests.
We conclude that the work of the physical therapist and the laboratory
technologist is predominantly intellectual in content , that it involves the
exercise of discretion and judgment, and that it requires knowledge of an
advanced type. Accordingly, we find these two classifications are profes-
219 NLRB No. 179
ALEXIAN BROTHERS HOSPITAL 1123
As indicated previously, in Case 22-RC-6189 Peti-
tioner sought a unit consisting of all of the
Employer's service and maintenance employees. We
find such a unit appropriate for collective bargaining
within the meaning of the Act and we shall direct an
election therein. We shall include in the service and
maintenance unit, in addition to the employee classi-
fications enumerated in the petition in Case 22-
RC-6189,' all employees who are not technicals, pro-
fessionals, or office clericals,8 viz: darkroom, EKG,
and EEG technicians, laboratory technician I, physi-
cal therapy technician, operating room technician,
respiratory therapy technician trainee, pulmonary
function technician, X-ray receptionist, medical tran-
scriber, medical records clerk, storeroom stock
clerks, social service secretary, outpatient service
center clerk, timeclock clerk in the nursing service
department, and inservice secretary.
Based upon the foregoing, we find the following
groups of employees constitute units appropriate for
the purpose of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9(c) of the Act:
In Case 22-RC-6181: All regular full-time and
part-time practical nurses, X-ray technologists, blood
bank technologists, laboratory technicians II, and re-
spiratory therapy technicians employed by the Em-
ployer at its hospital facility located at 655 E. Jersey
Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey, but excluding all ad-
ministrators, professional, confidential, office and
clerical- employees, registered nurses, pharmacists,
social workers, therapists, dieticians, medical record
librarians, service and maintenance employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all
other employees not included.
In Case 22-RC-6189: All regular full-time and
part-time employees in the service and maintenance
areas including nurses aides and orderlies; dietary
employees, cafeteria employees, housekeeping em-
ployees, central supply employees; laundry and linen
employees; maintenance and engineering employees;
messengers; ward clerks, aides in laboratory, operat-
ing room, pharmacy, EKG and EEG department
medical records, physical therapy, recovery room, re-
spiratory therapy, X-ray; elevator operators, clerk-
receptionist in the blood bank/laboratory, chauf-
feurs, medical-surgical technicians, laboratory clerks,
equipment technicians, darkroom technicians, EKG
technicians, EEG technicians, laboratory technician
I, physical therapy technicians, operating room tech-
nicians, respiratory therapy technician trainee, pul-
monary function technicians, X-ray receptionists,
medical transcribers, medical record clerks, store-
room stock clerks, social service secretary, outpatient
service center clerk, timeclock clerk in the nursing
service department, and inservice secretary, em-
ployed by the Employer at its hospital facility locat-
ed at 655 E. Jersey Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey, but
excluding administrators, professional, confidential,
business office clerical and technical employees, reg-
istered nurses, pharmacists, social workers, thera-
pists, dieticians, medical record librarian, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees not included.
ORDER
sional and hence we shall exclude them from any unit found appropriate.
Cf. Barnert Memorial Hospital, supra at Medical Technologists.
r The petition in Case 22-RC-6189 includes the classification of elevator
operator . At the hearing the Employer maintained that as of March 4, 1974,
the elevator operator classification was discontinued and all elevator opera-
tors were reclassified as security officers (although the former elevator oper-
ators apparently retained responsibility for operating elevators in a "Code
4" or cardiac arrest emergency situation). In its brief the Employer asserts
that this limited responsibility ended with the installation of an automatic
recall system on the elevators on November 11, 1974. The Petitioner 's brief
is silent on the issue . On the basis of the record before us we conclude that
the former elevator operators should be excluded from the unit as guards.
8 Although employees in certain classifications included in the service and
maintenance unit perform some duties that are "clerical," it is clear from the
record that they work alongside and share a close functional relationship
with other employees who are more immediately involved with patient care.
Accordingly, we conclude that employees in these classifications are not
"business office" clericals who should be excluded from a service and main-
tenance unit . See, generally , Mercy Hospitals of Sacramento, Inc., 217 NLRB
No. 131 (1975); Trumbull Memorial Hospital, supra.
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed in Case
22-RC-6195 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
[Direction of Elections 9 and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]
9 Inasmuch as the elections being directed in Cases 22-RC-6181 and 22-
RC-6189 are in broader units than the units petitioned for by the Petitioner,
and because it is not clear from the record whether the Petitioner is willing
to proceed to elections in such units , Petitioner may now wish to reconsider
whether it wishes to proceed to elections in the units directed . If it does wish
to so proceed , it will be necessary for the Petitioner to submit to the Region-
al Office an adequate showing of interest in such units . Accordingly, we
direct that the Petitioner advise the Regional Director whether or not it
wishes to proceed to an election, and, if it does desire to do so and does not
already have a sufficient showing of interest , submit its additional interest
showing . Failure to submit sufficient additional interest showing or, alterna-
tively , a request to withdraw petition within 10 days from the date of this
Decision will result in dismissal of the petition.