Chico Community Memorial Hospital

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1974

215 N.L.R.B. 821 (N.L.R.B. 1974)

CHICO COMMUNITY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 821
National Medical Hospitals , Inc., of San Diego, d/b/a
Chico Community Memorial Hospital and Retail
Clerks Union, Local 17, Retail Clerks International
Association , AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case 20-RC-
12175
December 16, 1974
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND
KENNEDY
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officers Raymond R. Arring-
ton and Daniel T. Berkley. Following the hearing, and
pursuant to Section 102.67(h) of the National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations and Statements
of Procedure, Series 8, as amended, the Acting Re-
gional Director transferred this case to the National
Labor Relations Board for decision. Thereafter, the
Petitioner and the Employer each filed briefs.
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 Hearing Officers' rul-
ings 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.
2. The labor organization involved claims to repre-
sent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer within
the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7)
of the Act.
4. Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all clerical
employees employed by the Employer at its Chico
Community Memorial Hospital, Chico, California, ex-
cluding all other employees, guards and supervisors as
defined in the Act. The parties stipulated that all busi-
ness office clerical employees and medical record office
clerical employees are properly included in the unit.
The Employer would exclude the ward clerks, labora-
tory clerks, X-ray clerks, central supply and stock
clerks, personnel clerk, bookkeepers, and accounting
clerk. Petitioner states in its brief that there are approx-
imately 42 employees in the unit which it seeks and 21
in the unit which the Employer contends is appropri-
ate.
Registered nurses are represented by a professional
association, and licensed vocational nurses are sepa-
rately represented by an association. The remaining
employees are currently unrepresented.
The Employer contends that the ward clerks, labora-
tory clerks, X-ray clerks, and central supply and stock
clerks should be excluded from the unit on the ground
that they lack a community of interest with employees
stipulated to be in the unit or, alternatively, becadse
they are plant clericals.
The clerical employees in the business office and in
the medical records office who fall within the parties'
stipulation perform work in a variety of categories.
These include data processing clerk, outpatient billing
clerk, admitting clerk, PBX operator, patient represen-
tative, insurance verifier, cashier, analysis clerk, admis-
sion clerk (statistical clerk assistant), and transcription-
ist. The business office and medical records office are
separately supervised by the business office manager
and by the medical records administrator, respectively.
The two offices are adjacent to each other and most of
the employees perform their work in such offices.'
The position descriptions of these employees show that,
for the most part, they perform usual office and clerical
functions. This work brings some of them in contact
with physicians, nurses and nurses aides, patients, and
the public. For example, the duties of the outpatient
billing clerk in the business office include calling physi-
cians' offices for diagnoses affecting insurance billing.
The admitting clerk admits patients. The patient repre-
sentative admits patients and discusses accounts with
them. The cashier, in addition to receiving cash pay-
ments, greets and screens all counter traffic. The PBX
operator assists the cashier with window traffic when
necessary. The analysis clerk and the admission clerk
(statistical clerk assistant) answer inquiries from hospi-
tal departments and physicians' offices regarding re-
cords. The latter position description also includes han-
dling patient transfers to other facilities. While much of
the work performed by clericals in the business office
and medical records office requires typing or other
office skills, some of it, such as that performed by the
patient representative and the analysis clerk, requires
knowledge of medical terminology.
Ward clerks perform their duties at the two nurses
stations and in the emergency room. They work on two
of the three shifts and are under the same supervision
as the nurses. The duties of the ward clerks at the
nurses stations are primarily recordkeeping relating to
charts, cards, and graphs concerning prescriptions,
physician's orders, diet, and other information about
patients. While ward clerks may greet a patient or take
him to his room and, on occasion, admit him to the
hospital,' they do not perform nurses aide duties or
' At the time of the hearing the transcnptionists in the medical records
department were working in the area assigned to the housekeeping depart-
ment
2 The ward clerk may perform the duties of the admitting clerk on Sunday
night from 10 p in to 1 130 p in, when the business office is closed and the
admitting clerk is not on duty
215 NLRB No. 155
822 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
assist in patient care. Their work brings them primarily
in contact with nurses and nurses assistants. However,
on occasion they are in contact with business office and
medical records office employees who come to the
nurses' stations to file or pick up charts.
The ward clerk in the emergency room also performs
recordkeeping functions. In addition he obtains infor-
mation from the patient who is admitted to the emer-
gency room, may at times perform cashier duties, and
also takes patients from the emergency room to the
nursing floor or to the hospital exit.
Qualifications for ward clerks have included suffi-
cient knowledge of English, spelling, and arithmetic to
function as a clerk and, preferably, a knowledge of
medical terminology. Nurses aides, student LVN's, and
student nurses have worked as ward clerks, and nurses
aides have transferred to the ward clerk position as has
one business office employee.
In the past ward clerks have worn the same color
uniform as that worn by business office and medical
records office clerks while the nurses, nurses aides, and
orderlies have worn a different color. All unrepresented
employees receive the same fringe benefits, including
vacation benefits and insurance coverage.
The Employer would have the Board apply to hospi-
tal unit determinations certain of the principles govern-
ing such determinations in industrial plants. It con-
tends that the ward clerks are like plant clericals whom
the Board has traditionally excluded from an office
clerical unit in an industrial plant.
We do not find applicable here principles governing
production plant units to hospitals, whose operations
are so dissimilar. As the Employer observes in its brief,
the plant clerical-office clerical distinction is rooted in
community-of-interest concepts.3 The same considera-
tions, which show differing interests between clericals
in other circumstances, when applied to hospital per-
sonnel demonstrate like interests. As shown herein, the
duties performed, job qualifications, working condi-
tions, and fringe benefits of the ward clerks are like
those of the office employees, whose inclusion in the
"all clerical employees" unit is stipulated.'
We find that the ward clerks perform clerical func-
tions like the office employees included in the unit and
have a sufficient community of interest with them to
warrant their inclusion.'
3 Minneapolis-Moline Company, 85 NLRB 597, 598 (1949); W. C. Norris
Manufacturer, Inc., 73 NLRB 838, 841, 842 (1947).
4 In determining unit composition we have recognized that all industries
do not fit into a single mold. For example, in Island Holidays, Ltd. d/b/a
Coco Palms Resort Hotel, 201 NLRB 522 (1973), we included "back office"
clericals (file clerks, auditors, cashier, and accounting clerks) and the sepa-
rately supervised and located "front office" clericals (desk clerk, cashier,
and PBX operator) with other hotel employees in an overall unit. We there
made clear our policy of treating hotel clerical employees as "operating
personnel" rather than office clericals.
The laboratory clerks work in the laboratory under
the supervision of the physician pathologist and chief
laboratory technologist. There are three laboratory
clerks, two of whom work on a part-time basis. In
addition to their recordkeeping duties, they clean
laboratory glassware and equipment, have responsibil-
ity for cleanliness of the laboratory, prepare bacterio-
logical media, sterilize supplies, and dispose of con-
taminated media and materials. The job qualifications
include a high school education and a knowledge of
chemistry, bacteriology, and typing is preferred.
We find that the laboratory clerks perform work that
differs substantially from that performed by the clerical
employees included in the unit and that they lack a
community of interest with the included employees.
We shall therefore exclude the laboratory clerks.'
The X-ray clerks in the radiology department work
under the supervision of the physician radiologist and
chief X-ray technologist. Qualifications for the posi-
tion, titled clerical darkroom assistant and X-ray tran-
scriptionist, include a high school diploma and an ex-
tensive knowledge of medical terminology. The work
includes, in addition to usual clerical duties, the proc-
essing of X-ray film and assisting the X-ray technolo-
gist as needed. We find that the X-ray clerks, like the
laboratory clerks, lack a community of interest with the
office clerical employees in the unit. We therefore ex-
clude them.
The central supply clerks work in the central supply
department under the supervision of the purchasing
agent. There are two such clerks and each attends one
shift. The central supply department stores and issues
medical supplies to nursing stations. The clerks order
supplies from the storeroom, inventory service carts,
transport equipment, make up i.v. trays, dressing trays,
and instrument sets, tidy shelves, and clean equipment
as well as collect various records from the nursing sta-
tions and business office. The stock clerk works in the
purchasing department in a separate storeroom under
the supervision of the purchasing agent. He receives,
stores, and issues supplies, counts stock, and maintains
5 Daniel A . Donovan, et at, d/b/a New Fairview Hall Convalescent
Home, 206 NLRB 688 (ALJD, sec. III, A, 1), finding that ward clerks who
performed essentially clerical duties were office clerical employees, the
excluded group in that case . The ward clerks ' duties in the subject case are
unlike those in the cases cited by the Employer. In The Swanholm, an
Operation of the Martin Luther Foundation , Inc., 186 NLRB 45 (1970),
ward clerks were included with nurses assistants in a unit of miscellaneous
employees which excluded office clerical employees , because they spent 50
percent of their time on the wards performing duties relating to patients'
needs . In North Dade Hospital, Inc., et at d/b/a North Dade Medical Com-
plex, 210 NLRB 588 (1974), there was no dispute as to the inclusion of ward
clerks with nurses assistants in a miscellaneous unit . The disputed emer-
gency room clerks in that case who were included in the unit , unlike those
in the subject case, assisted the nurse and physician in patient care.
6 See Butte Medical Properties, d/b/a Medical Center Hospital, 168
NLRB 266, 269 (1967), in which laboratory helpers who performed work
similar to the laboratory clerks here were included in a unit of nonprofes-
sional employees that excluded office clerical employees.
CHICO COMMUNITY. MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 823
the storeroom. In these circumstances, and as those
employees perform duties unrelated to the duties per-
formed by employees included in the unit, we shall
exclude them.
The Employer would exclude the personnel clerk on
the ground that she is a confidential, managerial, or
supervisory employee. It would also exclude the book-
keepers on the ground that they are confidential em-
ployees.
The personnel clerk works in the personnel office
under the supervision of the personnel manager. She
assists the personnel manager in usual secretarial tasks
relating to personnel work and also serves as secretary
to the director of nurses when needed. The personnel
manager participates in the grievance procedure. He
also interviews applicants for employment to determine
if applicants meet job qualifications and whether they
should be referred to the department head for a further
interview. The personnel clerk does initial telephone
screening and, in the absence of the personnel manager,
interviews applicants. On occasion she does not refer
the applicant who does not in her judgment meet the
job qualifications. The personnel manager testified that
in the future he expects that this employer will do more
than 50 percent of the interviewing.
We find that the personnel clerk acts in a confiden-
tial capacity and we shall exclude her from the
unit.'
The bookkeepers work in the hospital annex in the
controller's and accounting department. There is also
an accounting clerk who was hired for a few months
before the hearing and who is being trained by the
bookkeepers for the bookkeeping position. All perform
routine accounting and bookkeeping duties, including
7 Sears, Roebuck & Co., 193 NLRB 334, 331 (1971), The B F Goodrich
Company, 115 NLRB 722, 723-725 (1956)
the preparation of payroll checks under the supervision
of the controller. They have access to salary informa-
tion as well as to the Employer's profit-and-loss state-
ment. They have helped to prepare cost projections for
an area wage survey and for past labor negotiations. As
the bookkeepers and the accounting clerk do not assist
or act in a confidential capacity to a person who formu-
lates, determines, and effectuates management labor
relations policies, we find that they are'not confidential
employees.' We shall therefore include them in the
unit of clerical employees.9
Accordingly, we find that the following employees
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of
the Act:
All clerical employees employed by the Employer
at its Chico Community Memorial Hospital,
Chico, California, including the business office
and medical records office clerical employees,
ward clerks, bookkeepers and accounting clerk,
but excluding laboratory clerks, X-ray clerks, cen-
tral supply and stock clerks, personnel clerks, the
administrator's administrative secretary,1° guards
and supervisors as defined in the Act."
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omit-
ted from publication.] `
8 The Employer argues that the accounting clerk is a temporary position
which should be excluded from the unit No evidence was presented on this
issue at the hearing We shall therefore permit the accounting clerk to vote
subject to challenge
9 Vulcanized Rubber and Plastics Company, Inc, 129 NLRB 1256-59
(1961)
to The parties have stipulated , and we agree , that the administrator's
administrative secretary is a confidential employee We shall therefore ex-
clude her from the unit
In accord with the parties' stipulations , we find that the business office
manager and the registered records administrator are supervisors, and we
exclude them from the unit