Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 17, 1975

219 N.L.R.B. 235 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

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.