Jewish Hospital

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 26, 1991

305 N.L.R.B. 955 (N.L.R.B. 1991)

955
305 NLRB No. 128
JEWISH HOSPITAL
1 Review was requested by the Employer only with respect to the
Regional Director’s exclusion of the yard person, Secretary III,
rounds technicians, occupational therapy craftsman, and equipment
specialist. 4 The Rule is set forth at 29 CFR Part 103, 54 Fed.Reg. 16336,
16347–16348, 284 NLRB 1579, 1596–1597 (1989). Detailed expla-
nations regarding each segment of the Rule are found in the Second
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 29 CFR Part 103, 53 Fed.Reg.
33900 (1988), 284 NLRB 1527 and in the Final Rule, 54 Fed.Reg.
16336, 284 NLRB 1586 (1989).
The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis and Miscellaneous
Drivers, Helpers, Health Care and Public Em-
ployees, Local 610, affiliated with the Inter-
national Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL–CIO,
Petitioner. Case 14–RC–11104
December 26, 1991
ORDER DENYING REVIEW
BY CHAIRMAN STEPHENS AND MEMBERS
DEVANEY, OVIATT, AND RAUDABAUGH
The Board has carefully considered the matter at
issue and, for the reasons set forth in the Regional Di-
rector’s Decision and Direction of Election, pertinent
portions of which are appended hereto,1 as modified
below, has decided that the Employer’s Request for
Review is denied as it raises no substantial issues war-
ranting review. In denying review of the Regional Di-
rector’s exclusion of the occupational therapy crafts-
man, we rely, in part, on a different analysis.
A distinguishing feature of skilled maintenance em-
ployees is their work on systems and equipment as op-
posed to involvement in direct patient care. The Re-
gional Director recognized that involvement ‘‘directly
in patient care’’ is a factor in determining exclusion
from a skilled maintenance unit, but erroneously im-
plied that the construction of equipment used in patient
care constitutes such direct involvement and, hence,
may result in exclusion from the skilled maintenance
unit. Whether the equipment involved is used in the
care of patients is not determinative here, and we dis-
avow this theory. Rather, the Board will look to
whether the contested employee directly cares for pa-
tients as part of the primary, rather than incidental, du-
ties of the job. Cf. Second Notice of Proposed Rule-
making, 53 FR at 33923, 284 NLRB at 1560, in which
the Board considered the situation of a skilled mainte-
nance employee who incidentally assisted with voca-
tional training projects, as opposed to the employee in
question here whose main job involves occupational
therapy. Here, for a significant part of his time, the oc-
cupational therapy craftsman assists assigned patients
in the selection and execution of appropriate projects.
We, therefore, exclude the occupational therapy
craftsman not only because he does not operate, main-
tain, or repair the Employer’s physical plant system,
but also because his primary job duties include direct
patient care.
APPENDIX
The Petitioner seeks to represent in a single unit all skilled
maintenance employees. At hearing, the Petitioner contended
that the unit should specifically include refrigeration mechan-
ics, a refrigeration filter person, carpenters, electricians, sta-
tionary engineers, plant mechanics, painters, plumbers,
insulators, a storekeeper, a general maintenance mechanic,
general maintenance apprentice, and the assistant supervisors
in the refrigeration, carpentry, electrical, paint, plumbing, and
mechanical departments employed by the Employer at its St.
Louis, Missouri facility, excluding office clerical and profes-
sional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the
Act, and all other employees. Although the Employer con-
cedes that the above-described employees are appropriately
included in a skilled maintenance unit within the meaning of
the Board’s Final Rule on Collective-Bargaining Units in the
Health Care Industry (herein the Rule),4 the Employer con-
tends that the petitioned-for unit should also include the clas-
sification of Secretary III because she works in the hospital’s
plant operations and maintenance department as do the
above-described skilled maintenance employees. The Em-
ployer also contends that the following classifications should
be included as they constitute skilled maintenance employ-
ees: yard person, bio-medical technician, bio-medical engi-
neering technicians, computer engineers, telecommunications
technicians, computer technician trainee, rounds technicians,
dialysis equipment technician, equipment specialist, media
assistant, research technicians, occupational therapy crafts-
man, and locksmith. In its brief, the Petitioner concedes that
the bio-medical technician, bio-medical engineering techni-
cians, computer engineers, and telecommunications techni-
cians are appropriately included in the unit. There are ap-
proximately 56 employees in the petitioned-for unit, includ-
ing those employees the Petitioner concedes in its brief
should be included, 71 employees in the unit sought by the
Employer, and 58 employees in the unit found appropriate
here. There is no history of collective bargaining for any of
the employees involved here.
On April 21, 1989, the Board issued the Rule in which it
determined that with respect to acute care hospitals, eight
units, including a unit of all skilled maintenance employees,
shall be appropriate for collective bargaining purposes and
the only appropriate units, absent ‘‘extraordinary cir-
cumstances.’’ 54 Fed.Reg. 16336, 16347–16348, 284 NLRB
1579, 1596–1597 (1989). On April 23, 1991, the United
States Supreme Court in American Hospital Association v.
NLRB, U.S. 111 S.Ct. 1539, 137 LRRM 2001 (1991), upheld
the validity of the Rule, finding that the Board’s broad rule-
making process under Section 6 of the Act authorized the
Board to make a rule recognizing eight separate bargaining
units in acute care hospitals and that these powers are not
limited by Section 9(b)’s mandate that the Board decide ap-
propriate bargaining units in each case.
The record here affirmatively establishes that the Em-
ployer operates an acute care hospital at its St. Louis, Mis-
souri facility. While the Employer agrees that the petitioned-
for unit conforms to a unit defined in the Rule, the Employer
contests the appropriateness of a separate skilled maintenance
unit contending that the Secretary III should be included by
956 DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
virtue of her employment in the plant operations and mainte-
nance department. The Employer, however, does not specifi-
cally urge there are ‘‘extraordinary circumstances’’ war-
ranting such inclusion. The Employer does argue that the
skilled maintenance unit should not be limited to those
skilled maintenance employees who work on the hospital’s
‘‘physical plant system,’’ but should include skilled mainte-
nance employees who work on various types of equipment
throughout the hospital, including bio-medical technicians
and telecommunications technicians.
In the Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Board
described skilled maintenance employees as those employees
who are generally engaged in the operation, maintenance,
and repair of the hospital’s physical plant systems such as
heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, refrigeration, electrical,
plumbing, and mechanical, as well as their trainees, helpers,
and assistants. 53 Fed.Reg. 33900, 33920–33924 (1988), 284
NLRB 1527, 1557, 1561. The Board also noted that skilled
maintenance classifications typically required completion of
high school, some post-secondary training such as vocational
or trade school in the field, formal or informal apprenticeship
programs; or an associate or bachelor degree and also require
continued education in technological changes in building
maintenance. The Board found that skilled maintenance em-
ployees frequently have separate supervision by the hos-
pital’s plant engineering or maintenance department, higher
wage rates reflecting higher skills and training, and only inci-
dental contact with employees outside the maintenance de-
partment, and no direct involvement in patient care.
The record establishes that the Employer employs approxi-
mately 7 employees in the refrigeration department, classified
as refrigeration mechanics levels I, II, and III and a refrigera-
tion filter person, who are responsible for operating and
maintaining heating and air-conditioning equipment. The Em-
ployer also employs 7 carpenters classified into levels I, II,
and III, and 6 electricians classified into levels I, II, and III.
In the mechanic shop, the Employer employs 18 employees
including stationary engineers responsible for operating high
pressure boilers, plant mechanics who maintain all mechan-
ical equipment throughout the hospital including compres-
sors, pumps, heat exchangers and surgical vacuums, and a
general maintenance mechanic and a general maintenance ap-
prentice responsible for performing general maintenance of
all types including electrical, plumbing, carpentry, and refrig-
eration. The Employer also employs 5 painters classified as
levels I, II, and III, 5 plumbers at levels I, II, and III, and
an insulator responsible for insulating plumbing lines with
waterproof material. In addition, the Employer employs 1
storekeeper who maintains all maintenance equipment, an-
swers service calls and fills in for plumbers and other crafts
in emergency situations, repairs wheelchairs and assembles
new furniture. All of these individuals are in pay grades 2
through 7 and are included in the Employer’s plant oper-
ations and maintenance department. In addition, all these em-
ployees must have secondary vocational training or prior ex-
perience, and are responsible for the operation, repair and
maintenance of the hospital’s physical plant system. Besides
the hospital facility itself, these employees sometimes work
at a building to the east of the hospital which contains a
child day care center, at the Employer’s office buildings on
Ballas Road in St. Louis County, Missouri, at the Employer’s
purchasing office on Duncan Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri,
and at the Chai house in St. Louis County, Missouri. The
record also establishes that all non-supervisory employees of
the employer, including these employees, receive the same
employee manual, are subject to the same policies including
holiday, vacation and disciplinary policies, and receive the
same benefits.
Accordingly, in view of the record as a whole, and in
agreement with the parties, I shall include the refrigeration
mechanics, refrigeration filter person, carpenters, electricians,
stationary engineers, plant mechanics, general maintenance
mechanics, general maintenance apprentice, plumbers, insu-
lator, painters, and storekeeper in the unit found appropriate
here.
Yard Person
The Employer employs one individual in the classification
of part-time yard person in the plant operations and mainte-
nance department. The Employer would include this position
in the skilled maintenance unit as a skilled maintenance em-
ployee, while the Petitioner would exclude this classification
because it is not a skilled maintenance position.
The record establishes that the primary duties of the yard
person are to keep the hospital grounds free from debris, and
to maintain the flower beds and gardens. These duties in-
clude watering, mulching and weeding flower beds and
shrubs. In performing these duties, the yard person uses tools
such as hoes, hoses, and rakes. While the yard person cur-
rently employed by the hospital has a degree in horticulture,
the record establishes that this degree is not required for the
position. The yard person must be a high school graduate or
have equivalent education, and possess 3 to 6 months experi-
ence in nursery or yard work. No additional education or ex-
perience is required. The yard person is classified as a pay
grade 1, which is 10 percent below the lowest wage rate of
the employees that the parties agreed should be included in
the unit as skilled maintenance employees. In view of the
above evidence and the record as a whole, including the fact
that the yard person is not required to have formal training
in a vocational or trade school, or a formal education, and
because the functions of the yard person are of a routine na-
ture, and despite the fact that the yard person works in the
hospital’s plant operations and maintenance department and
maintains the outside grounds of the hospital, I find the yard
person is not a skilled maintenance employee or the trainee,
helper, or assistant of a skilled maintenance employee, and
I shall, therefore, exclude the position of yard person from
the skilled maintenance unit here.
Secretary III and Secretary IV
The Employer employs one part-time Level III secretary
and one full-time Level IV secretary in the plant operations
and maintenance department. Both are secretaries to the di-
rector of the plant operations and maintenance department.
The Employer contends that the Secretary III should be in-
cluded in the skilled maintenance unit, not because she is a
skilled maintenance employee, but because she is employed
in the plant operations and maintenance department. While
the Employer argued at hearing that the Secretary IV should
be included for the same reason, in its brief the Employer
contends, in agreement with the Petitioner, that she should be
excluded as a supervisor. The Petitioner contends that the
secretaries are not skilled maintenance employees and should
957JEWISH HOSPITAL
be excluded from the unit, and further contends that the Sec-
retary IV should be excluded as a supervisor.
The record establishes that the Secretary IV opens, re-
views, and distributes the mail; maintains personnel files;
writes service tickets; answers service calls and determines
shop responsibility; prepares correspondence; and transcribes
dictation for the director of the plant operations and mainte-
nance department. This position requires a high school di-
ploma and some secretarial or business school courses, as
well as shorthand, typing, transcribing, and word processing
skills, IBM personal computer journeyman capability, and a
minimum of 3 to 5 years secretarial experience. The Sec-
retary IV is also responsible for dividing the secretarial work
between herself and the Level III part-time secretary in the
department. The record establishes the Secretary III assists
the Secretary IV in her duties, including answering phones,
transcribing dictation, updating policy and procedural manu-
als, and compiling special project data. The Secretary III
must have a high school diploma and some secretarial or
business school courses; possess typing, word processing,
and transcribing skills, as well as IBM personal computer
journeyman capability; and be familiar with the computerized
building automation system. The Secretary III must also have
a minimum of 3 to 5 years secretarial experience.
In view of the above evidence and the record as a whole,
I conclude that while both secretaries are part of the plant
operations and maintenance department and perform some
tasks related to maintenance, including answering calls for
maintenance and determining shop responsibility, they pri-
marily perform typical business office clerical tasks and have
only limited contact with other skilled maintenance employ-
ees. Accordingly, I find that neither the Secretary III nor the
Secretary IV are skilled maintenance employees, or their
trainees, helpers, or assistants. Since the Board, through its
rulemaking process, has determined that a separate unit of all
skilled maintenance employees is appropriate, I shall exclude
the Secretary III and the Secretary IV from the skilled main-
tenance unit here. See St. Margaret Memorial Hospital, 303
NLRB No. 146 (July 29, 1991). Therefore, I find it unneces-
sary to determine whether the Secretary IV is a supervisor
within the meaning of the Act.
. . . .
Data Processing and Telecommunications Technicians
The Employer employs two computer engineers, two tele-
communications technicians, one computer technician trainee,
and three full-time and two part-time rounds technicians in
its information services department. The Employer contends
that the computer engineers, telecommunications technicians,
the computer technician trainee, and the rounds technicians
are skilled maintenance employees and should be included in
the petitioned-for unit. Contrary to its position at hearing, in
its brief the Petitioner agrees that the computer engineers and
telecommunications technicians are appropriately included in
the skilled maintenance unit. In its brief, the Petitioner con-
tends the person currently listed as computer technician train-
ee should be included in the unit but that position should not
be included in the unit description because it is a temporary
position which will not be filled when the trainee is pro-
moted to the position of computer engineer. The Petitioner
also contends that the rounds technicians should be excluded
as they are not skilled maintenance employees.
. . . .
The record discloses that the two part-time and three full-
time rounds technicians, classified as pay grade 2, make
‘‘rounds’’ throughout the hospital 24 hours a day delivering
paper for the computer printers and making minor adjust-
ments to the printers. Those adjustments include aligning
continuous feed paper on the tractor feed, changing ribbons,
and adjusting the darkness of the print by moving a lever on
the outside of the printer. The rounds technician has a cart
which contains the paper to be delivered, a screwdriver,
cleaning solution to use if the area needs to be cleaned, and
a vacuum cleaner to vacuum the floor. The rounds techni-
cians spend about 40 percent of their time cleaning,
vacuuming and wiping down the computers. The rounds
technicians also change light bulbs in the time and attend-
ance clocks. The rounds technicians are required only to
have a high school diploma or a G.E.D. equivalent, but re-
ceive in-house training for 6 weeks. The position is not an
entry-level position for either the telecommunications techni-
cian or the computer engineer job classifications.
In view of the above evidence and the record as a whole,
and in agreement with the parties, I find the computer engi-
neers and the telecommunications technicians are skilled
maintenance employees and I shall include them in the peti-
tioned-for unit. I further find that the computer technician
trainee is the trainee of skilled maintenance employees and
I shall include him in the skilled maintenance unit. I also
conclude that the rounds technicians perform work of a rou-
tine nature which requires no formal education or training,
and is not a training position for a more skilled maintenance
position. Therefore, I shall exclude the rounds technicians
from the skilled maintenance unit here.
. . . .
Occupational Therapy Craftsman
The Employer employs one occupational therapy crafts-
man in the occupational therapy section of the department of
rehabilitation medicine. This employee is a pay grade 4 and
is under the supervision of the assistant coordinator of occu-
pational therapy. The occupational therapy craftsman fab-
ricates adaptive equipment for use by occupational therapy
patients and must be proficient in all crafts utilized in the de-
partment including woodworking, woodburning, sewing,
leather, and refinishing. Equipment designed and built by the
occupational therapy craftsman includes hand and finger
splints, incline boards, climbing ladders, lapboards, and
wheelchair appendages. In building these items, the occupa-
tional therapy craftsman uses a sewing machine, hand and
machine saws, a drill press and hand tools. The occupational
therapy craftsman is responsible for maintaining all machin-
ery and equipment in the occupational therapy department in
a safe and efficient working condition. The occupational
therapy craftsman also assists assigned patients in the selec-
tion and execution of the appropriate projects. Approximately
50 to 60 percent of the occupational therapy craftsman’s time
is spent making things. The remainder of his time is spent
running errands, going to the print shop, picking up supplies,
and helping with patient care. The occupational therapy
958 DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
craftsman must be a high school graduate and have 2 years
of experience in an occupational therapy department or simi-
lar setting. He also receives 3 months on-the-job training.
The Employer contends the occupational therapy craftsman is
a skilled maintenance employee and should be included in
the unit, while the Petitioner contends the occupational ther-
apy craftsman is not a skilled maintenance employee and
should be excluded. In view of the above evidence and the
record as a whole, including the fact that the primary duties
of the occupational therapy craftsman are not to operate,
maintain, and repair the hospital’s physical plant system but
to design and fabricate the equipment to be used directly in
patient care, and there is no formal education or training re-
quired of a vocational or craft-type nature, I conclude this in-
dividual is not a skilled maintenance employee or the helper,
trainee, or assistant of a skilled maintenance employee, and
shall exclude this position from the skilled maintenance unit
here. See Mounty Airy Psychiatric Center, 253 NLRB 1003,
1005 (1981); Trinity Memorial Hospital of Cudahy, Inc., 219
NLRB 215, 216 (1975).
Equipment Specialist
The Employer employs one equipment specialist in the
dispatch services department who is supervised by the dis-
patch mailroom supervisor. The Employer, contrary to Peti-
tioner, contends this classification should be included in the
unit as a skilled maintenance employee. The equipment spe-
cialist is responsible for repairing and cleaning all patient-
care equipment used in the nursing divisions, including I.V.
poles, stretchers, blood pressure equipment, bedside com-
modes, and wheelchairs which are neither battery-operated
nor motorized. Specifically, the equipment specialist checks
the I.V. poles to make sure all the casters work properly,
checks the braking mechanism on stretchers, replaces parts
on wheelchairs, and replaces bladders and tubing screwed to
the bulb and cuff of the blood pressure equipment. None of
the equipment maintained by the equipment specialist has
any electrical features and except for the hydraulic stretchers,
the equipment operates mechanically with a lever. The equip-
ment specialist also orders mattresses when they need to be
replaced and is responsible for keeping the equipment clean.
In addition, the equipment specialist spends about 1 hour and
20 minutes of each 8-hour day picking up the Employer’s
mail from the main post office in St. Louis, and sometimes
transports patients. The majority of his time, however, is
spent working on the patient-care equipment. The record es-
tablishes that there is no formal education or prior experience
required for this position. The only training involved consists
of 2 to 4 hours spent in-house reading manuals and learning
how to operate new equipment. In view of the above evi-
dence and the record as a whole, including the fact that the
position requires no formal education or training, and as the
work performed by the equipment specialist is of a routine
nature and is not similar to that performed by the traditional
craft or trade-type skilled maintenance employees, I conclude
the equipment specialist is not a skilled maintenance em-
ployee or a helper, trainee, or assistant of a skilled mainte-
nance employee, and I shall, therefore, exclude this position
from the skilled maintenance unit here.