Leisure Chateau Care Center

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 31, 2000

331 N.L.R.B. 36 (N.L.R.B. 2000)

331 NLRB No. 36
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
Board volumes of NLRB decisions. Readers are requested to notify the Ex-
ecutive Secretary, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C.
20570, of any typographical or other formal errors so that corrections can
be included in the bound volumes.
Leisure Chateau Care Center and Communication
Workers of America, AFL–CIO. Case 4–CA–
29093
May 31, 2000
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN TRUESDALE AND MEMBERS FOX
AND BRAME
Pursuant to a charge filed on March 23, 2000, the
General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board
issued a complaint on March 30, 2000, alleging that the
Respondent has violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the
National Labor Relations Act by refusing the Union’s
request to bargain following the Union’s certification in
Case 6–RC–11759 (formerly Case 4–RC–19836). (Offi-
cial notice is taken of the “record” in the representation
proceeding as defined in the Board’s Rules and Regula-
tions, Secs. 102.68 and 102.69(g); Frontier Hotel, 265
NLRB 343 (1982).) The Respondent filed an answer
admitting in part and denying in part the allegations in
the complaint.
On April 25, 2000, the Ge neral Counsel filed a Motion
for Summary Judgment. On April 26, 2000, the Board
issued an order transferring the proceeding to the Board
and a Notice to Show Cause why the motion should not
be granted. The Respondent filed a response.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Ruling on Motion for Summary Judgment
In its answer the Respondent admits its refusal to bar-
gain, but attacks the validity of the certification on the
basis of the Board’s unit determination in the representa-
tion proceeding.
All representation issues raised by the Respondent
were or could have been litigated in the prior representa-
tion proceeding. The Respondent does not offer to ad-
duce at a hearing any newly discovered and previously
unavailable evidence, nor does it allege any special cir-
cumstances that would require the Board to reexamine
the decision made in the representation proceeding. We
therefore find that the Respondent has not raised any
representation issue that is properly litigable in this un-
fair labor practice proceeding. See Pittsburgh Plate
Glass Co. v. NLRB, 313 U.S. 146, 162 (1941). Accord-
ingly, we grant the Motion for Summary Judgment.
On the entire record, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. JURISDICTION
At all material times, the Respondent, a New Jersey
corporation, has been engaged in the operation of a nurs-
ing home at 962 River Avenue, Lakewood, New Jersey.
During the 12-month preceding the issuance of the com-
plaint, the Respondent, in conducting its business opera-
tions, received gross revenues in excess of $100,000 and
purchased and received goods valued in excess of $5000
directly from points outside the State of New Jersey. We
find that the Respondent is an employer engaged in
commerce within the meaning of Section 2(2), (6), and
(7) of the Act, and has been a health care institution
within the meaning of Section 2(14) of the Act. We also
find that the Union has been a labor organization within
the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
II. ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
A. The Certification
Following the election held on February 8, 2000, the
Union was certified on March 8, 2000, as the exclusive
collective-bargaining representative of the employees in
the following appropriate unit:

All full-time and regular part-time registered nurses,
including staff nurses, charge nurses and director of
quality assurance and infection control, employed by
Respondent at its Lakewood, New Jersey Nursing
Home, excluding office clerical employees, the nursing
administrator, assistant nursing administrator, RN su-
pervisors, in-service RNs and unit coordinators, mana-
gerial executives and guards, other professional em-
ployees and other supervisors as defined in the Act, and
all other employees.

The Union continues to be the exclusive representative un-
der Section 9(a) of the Act.
B. Refusal to Bargain
Since March 3, 2000, the Union, by letter, has re-
quested the Respondent to bargain, and, since March 8,
2000, the Respondent has refused. We find that this re-
fusal constitutes an unlawful refusal to bargain in viola-
tion of Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
By refusing on and after March 8, 2000, to bargain
with the Union as the exclusive collective-bargaining
representative of employees in the appropriate unit, the
Respondent has engaged in unfair labor practices affect-
ing commerce within the meaning of Section 8(a)(5) and
(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent has violated Section
8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act, we shall order it to cease and
desist, to bargain on request with the Union, and, if an
understanding is reached, to embody the understanding
in a signed agreement.
To ensure that the employees are accorded the services
of their selected bargaining agent for the period provided
by the law, we shall construe the initial period of the cer-
2 DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tification as beginning the date the Respondent begins to
bargain in good faith with the Union. Mar-Jac Poultry
Co., 136 NLRB 785 (1962); Lamar Hotel, 140 NLRB
226, 229 (1962), enfd. 328 F.2d 600 (5th Cir. 1964), cert.
denied 379 U.S. 817 (1964); Burnett Construction Co.,
149 NLRB 1419, 1421 (1964), enfd. 350 F.2d 57 (10th
Cir. 1965).
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, Leisure Chateau Care Center, Lakewood,
New Jersey, its officers, agents, successors, and assigns,
shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Refusing to bargain with Communication Workers
of America, AFL–CIO, as the exclusive bargaining rep-
resentative of the employees in the bargaining unit.
(b) In any like or related manner interfering with, re-
straining, or coercing employees in the exercise of the
rights guaranteed them by Section 7 of the Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action necessary to
effectuate the policies of the Act.
(a) On request, bargain with the Union as the exclusive
representative of the employees in the following appro-
priate unit on terms and conditions of employment, and if
an understanding is reached, embody the understanding
in a signed agreement:

All full-time and regular part-time registered nurses,
including staff nurses, charge nurses and director of
quality assurance and infection control, employed by
Respondent at its Lakewood, New Jersey Nursing
Home, excluding office clerical employees, the nursing
administrator, assistant nursing administrator, RN su-
pervisors, in-service RNs and unit coordinators, mana-
gerial executives and guards, other professional em-
ployees and other supervisors as defined in the Act, and
all other employees.

(b) Within 14 days after service by the Region, post at
its facility in Lakewood, New Jersey, copies of the at-
tached notice marked “Appendix.”1 Copies of the notice,
on forms provided by the Regional Director for Region 4
after being signed by the Respondent’s authorized repre-
sentative, shall be posted by the Respondent and main-
tained for 60 consecutive days in conspicuous places
including all places where notices to employees are cus-
tomarily posted. Reasonable steps shall be taken by the
Respondent to ensure that the notices are not altered,
defaced, or covered by any other material. In the event
that, during the pendency of these proceedings, the Re-
spondent has gone out of business or closed the facility
involved in these proceedings, the Respondent shall du-

1 If this Order is enforced by a judgment of a United States court of
appeals, the words in the notice reading “Posted by Order of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board” shall read “Posted Pursuant to a Judg-
ment of the United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an Order of the
National Labor Relations Board.”
plicate and mail, at its own expense, a copy of the notice
to all current employees and former employees employed
by the Respondent at any time since March 8, 2000.
(c) Within 21 days after service by the Region, file
with the Regional Director a sworn certification of a re-
sponsible official on a form provided by the Region at-
testing to the steps that the Respondent has taken to
comply.
Dated, Washington, D.C. May 31, 2000

John C. Truesdale, Chairman

Sarah M. Fox, Member

(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

MEMBER BRAME, dissenting.
In the underlying representation proceeding, I dis-
sented from my colleagues’ denial of the Employer’s
request for review of the Regional Director’s decision, in
which she found that the RN staff nurses are not statutory
supervisors. Accordingly, I dissent here from my col-
leagues’ granting the General Counsel’s motion for sum-
mary judgment and their finding that the Employer vio-
lated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act.1
Dated, Washington, D.C. May 31, 2000

J. Robert Brame III, Member

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

APPENDIX
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
POSTED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government

The National Labor Relations Board has found that we vio-
lated the National Labor Relations Act and has ordered us to
post and abide by this notice.
WE WILL NOT refuse to bargain with Communication
Workers of America, AFL–CIO, as the exclusive repre-
sentative of the employees in the bargaining unit.
WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere
with, restrain, or coerce you in the exercise of the rights
guaranteed you by Section 7 of the Act.
WE WILL, on request, bargain with the Union and put
in writing and sign any agreement reached on terms and
conditions of employment for our employees in the bar-
gaining unit:

1 See also my dissent in a prior related proceeding, Leisure Chateau
Care Center, 330 NLRB No. 127 (2000).
LEISURE CHATEAU CARE CENTER 3

All full-time and regular part-time registered nurses,
including staff nurses, charge nurses and director of
quality assurance and infection control, employed by us
at our Lakewood, New Jersey Nursing Home, exclud-
ing office clerical employees, the nursing administrator,
assistant nursing adminis trator, RN supervisors, in-
service RNs and unit coordinators, managerial execu-
tives and guards, other professional employees and
other supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees.

LEISURE CHATEAU CARE CENTER