Lincoln Park Nursing Home

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 18, 1995

318 N.L.R.B. 1160 (N.L.R.B. 1995)

1160
318 NLRB No. 123
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
1 Included in the unit are nurses aides, orderlies, quality assurance
aides, unit ward clerks, medical records clerks-ICC, medical assist-
ant, unit supply clerks, in-service secretary, employee health sec-
retary, cooks, assistant cooks, first cooks, sanitary supply employees,
dietary aides, utility persons, dishwashers, dietary department
secretary/purchasing coordinator, social workers (unlicensed,
uncertified, without a master’s degree), maintenance supervisor-nurs-
ing home, general maintenance employees, maintenance-elevator op-
erators, maintenance/plumbers, maintenance/electrical employees,
maintenance/carpenters, maintenance/painters, recreation therapists,
recreation aides, mimeograph operator, music therapist, beautician,
voluntary coordinator, housekeeping aides, housekeeping porters,
laundry aides, laundry porters, buffers, personal clothing aides, ad-
mission clerks, and admission coordinator. Excluded are directors of
nursing, assistant directors of nursing, nursing supervisors, quality
assurance manager, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, MDS
coordinators, in-service manager, in-service instructor, nursing de-
partment secretaries, nursing department payroll clerk, medical
records clerk/secretary-nursing home, director of social services, di-
rector of personnel, personnel clerk, personnel recruiter, director of
maintenance, maintenance supervisor-ICC, licensed boiler operators,
director of recreation, director of dietary, assistant director of dietary
supervisors, dieticians, director of housekeeping and laundry, house-
keeping and laundry supervisors, receptionists and administrative
secretary.
2 Through a clerical error, the Order also inadvertently granted re-
view with respect to the placement of the personnel clerk and per-
sonnel recruiter. That error is corrected, and review is denied as to
these classifications.
Lincoln Park Nursing and Convalescent Home, Inc.
t/a Lincoln Park Nursing Home; Jeryl Indus-
tries, Inc. and Lincoln Park Nursing and Con-
valescent Home, Inc., a Co-Partnership d/b/a
Lincoln Park Intermediate Care Center, jointly
known as Lincoln Park Nursing Center and
1115 Nursing Home and Service Employees
Union-New Jersey A, a Division of 1115 Dis-
trict Council, H.E.R.E., AFL–CIO, Petitioner.
Case 22–RC–10895
September 18, 1995
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN GOULD AND MEMBERS BROWNING
AND COHEN
On July 19, l994, the Regional Director for Region
22 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the
above-entitled proceeding. The Regional Director
found the petitioned-for unit of all full-time and regu-
lar part-time service and maintenance employees em-
ployed by the Employer, Lincoln Park Nursing Center,
at its Lincoln Park, New Jersey Intermediate Care Cen-
ter (ICC) and nursing home facilities (the Center) to be
an appropriate unit, excluding business office clericals,
office clerical employees, professional employees,
technical employees, consultants, guards and super-
visors as defined by the Act.1
Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the
Board’s Rules and Regulations, the Employer filed a
timely request for review of the Regional Director’s
decision, contending that, contrary to the Regional Di-
rector’s findings, (1) licensed practical nurses (LPNs),
the Employer’s only technical employees, should be
included in the unit; (2) the ICC maintenance super-
visor and the quality assurance manager are not statu-
tory supervisors; (3) the nursing department secretaries,
nursing department payroll clerk, receptionists, person-
nel clerk, personnel recruiter, and the administrative
secretary are not business office clericals; and (4) the
nursing home medical records clerk is not a confiden-
tial employee. The Petitioner filed an opposition. On
September 16, 1994, the Board granted the Employer’s
request for review with regard to the exclusion of the
LPNs; the supervisory status of the ICC’s maintenance
supervisor and quality assurance manager; and the ex-
clusion of the ICC nursing department secretary, the
ICC nursing department payroll clerk, the nursing
home nursing department secretary, and the ICC and
nursing home receptionists as business office clericals.2
The election was held as scheduled on September 16,
l994, and the ballots were impounded pending the
Board’s Decision on Review. No briefs on review
were filed.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated
its authority in this proceeding to a three-member
panel.
We have considered the entire record in the case
with respect to the issues on review and have decided
to affirm the Regional Director’s finding excluding
LPNs, the only technical employees in the facility,
from the nonprofessional service and maintenance unit
found appropriate. We, however reverse the Regional
Director’s findings regarding the supervisory status of
the ICC maintenance supervisor and the quality assur-
ance manager, and the business office clerical status of
the ICC nursing department secretary, the ICC nursing
department payroll clerk, the nursing home nursing de-
partment secretary, and the ICC and nursing home re-
ceptionists.
The ICC and nursing home facilities are on the same
property and less than 100 yards apart. Both facilities
operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Employees
work on the day, evening, or night shift. A separate li-
censed administrator is in charge of each facility.
However, the administrator of the nursing home re-
ports to the administrator of the ICC, who is also the
executive administrator for both facilities. The ICC is
a 3-level facility which can accommodate 547 resi-
dents. The Center’s business office is located on the
second (main) level of the ICC, as are the administra-
tive offices, the receptionist, and the admissions office.
The two upper levels each house four patient-care
wings and the lower level has two patient-care wings.
The remaining space is used by the personnel, dietary,
housekeeping-laundry, recreation, and maintenance de-
partments. The nursing home is a 2-level building
1161LINCOLN PARK NURSING HOME
3 The instant case actually considers the issue from the opposite
perspective: whether technical employees may be excluded from
what is otherwise an all nonprofessional unit in a nursing home. The
legal issue is the same. See Hillhaven Convalescent Center, 318
NLRB No. 105 (Sept. 8, 1995).
4 The physical therapy assistant was voted subjected to challenge.
5 In Hillhaven, the LPNs earned $10 per hour, while CNAs earned
$5.50 per hour.
which can accommodate 159 residents, and each floor
has 2 patient-care wings.
I. LICENSED PRACTICAL NURSES
There are approximately 31 LPNs who work in ICC
and about 7 in the nursing home. The nursing depart-
ments in ICC and the nursing home are the largest de-
partments in the Center. In charge of the departments
are directors of nursing (DONs) at each facility. The
DON at the ICC has three assistant directors of nursing
(ADON) who work under her, and the DON at the
nursing home has only one. Under the ADONs are
nursing supervisors and charge nurses, who must be
registered nurses (RNs), and wing nurses, who could
be either RNs or LPNs. The LPNs in dispute are all
employed as wing nurses.
Wing nurses each cover a particular wing during a
shift at the Center and are responsible for delivering
patient care to the patients on the wing. The number
of patients on a wing varies between about 40 and 50.
Also working on each wing during any given shift are
between three and eight nurses aides or orderlies
(aides), depending on the patient care needs of the
wing.
The LPNs employed by the Employer must have at-
tended and graduated from an accredited hospital or
school of nursing which requires 1 year of training.
They also must have passed an examination given by
the State of New Jersey, and been licensed by the
State. Aides who work on the floors with the LPNs
need pass only a state certification course; they are not
required to be high school graduates.
RN and LPN wing nurses have the same responsibil-
ities, except RNs can start intravenous treatments and
give shots intravenously while the LPNs cannot. At the
beginning of each shift, the wing nurse gets a report
from the outgoing wing nurse as to the condition of
patients on the floor. Thereafter, the wing nurse gives
a report to the nursing staff under her and gives the
aides directions as to patient care. For example, aides
may be told to limit fluids for one patient, to take an-
other patient’s temperature every 2 hours, or not to re-
move a third patient from bed that day. Aides do not
have to be told to do routine functions such as chang-
ing bedding, filling water pitchers, or assisting patients
in performing various tasks.
Wing nurses must complete paperwork and docu-
ment their patients’ conditions. They also make rounds
on their wings to check on ill patients and supervise
their care. In addition, wing nurses pass out medica-
tions, initiate care plans for patients, and perform pa-
tient treatments. They do not perform direct patient
care functions such as bathing, showering, cutting
nails, or changing soiled clothes; such functions are
performed by aides.
LPNs earn between about $14 and $18 per hour. As
of the hearing date, they had received their last annual
pay increase in about October 1993, when the RNs
also received pay increases. Aides start at about $8.75
per hour. They received their last annual increases in
about January 1994 when other service employees also
received increases.
The Regional Director applied the ‘‘empirical com-
munity of interest test’’ the Board applies to nonacute
care health care for facilities in these circumstances,
set forth in Park Manor Care Center, 305 NLRB 872
(1991), and concluded that LPNs may be excluded
from the service and maintenance unit found appro-
priate. Under that test, the Board considers commu-
nity-of-interest factors, as well as those factors consid-
ered relevant by the Board in its rulemaking proceed-
ings on Collective-Bargaining Units in the Health Care
Industry, Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 53
FR 33900 (Sept. 1, l988), reprinted at 284 NLRB
1528, and Final Rule, 54 FR 16336 (Apr. 21, 1989),
reprinted at 284 NLRB 1580. The Board further con-
siders the evidence presented during rulemaking with
respect to units in acute care hospitals, and prior cases
involving either the type of unit sought or the type of
health care facility in dispute. In remanding Park
Manor to the Regional Director in that case for appli-
cation of this test, the Board observed that if the em-
ployees excluded by the Regional Director could not
themselves constitute a separate unit they must per-
force be included in the broader unit. 305 NLRB at
875 fn. 18.3 See also Lifeline Mobile Medics, 308
NLRB 1068 (1992), and Hillhaven Convalescent Cen-
ter, supra (discussing the Park Manor test).
In Hillhaven Convalescent Center, the Board re-
cently addressed the issue of whether technical em-
ployees, consisting of LPNs and a physical therapy as-
sistant, may be excluded from the otherwise overall
nonprofessional unit found appropriate at the employ-
er’s nursing home. Applying Park Manor to the par-
ticular facts in that case, the Board found that the tech-
nical employees could be excluded from the unit.4 In
Hillhaven, the Board relied on the specialized skills
and license which permitted technicals to perform dis-
tinct functions, the wide wage gap between the LPNs
and certified nursing assistants,5 and the adequate size
of the technical unit.
We find that under Hillhaven, the LPNs in the in-
stant case were properly excluded from the unit. Here,
the LPNs, unlike the aides with whom they work, have
1162 DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
6 On the day shift, the maintenance employees have daily duties
and are assigned other projects as needed.
specialized training which permits them to perform
distinct functions involving the use of independent
judgment and requiring specialized educational training
and skills. There is a wide wage gap between the
LPNs and aides, and the LPNs constitute a sizable
group of technicals (approximately 38 LPNs). In
Hillhaven, the LPNs had some overlapping duties with
certified nursing assistants such as assisting patients
with hygiene and dress, taking temperatures and blood
pressure, assisting patients to get out of bed and trans-
fer to wheelchairs, etc. In this case, there is no evi-
dence that LPNs perform some of the less skilled tasks
that aides perform. Nor is there evidence here of cross-
training of LPNs and aides, as there was in Hillhaven.
On the contrary, the duties of the LPNs are almost
identical to those of RNs, who also serve as wing
nurses. Under these circumstances, the factors favoring
the exclusion of LPNs from the nonprofessional unit
found appropriate are even stronger than in Hillhaven.
II. SUPERVISORY ISSUES
A. Maintenance Supervisor
Jose Salazar is in charge of maintenance on the
evening shift at the ICC. Two additional employees
also work on that shift. The evening shift has a mini-
mal workload with projects assigned on an as-needed
basis.6 In addition to performing maintenance work
himself, Salazar gives assignments to employees such
as changing light bulbs or fixing leaks, and he mon-
itors their performance. Some ongoing maintenance
work such as painting rooms may be left from the day
shift for him and his crew to finish. Salazar earns over
$11 per hour, about $2 per hour more than the em-
ployees on his shift.
Salazar is also responsible for conducting fire drills
throughout the facility on the evening shift and com-
pleting reports concerning the drills. Salazar advises
employees who participate in the drills as to his obser-
vations. If fire evacuation procedures are not adhered
to, Salazar insures that the employees involved receive
additional in-service training. Additionally, like the di-
rector and assistant director of maintenance on the day
shift, Salazar is required to monitor the entire facility
during his shift to insure security.
The record shows that Salazar has input into em-
ployee performance evaluations, but the evaluations are
completed by Director of Maintenance for ICC Mat-
thew Otte. He also informs Otte of any incidents on
his shift that may result in discipline. Any disciplinary
warnings, however, come from the director of mainte-
nance. Salazar may send employees home if they en-
gage in conduct which is threatening to the well being
of patients. Otherwise, Salazar reports problems with
employee conduct to Otte, and these are addressed by
Otte the following morning. Salazar allows employees
to leave the evening shift early only in emergency situ-
ations, and may make decisions about granting over-
time only when the director or assistant director of
maintenance are not present. He is not involved in hir-
ing.
The Employer’s assistant administrator at ICC,
Elaine O’Keefe, testified generally that Salazar does
not make decisions about terminating maintenance em-
ployees, although he would be consulted by Otte about
a termination on his shift. Although O’Keefe recalled
generally that there have been terminations on
Salazar’s shift, she could not recall a specific incident,
and therefore could not elaborate on Salazar’s involve-
ment with respect to a particular termination.
Contrary to the Regional Director, we find Jose
Salazar not to be a statutory supervisor, because the
record does not show that he exercises any indicia of
supervisory status. In this regard, we find that
Salazar’s role in making assignments to the employees
on his shift does not require the use of independent
judgment. These assignments are limited to performing
repairs as needed, or completing work begun earlier by
the day shift. Thus, the assignments are routine in na-
ture. Moreover, Salazar’s authority to assign overtime
is not only limited to situations when the director and
assistant director of maintenance are not present, there
is no record evidence that he uses independent judg-
ment and discretion in determining whom to assign.
Nor is his limited authority to permit employees to
leave early because of an emergency sufficient to con-
fer supervisory status.
Salazar’s role with respect to performance appraisals
is limited to providing input to the director of mainte-
nance, who is responsible for the evaluations. More-
over, there is no evidence that Salazar effectively rec-
ommends discipline to Otte. Salazar merely reports in-
cidents to him which may result in disciplinary action
at Otte’s discretion. It is well established that the mere
exercise of a reporting function which does not auto-
matically lead to further discipline or adverse action
against an employee does not establish disciplinary au-
thority. Lakeview Health Center, 308 NLRB 75, 78–79
(1992), citing Ohio Masonic Home, 295 NLRB 390,
393 (1989); and Passavant Health Center, 284 NLRB
887, 891 (1987). Finally, although Salazar may send
employees home if they engage in conduct which
poses a threat to patient safety, we find that exercise
of such restricted and sporadic authority limited to spe-
cific and predetermined kinds of conduct does not re-
quire independent judgment and therefore is insuffi-
cient to establish supervisory status. First Western
Bldg. Services, 309 NLRB 591, 602 (1992); Dad’s
1163LINCOLN PARK NURSING HOME
7 For the reasons set forth by the Regional Director, Member
Cohen would find that Salazar is a supervisor.
Foods, 212 NLRB 500, 501 (1974). Thus, we include
Salazar in the unit found appropriate.7
B. Quality Assurance Manager
Stella Bosits, the quality assurance manager, is in
charge of the approximately 9 or 10 quality assurance
aides who are employed by the Employer. The main
function of the quality assurance aides, who the parties
have stipulated should be included in the unit found
appropriate, is to monitor nurses aides and orderlies in
their daily routine of patient care. They complete re-
ports which contain information such as whether pa-
tients have been properly groomed, bathed, and other-
wise cared for, as required. Quality assurance aides re-
port directly to the quality assurance manager, or to a
nurse, any problems in patient care that they encounter.
Bosits reviews the reports provided to her by the qual-
ity assurance aides. Bosits has no role in hiring and no
authority to give out warnings, or to suspend or termi-
nate employees. The assistant administrator at ICC tes-
tified that Bosits evaluates work performance, but that
she does not document the performance or give out
warnings. Instead, she goes to her immediate super-
visor (the supervisor or ADON on the floor) with a
problem. She testified that the DON is responsible for
the performance evaluations of the quality assurance
aides. The record does not show that Bosits’ evalua-
tions of employees’ performance constitute effective
recommendations for promotions, wage increases, or
discipline. We therefore find the evidence concerning
Bosits’ role in performance evaluations to be insuffi-
cient to establish supervisory status. Northcrest Nurs-
ing Home, 313 NLRB 491, 498, 507 (1993). Thus,
contrary to the Regional Director, as the evidence does
not show that Bosits exercises any indicia of super-
visory authority, we find her not to be a supervisor
within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act.
III. CLERICALS AND RECEPTIONISTS
A. Nursing Department Secretaries and Nursing
Department Payroll Clerk
Working in the nursing office on the main floor of
the ICC is a nursing department secretary, Marie Mar-
tin, a nursing department payroll clerk, Loretta Mac-
Donald, and the DON at ICC. A nursing department
secretary, Margaret Lee, also works at the nursing
home. The Regional Director excluded the two sec-
retaries and the clerk from the unit as business office
clericals, noting that they appear to spend most of their
time in their offices, which are separate areas from
those where the employees in the unit sought by the
Petitioner work, that they perform mainly business-
type functions, and that their work is not closely relat-
ed to the functions performed by employees in the
service and maintenance unit.
Marie Martin, the ICC nursing department secretary,
does all the typing for the DON, including revisions to
the nursing procedures manual, employee warning no-
tices, and termination letters. She also files these docu-
ments, as well as employee evaluations and timesheets.
Expired medications are also brought to her by nursing
supervisors, and she is responsible for returning them
to pharmaceutical companies. Martin does not nor-
mally have occasion to leave her office in the perform-
ance of her duties. Martin does not attend monthly de-
partmental meetings. She earns approximately $11 per
hour.
Loretta MacDonald, a nursing department payroll
clerk, spends approximately 2 to 2–1/2 days per week
tallying employees’ hours from their timecards and
submitting this information to the business office. Her
calculations take into account paid sick days, vacation
days, and bonus days. MacDonald also maintains an
annual master log of employees’ attendance, which is
submitted about every 2 months to the DON for her
review for lateness and absenteeism. Further, Mac-
Donald is responsible for scheduling employees in the
ICC nursing department, including nurses, nurses
aides, quality assurance aides, and orderlies on a mas-
ter schedule, which is prepared about a month in ad-
vance. This schedule lists the names of employees and
the dates and shifts that they are scheduled to work.
MacDonald is aware of the set shifts on which the var-
ious employees were hired to work and she is given
staffing quotas that must be met. Vacation requests,
which have been approved by the department head, as
well as days off, bonus days, and holidays, are noted
on the master schedule. After the schedule is prepared
it is given to the DON for review. Once approved, it
is posted on bulletin boards for employees to see. Un-
expected vacancies, such as when illnesses occur, are
filled by announcing overtime opportunities to the
staff. Administration approves additional staffing,
when required. MacDonald earns approximately $12
per hour.
Margaret Lee performs typing and filing work for
the DON in the nursing home. Lee works with em-
ployees’ timecards and calculates employees’ weekly
hours, which are submitted to the business office for
payroll purposes. Also, like the payroll clerk in ICC,
she prepares master work schedules for nurses aides in
the department. Lee does not, however, prepare work
schedules for the nursing home nurses, as those sched-
ules are prepared by the DON in the nursing home.
Lee also purchases supplies for the nursing department
approximately twice a month, or as needed. The sup-
plies are stored by her in a locked central supply area
for which she is given a key.
1164 DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
8 The Petitioner argued to the Regional Director that the nursing
department secretaries are confidential employees because they type
warnings and termination letters, and file evaluations and timesheets.
The Regional Director found it unnecessary to reach this issue be-
cause he excluded the nursing secretaries from the unit as business
office clericals.
9 We note that the record does not specifically establish that Mar-
garet Lee, the nursing secretary for the DON in the nursing home,
files or types confidential information, as does her counterpart,
Marie Martin, in the ICC.
10 Ramos also assists the medical records clerk with medical
records, assists with taking people on tours of the building, and de-
livers supplies to the floor when ward clerks are absent.
In prior cases, the Board has distinguished between
business office clericals and other clericals, consist-
ently including the latter in service and maintenance
units in hospitals where they have contact with the
service and maintenance unit. Rhode Island Hospital,
313 NLRB 343, 359 (1993); Mercy Hospitals of Sac-
ramento, 217 NLRB 765, 770 (1975); St. Luke’s Epis-
copal Hospital, 222 NLRB 674, 676 (1976); and Duke
University, 226 NLRB 470, 470–471 (1976). In the
Board’s rulemaking proceedings, the Board also recog-
nized the distinction between business office clericals
and other types of clericals. 53 FR 33924–33926, re-
printed at 284 NLRB 1562–1565. The Board noted
that business office clericals perform distinct functions:
handling finances and billing, and dealing with Medi-
care, Medicaid, and other reimbursement systems.
Business office clericals are generally supervised sepa-
rately in business office clerical departments; this sepa-
ration has resulted from the almost universal cen-
tralization of business office functions. Business office
clericals have little interaction with other nonprofes-
sionals as the business office clerical offices are often
physically isolated. Rhode Island Hospital, supra at
359.
Contrary to the Regional Director, we find that the
nursing department secretaries and payroll clerk should
not be excluded from the unit as business office
clericals. None of these employees performs work as-
sociated with business office clericals, such as han-
dling finances and billing, and dealing with Medicare,
Medicaid, and other reimbursement systems. Although
these employees have limited or no interaction with
service and maintenance employees, this is not the re-
sult of grouping them together in isolation from other
nonprofessionals, unlike the business office clericals
described in rulemaking. The nursing department
clericals therefore fit within the ‘‘other types of
clericals’’ classifications which traditionally have been
included in the service and maintenance units, notwith-
standing that they do not perform work closely related
to the functions performed by employees in the service
and maintenance unit.
We also find that the nursing department secretaries
are not confidential employees.8 It is well established
that the Board will exclude employees from a bargain-
ing unit as confidentials only if those employees assist
and act in a confidential capacity to persons who for-
mulate, determine, and effectuate management policies
in the field of labor relations. B. F. Goodrich Co., 115
NLRB 722 (1956); Bakersfield Californian, 316 NLRB
1211 (l995). Moreover, merely having access to files
containing confidential material, including records of
grievances, does not establish confidential status. Ba-
kersfield Californian, supra; Rhode Island Hospital,
supra. Nor does the typing of disciplinary matters,
grievances, or other material relating to personnel
problems render an employee confidential. As the
nursing department secretaries at most have access to
files containing confidential material such as evalua-
tions and timesheets, and may type warnings or termi-
nation notices for the DON, we find that these duties
are insufficient to establish confidential status.9 Thus,
neither of the nursing department secretaries performs
confidential duties.
B. Receptionists
Four receptionists work at various times in the ICC,
and two receptionists work at various times in the
nursing home. Both the ICC and nursing home recep-
tionists work in areas of their facilities near the main
lobbies. The nursing home receptionist who works on
weekdays, Rosemary Ramos, shares an office with the
admissions coordinator (a unit employee) and the med-
ical records clerk (excluded from the unit as a con-
fidential employee).
Incoming calls for both ICC and the nursing home
come into a central switchboard located in ICC, which
is staffed by the receptionists. If the call is for some-
one in ICC, she will transfer the call to the appropriate
extension in that building. If the call is for someone
in the nursing home, it will be transferred to the nurs-
ing home first, and from there it will be transferred by
the receptionist to the appropriate extension. The re-
ceptionists in both buildings also greet visitors when
they enter the facilities and request that they sign a
register.
In addition to her other functions, Ramos is required
to do typing for the administrator and for various de-
partment heads in the nursing home, who, except for
the head of nursing, do not have their own secretaries.
She may, for example, type quality assurance reports
for other department heads. She does not type griev-
ances or disciplinary actions arising in the business of-
fice. Ramos files information related to labor relations.
Most (80–90 percent) of her time is spent at her desk
in the office.10
The receptionists in ICC report to the business office
manager, who is responsible for their annual perform-
ance appraisals and for disciplining them, if necessary.
The receptionists in the nursing home report to the ad-
1165LINCOLN PARK NURSING HOME
ministrator of the nursing home, who also evaluates
them. The starting pay for receptionists is about $7 an
hour.
The Regional Director found the receptionists to be
business office clericals, noting that they have a rel-
atively minimal amount of contact with employees in
the service and maintenance unit, that they are not in-
volved in patient care, that the receptionists in ICC re-
port to and are evaluated by the business office man-
ager, and the receptionists in the nursing home are also
supervised differently from employees in the service
and maintenance unit.
We find, contrary to the Regional Director, that the
ICC and nursing home receptionists are not business
office clericals. The receptionists do not handle fi-
nances and billing, or deal with Medicare, Medicaid,
or other reimbursement systems. They work in areas of
the facilities near the main lobbies, and they are not
physically isolated in the business office clerical of-
fices. As discussed above, that the receptionists may
have minimal contact with unit employees does not
preclude them from being in the unit, because this is
not the result of grouping them together in isolation
from other nonprofessionals, unlike the business office
clericals described in rulemaking. Nor is the Regional
Director’s reliance on the receptionists’ lack of in-
volvement in patient care determinative, because the
unit includes employees involved in patient care (e.g.,
nurses aides) and employees not involved in patient
care (e.g., housekeeping, dietary). Thus, we include
them in the unit. Charter Hospital of Orlando South,
313 NLRB 951 (1994) (receptionist included in non-
professional unit excluding business office clericals).
ORDER
The Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of
Election is affirmed with respect to the exclusion of
the Employer’s technical employees from the non-
professional service and maintenance unit; and is re-
versed with respect to the exclusion of the evening
maintenance supervisor, the quality assurance manager,
the nursing department secretaries, the nursing depart-
ment payroll clerk, and the receptionists. This proceed-
ing is remanded to the Regional Director for further
appropriate action, including the opening and counting
of ballots cast in the election.