St. Elizabeth's Hospital of Boston

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 15, 1975

220 N.L.R.B. 325 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

ST. ELIZABETH'S HOSPITAL OF BOSTON 325
St. Elizabeth 's Hospital of Boston and District 1199
Mass. , National Union of Hospital and Health Care
Employees, a Division of RWDSU, AFL-CIO, Pe-
titioner. Cases I-RC-13461 and 1-RC-13462
September 15, 1975
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS J ENKINS
AND PENELLO
Upon the petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Francis X.
McDonough of the National Labor Relations Board.
Following the hearing and pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations and Statements of Procedure, Series
8, as amended , the case was transferred to the Board
for decision . Briefs were filed by the Employer and
the Petitioner.
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 Officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free
from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the National
Labor Relations Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming
to represent employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of employees of the Employer
within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6) and
(7) of the Act.
A. Appropriate Unit
Employer is a Massachusetts corporation orga-
nized as a nonprofit health care institution with its
principal place of business in Boston, Massachusetts.
In Case 1-RC-13461, Petitioner seeks a unit of tech-
nical employees. In Case 1-RC-13462, Petitioner
seeks a broad service and maintenance unit. Employ-
er contends that the only appropriate unit is a wall-
to-wall or overall unit. We agree with Petitioner's po-
sition as to the appropriate unit. We have recently
decided in Nathan and Miriam Barnert Memorial
Hospital Association d/b/a Barnert Memorial Hospital
Center, 217 NLRB No. 132 (1975), that separate
units of technical employees and of service and
maintenance employees of nonprofit hospitals are
appropriate for bargaining. We therefore find appro-
priate the units sought by Petitioner. There are a
number of unit placement issues which will be dis-
cussed hereinafter.
B. Clerical Employees
The inpatient admitting clerks, the outpatient ad-
mitting clerks, and the main lobby receptionists are
business office clericals and are therefore excluded
from both units. The other clerical classifications dis-
cussed in the record I are hospital clericals and we
will therefore properly include them in the service
and maintenance unit. In St. Catherine's Hospital of
Dominican Sisters of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Inc., 217
NLRB No. 133 (1975), we found that receptionists
and admitting desk employees are business office
clericals. In Newington Children's Hospital, 217
NLRB No. 134 (1975), we included in the service and
maintenance unit all clerical employees who are not
business office clerical employees. There we stated as
the test that "the hospital clericals (as contrasted
with business office clericals) are located geographi-
cally throughout the hospital, within various depart-
ments composed of other service and maintenance
employees."
C. Graduate Nurses and Chemists
Graduate nurses and senior nursing assistants have
graduated but have not yet passed the registration
examination for registered nurses, either because
they have not taken the exam or because they have
failed it before. In accord with Mercy Hospitals of
Sacramento, Inc., 217 NLRB No. 131 (1975), we find
these nurses to be professional employees within the
meaning of the Act, and we therefore exclude them
from both units. We do not at this time pass on the
question of how many times a nurse is allowed to fail
the registration exam before her professional status is
dissolved.
i In-service education clerk-typist, nursing service secretary, nursing
equipment and supply clerk, emergency room hostess, emergency room
clerk, dietary department clerk, central supply room clerk, pharmacy clerk,
social service secretary, social service clerk-typist, chemistry clerk-typist,
pediatrics secretary, histology clerk-typist, bacteriology clerk-typist, hema-
tology clerk-typist, pathology clerk-typist, chemistry clerk-typist, laboratory
administration receptionist, pulmonary laboratory secretary, inhalation
clerk, psychiatry secretary, x-ray department secretary, x-ray department
transcriber, x-ray department receptionist-clerk, x-ray department file clerk,
neurology department secretary, neurology department transcriber, surgical
service secretary, obstetrical-gynecological medical secretary, out-patient
services secretary, blood bank clerk, cardiology department secretary, cardi-
ology department stenographer, cardiology department records clerk, intra-
venous solution clerk, cardiac surgery secretary, social service clerk, nuclear
medicine secretary, and nuclear medicine clerk-typist
220 NLRB No. 61
326 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
There are three laboratory chemists. Two of the
three chemists have college degrees specializing in
chemistry, and the third chemist has 2 to 3 years of
training as a medical technologist, and about 6 years
of service with a public health system. The chemists
sometimes do 100 tests a day and they perform 20 to
30 different types of tests . They bring independent
judgment and specialized skills to bear, especially
since they make improvements in procedures. They
can also spot faults and correct them. We therefore
find the chemists to be professionals as their educa-
tional qualifications and duties are very similar to
those of the chemists found to be professionals in
Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, supra.
D. Chef
According to the job description in evidence, the
chef directs, supervises, and participates in the activi-
ties of preparing, cooking, and serving a wide variety
of food for hospital patients and cafeteria operations.
He also plans and arranges menus with the dieticians
and the food service director. On the other hand, it
was developed at the hearing not only that the chef
has no authority to hire, fire, discharge, or discipline
employees, but also that he spends approximately 95
percent of his workday in production. It was also
developed at the hearing that the food service direc-
tor and his assistants distribute the workload to
kitchen personnel and cooks and that the chef gives
only routine instructions with respect to the produc-
tion schedule. The food service director and his three
assistants come into the kitchen on a staggered basis
all day long.
Since it is not clear from the record whether the
chef is a supervisor or not, we shall allow him to vote
subject to challenge.
E. Food Supervisors
Food supervisors are responsible for obtaining
menus, distributing them to patients, helping patients
to select what items they like, collecting the menus,
returning them to the dietary office, and checking the
kitchens for sanitation and quality control as far as
the meals are concerned. The food supervisors do not
have any assigning authority over the diet aides and
cannot discipline, reprimand, hire, or fire diet aides.
There was only one instance cited in the record
where a food supervisor reported an uncooperative
diet aide who was subsequently disciplined. In view
of the duties of the food supervisors, it is clear that
they are not supervisors under the Act, and we shall
therefore include them in the service and mainte-
nance unit.
F. Nursing Students
There are a number of nursing students at the St.
Elizabeth's School of Nursing who work part time as
nurses aides in the hospital itself. Freshmen student
nurses cannot work until after they have spent 24
weeks in the school. Thereafter the nursing students
can work only a maximum of 12 hours a week. As
they work only 12 hours a week, they receive no
fringe benefits. Their performance as nursing aides is
not evaluated. Upon graduation many of the nursing
students go to work for the hospital as graduate nurs-
es. As the nursing students are treated differently
from nonstudent employees, their employment is
only incidental to their educational objectives, and
their interests are separate from those of nonstudent
employees, we shall exclude the nursing students
from the service and maintenance unit?
G. Part-Time Employees
The parties are in disagreement as to the unit
placement of regular part-time employees.' The hos-
pital is heavily dependent on regular part-time em-
ployees. From a list which was introduced into evi-
dence it seems that approximately a third of the
employees are regular part-time employees. This is
necessitated by the fact that services are provided
around the clock. Petitioner would exclude all part-
time employees working less than 20 hours per week.
Employer would include in the unit all regular part-
time employees. The only difference between regular
part-time employees and full-time employees relates
to , fringe benefits. Employees working under 20
hours have no fringe benefits. Employees working
between 20 and 24 hours receive holidays, vacation,
and sick leave. Employees working between 24 and
30 hours receive, in addition to the previously men-
tioned fringe benefits, regular life insurance and disa-
bility insurance . Employees working over 30 hours
have all fringe benefits including health insurance.
On the other hand, the part-time employees have the
same working conditions and work duties as the
other employees. In Barnert Memorial Hospital Cen-
ter, supra, Petitioner sought to exclude part -time em-
ployees working less than 16 hours a week. We in-
cluded the employees in the unit noting that "all
part-time employees in the two units found appropri-
ate here, whether they average more or less than 16
hours a week, are regularly scheduled by the hospital
2 Saga Food Service of California, Inc., 212 NLRB 786 (1974 ), and cases
cited therein.
J The parties have stipulated that on-call employees should be excluded as
casuals since they have no community of interest with the other employees.
We accept this stipulation since it does not violate Board policy.
ST. ELIZABETH'S HOSPITAL OF BOSTON
and perform the same work as all other full time em-
ployees in their classification, doing the work in the
same place under the same supervision . Accordingly,
we reject Petitioner's contention that employees
working less than 2 days, or 16 hours, per week
should be excluded from the units we have found
appropriate . . . ." In accord with this decision, we
therefore include regular part-time employees in the
unit found appropriate.
Employer contends that the lead housemen, the
lead maids, the nursing school housemen, and the
nursing school maids should be included in the unit.
The Petitioner does not oppose this contention. As
Employer's position is supported by the record we
shall include the aforementioned employees in the
service and maintenance unit . Employer would also
include in the unit the nursing school housemothers.
As Petitioner's assertion that the housemothers are
supervisory or managerial is not supported by record
evidence, we shall include the housemothers in the
service and maintenance unit.
Having found a unit of technical employees to be
appropriate we are faced with the unit placement of
several employees. Licensed practical nurses are of
course included in the technical employees unit. We
will discuss hereinafter the unit placement of 23 dis-
puted classifications of employees and we will make
our decisions based on the parameters set forth in
Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, supra.
1. Renal technician
This technician has knowledge of the specialized
field of renal dialysis equivalent to 2 years of college
and has over 3 months and up to and including 6
months of experience . We shall therefore include this
technician in the technical unit.
2. Dialysis technician
This job also requires knowledge of the specialized
field of renal dialysis equivalent to 2 years of college
and requires 1 and up to 2 years of experience. We
therefore find this classification to be properly in-
cluded in the technical unit.
3. Cardiopulmonary technician
This job requires a broad knowledge of the car-
diopulmonary field, including the functions of cath-
eterization and related tests and techniques. This
knowledge is equivalent to a college education. Expe-
rience of 9 to 12 months is required. We therefore
find this classification to be included in the technical
unit.
327
4. Radiology special procedures technician
This position requires thorough knowledge of ra-
diology including regular and special procedures,
techniques, methods, and equipment. The employee
should be familiar with record report preparation
and maintenance. This knowledge is equivalent to a
high school education plus additional specialized
training comparable to 2 years of college. Experience
required is over 1 and up to 2 years. We therefore
find this classification to be technical.
5. Ultrasound technician
This position requires thorough knowledge of ra-
diology, regular and special procedures, and ultra-
sound techniques, methods, and equipment. The em-
ployee must be familiar with record report
information and maintenance. Experience required is
over I year and up to 2 years. We therefore find this
classification to be technical.
6. Inhalation therapist
This position requires knowledge of inhalation
therapy testing equipment and lab practices. This
knowledge is equivalent to a high school education
plus additional specialized training. The employee
must have over I and up to 2 years of experience. We
therefore find this position to be technical.
7. Pulmonary function therapist
This position requires knowledge of inhalation
therapy, testing equipment, and lab procedures. This
knowledge is equivalent to a high school education
plus additional specialized training and an employee
performing the job must have over 1 and up to 2
years of experience. We therefore find this classifica-
tion to be technical.
8. Blood gas technician
This position requires knowledge of inhalation
therapy, testing equipment, and lab practices. This
knowledge is equivalent to a high school education
plus additional specialized training, and the employ-
ee performing this job must have over 1 year and up
to 2 years of experience. We therefore find this classi-
fication to be technical.
9. Cardiac technician
This position requires thorough knowledge of clin-
ical research laboratory technology, and familiarity
328 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
with the operation of the latest laboratory equip-
ment. This knowledge is equivalent to 2 years of col-
lege and the incumbent of the job must have over 1
plus up to 2 years of experience. This position is
therefore technical.
10. Chemical technician
diology, regular and special procedures, techniques,
methods, and equipment, and familiarity with record
report preparation and maintenance. This knowledge
is equivalent to a high school education plus addi-
tional specialized training comparable to 2 years of
college; 1 and up to 2 years of experience is neces-
sary. We therefore find this position to be technical.
This position requires thorough knowledge of the
specialized field of chemistry and is equivalent to a
high school education plus additional training equal
to 2 years of college. An employee must have 6
months and up to 1 year of college. The position also
requires an employee to be a certified lab assistant
(CLA) or its equivalent through training and experi-
ence . We therefore find this position to be technical.
11. Histology technician
This position requires knowledge of histology lab
techniques and equipment. This knowledge is equiva-
lent to a high school education plus additional spe-
cialized training. Experience necessary is over 2 and
up to 3 years. Certification by the American Society
of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) is eventually re-
quired for the job or its equivalent in experience and
training . We therefore find this position to be techni-
cal.
12. Cytotechnologist
The education required for this position is equiva-
lent to a high school education plus 2 years of col-
lege, and experience necessary is 1 year and up to 2
years . An ASCP certificate or its equivalent in train-
ing and experience is necessary . We therefore find
this position to be technical.
13. Blood bank technologist
This position requires knowledge of medical tech-
nology, including hematology, chemistry, bacteriolo-
gy, and related sciences . Familiarity with methods
and techniques related to blood bank, hematology,
and chemistry lab functions is necessary. This knowl-
edge is the equivalent of 2 years of college education,
and experience required is over 9 and up to 12
months. ASCP certification is eventually required,
but it can be substituted by equivalent training and
experience. We therefore find this position to be
technical.
14. Registered x-ray technician
This position requires a thorough knowledge of ra-
15. Chemical lab technologist
This position requires broad knowledge of the field
of medical technology , involving chemistry , biology,
serology , and related sciences . Familiarity with the
functions and operations of lab equipment and pro-
cedures is necessary . This knowledge is equivalent to
4 years of college and the experience necessary is
over I and up to 2 years . An ASCP certificate is
required or its equivalent in training and experience.
We therefore find this position to be technical.4
16. Bacteriology lab technologist
This position requires broad knowledge of medical
technology, including the physical sciences such as
bacteriology, serology, hematology, biology, and
others. The employee must be familiar with related
lab equipment. This knowledge is equivalent to 4
years of college education, and the experience re-
quired is over 9 and up to 12 months. An ASCP cer-
tificate is required, or its equivalent in training and
experience. We therefore find this position to be
technical.
17. Hematology technician
This position requires broad knowledge of the clin-
ical lab sciences such as hematology, chemistry, and
associated techniques. The employee must also be fa-
miliar with anatomy. This knowledge is equivalent to
4 years of college, and experience required is over 9
and up to 12 months. The employee must have a
CLA certificate or its equivalent in training. We
therefore find this position to be technical.
18. Nuclear medicine technician
This position requires broad technical knowledge
of lab testing procedures involving isotopes, blood,
and gland studies. This knowledge is equivalent to a
complete college or university education resulting in
a degree in biology or biochemistry, and the experi-
ence necessary is over 2 and up to 3 years. We there-
4 No contention is made that employees in classifications 15, 16, 17, and
18 are professionals.
ST. ELIZABETH'S HOSPITAL OF BOSTON 329
fore find this position to be technical.
19. Operating room technician
This position requires knowledge of surgical in-
struments and supplies, and some knowledge of vari-
ous operating room machines and techniques and
procedures in assisting surgeons. The training is
equivalent to a high school education plus additional
specialized courses, and the experience necessary is
over 9 and up to 12 months. Since we do not find
that the education required for and the independent
judgment exercised in this job are sufficient to classi-
fy it as technical, we shall therefore include this em-
ployee in the service and maintenance unit.
20. EKG technician
This position requires a basic knowledge of arith-
metic, accuracy in checking, posting, and counting,
and knowledge equivalent to a high school educa-
tion. The only experience necessary is over 1 and up
to 2 months. We therefore find that this position is
not technical and therefore include it in the service
and maintenance unit.
21. EEG technician
This position requires knowledge of electroen-
cephalograph techniques and machine operations,
and office and technical procedures. The training is
the equivalent of a high school education plus addi-
tional specialized courses . The only experience neces-
sary is over 1 but up to 2 years. We therefore find
that this position is not technical and we include it in
the service and maintenance unit.
22. Darkroom technician
This position requires basic knowledge of arithme-
tic and English and familiarity with darkroom tech-
niques and solution preparation. The knowledge nec-
essary is equivalent to a high school education, and
the only experience required is over 2 and up to 3
months. We therefore find that this position is not
technical and we include it in the service and mainte-
nance unit.
23. Equipment technician
This position requires training and education
equivalent to high school, additional specialized
courses, and over 3 months and up to 12 months of
experience. We therefore find that this position is not
technical and we include it in the service and mainte-
nance unit.
We therefore find the following units appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
Case 1-RC-13462
All regular full-time and part-time employees in
the service and maintenance areas employed by the
Employer at its hospital facilities in Boston, Massa-
chusetts, but excluding all administrators, profession-
als, confidential employees, office clerical employees,
and technical employees, registered nurses, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees.
Case I-RC-13461
All regular full-time and part-time technical em-
ployees employed by the Employer at its hospital fa-
cility located in Boston, Massachusetts, but exclud-
ing all administrators, professionals, confidential
employees, office and clerical employees, registered
nurses, service and maintenance employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees.
[Direction of Elections S omitted from publica-
tion.] 6
MEMBER PENELLO, dissenting:
For the reasons set forth in my dissent in Nathan
and Miriam Barnert Memorial Hospital Association,
supra, I also dissent in this case. I would not find
appropriate separate units of service and mainte-
nance employees and technical employees, but rather
I would find the appropriate unit to be all service and
maintenance employees including technical employ-
ees and licensed practical nurses, but excluding busi-
ness office clericals and all other employees.'
S The Regional Director shall determine whether the showing of interest is
sufficient in each unit before proceeding with the elections.
6 Excelsior fn. omitted from publication.
7 I concur in my colleagues ' determinations that the admitting clerks and
receptionists are business office clericals and therefore are excluded from
both units, and that the graduate nurses and chemists are professionals