Wing Memorial Hospital Association

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 19, 1975

217 N.L.R.B. 1015 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

WING MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ASSN. 1015'
Wing Memorial Hospital Association and Massa-
chusetts Nurses Association, Petitioner. Case
1--RC-13490
May 19, 1975
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY MEMBERS FANNING, KENNEDY, AND PENELLO
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer S. Anthony Di Ciero
of the National Labor Relations Board. Following the
hearing, the Regional Director for Region 1 transferred
this case to the Board for decision. Thereafter, the
Employer and the Petitioner filed briefs with the Board
which have been duly considered.
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 proceeding, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer, a private nonprofit hospital in
Palmer, Massachusetts, is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to repre-
sent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning
the representation of certain employees of the Em-
ployer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Sec-
tion 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
- 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a professional
unit of all registered nurses excluding all other em-
ployees and supervisors as defined in Section 2(11) of
the Act. The Employer agrees as to the appropriateness
of such a unit but contends, contrary to the Petitioner,
that the following registered nurses should be excluded
as supervisors within the meaning of the Act:
supervisors,' head nurses, the operating room supervi-
sor, and the community health center department
head.
The hospital, which is licensed for 98 beds, has ap-
proximately 325 employees including about 42 full-
time and 39 part-time registered nurses (RN's), and an
unspecified number of physicians, licensed practical
nurses (LPN's), nurses aides, orderlies, laboratory em-
ployees, office employees, and general maintenance
employees. Executive Director Edwin Thorn is the ad-
1 The request of the parties for oral argument is hereby denied as the
record and briefs adequately set forth their contentions.
2 Also referred to below as shift supervisors.
ministrator of the hospital .' Marilyn Corey serves as
the director of nursing4 and is in charge of the nursing
service department.'
Shift supervisors.6 The hospital is staffed three shifts
per day, 7 days a week. Six RN 's-Mary Beynor, Helen
Colburn , Ann Duggan , Ann Walker, Betty Davis, and
Regina Janosz-work at least 2 days a week as
supervisors .' Each is in complete charge of all nursing
personnel working on a particular shift in the following
sections of the hospital : coronary care , acute care, ex-
tended care , routine care, pediatrics , and emergency.
The supervisors are in the highest pay grade' and
are responsible and accountable for their shift. They
receive reports from the supervisors on the preceding
shift, make the rounds on their own shift , and brief the
supervisor on the succeeding shift . Although the basic
weekly staffing pattern is prepared in advance by the
director of nursing, the supervisors handle timecards
and must make daily adjustments in scheduling. They
also authorize overtime , call in nurses who are off duty,
and make transfers from one section to another. Super-
visors may permit employees to come in late or leave
early and have the authority to evaluate , reprimand,
and discipline nursing personnel . While supervisors do
not hire employees, their recommendations in this re-
gard carry weight with the director of nursing.' Fi-
nally, the supervisors attend supervisory meetings.
As the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Wel-
fare stated in its report on the Coverage of Nonprofit
Hospitals Under the National Labor Relations Act,lo
"the Board has carefully avoided applying the defini-
tion of `supervisor ' to a health care professional who
gives direction to other employees in the exercise of
professional judgment , which direction is incidental to
the professional 's treatment of patients, and thus is not
the exercise of supervisory authority in the interest of
the employer." Although the shift supervisors herein
may give some direction to other nursing personnel "in
3 As indicated below, there is also an assistant director-controller
4 The parties stipulated to Corey's supervisory status
5 However, as noted below, the director of nursing is not in charge of the
personnel in the community health center department of the hospital.
6 The director of nursing provided a comprehensive description of this
category. The only other information was supplied by Kathleen Seavers, a
former part-time supervisor, who testified she did not fill out evaluation
forms or interview applicants and could not recall being told that she had
the authority to discipline employees. Seavers restricted her testimony to
herself and there is no evidence to show that her duties were broader in
scope than those of Judith Fisher, a relief supervisor who was stipulated to
be a nonsupervisor- We therefore rely on the account which pertains to the
entire group of shift supervisors
7 As indicated above, Fisher, who fills in as a shift supervisor and whose
primary functions appear to be those of a staff nurse, was stipulated to be
a nonsupervisor
8 Grade 13 had a starting hourly rate of $4 80. In contrast, Fisher is in
grade 9 with an hourly starting rate of $4.
9 Prior to 1972, they also made recommendations for salary increases
which were given weight by the executive director However, there have
been no recommendations of this type since that time because of the Em-
ployer's practice of making general wage increases.
10 S Rept. 93-766, 93d Cong, 2d sess 6 (April 2, 1974)
217 NLRB No. 172
1016 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the exercise of professional judgment," the traditional
standards for determining supervisory status remain
applicable to the RN's. It is clear that the supervisors,
who are in charge of nursing and other personnel on
their shift, responsibly direct them and possess such
indicia of supervision as authorizing overtime, calling
in off-duty employees, revising schedules, making as-
signments, transfers, and evaluations, and effectively
recommending action with respect to hiring. Accord-
ingly, we conclude that the six shift supervisors named
above are supervisors within the meaning of the Act
and we shall therefore exclude them from the unit.
Head nurses: As noted above, there are six sections
in the hospital with the following head nurses, who are
in pay grade 11,11 in charge of the day shifts:` Arlene
Cadieux directs the coronary care section which has
one other RN. Ann Celona directs the routine care
section which includes three other RN's, senior nurses
aides, orderlies, and ward secretary. Catherine Gra-
bowsky directs the acute care section which includes
two other RN's and two or three other employees. Ann
Manning directs the pediatric care section which usu-
ally has only one other employee who is not required
to be an RN. Mary O'Brien directs the extended care
facility which has one other RN and four other em-
ployees. Beverly Wilson, who is relieved by another RN
on her day off, is usually the only individual who serves
the physician in the emergency room. However, on
those occasions when a senior nurses aide is present,
she is under Wilson's direction.
The shift supervisor selects the personnel for each
section and the head nurse in turn assigns them to
certain patients. If an employee desires to go home
because of illness or for some other reason, the head
nurse notifies the supervisor. When additional person-
nel is needed in her section, the head nurse contacts the
supervisor who makes the necessary arrangements.
While the head nurse may reprimand employees in her
section, she informs the supervisor in the event she
needs help in disciplining them. When an employee
desires a change in scheduling, the request is submitted
to the shift supervisor. Head nurses are asked by the
supervisor for an evaluation of the employees in their
unit. At the meetings held by head nurses alone or
jointly with the supervisors, the principal topics dis-
cussed are those pertaining to medical and nursing
problems.
The head nurses serve basically as team leaders.
They are essentially the "source persons" who are
looked to by the other RN's and nursing personnel for
advice and counsel in the care of patients.
11 The hourly starting rate is $4.18.
12 During the second and third shifts, the sections are directed by charge
nurses who were stipulated to be nonsupervisors.
As stated above, the Board- has carefully avoided
applying the definition of "supervisor" to a health care
professional who gives direction to other employees
which is incidental to the professional's treatment of
patients. As already indicated, the head nurses function
as team leaders of other RN's and auxiliary personnel.
Their duties and authority in assigning employees to
particular patients and directing their work are princi-
pally the -product of highly professional skills and do
not, without more, constitute an exercise of supervisory
authority in the interest of their Employer. Unlike the
shift supervisors, who responsibly direct the RN's and
other nursing personnel on each shift, the head nurses
do not possess the authority to make effective recom-
mendations as to hiring, and do not revise schedules,
authorize overtime, make transfers, or call in off-duty
employees.13 Nor do they discipline employees beyond
the stage of a verbal reprimand.14 Finally, the duties
and responsibilities of head nurses do not appear to be
significantly greater than those of the RN's who func-
tion as charge nurses, a category which, as noted above,
was stipulated by the parties to be nonsupervisory. Ac-
cordingly, we find that the head nurses are not supervi-
sors as defined in the Act and we shall include them in
the unit.
Operating room supervisor: Patricia Zambito, a grade
13 RN, controls the operating room, the recovery
room, and the central supply room. The four employees
working in that area are an RN who is the recovery
room nurse, an LPN, an operating room (OR) techni-
cian, and a central supply employee. _
Although Zambito does not make the final decision
as to hiring, she has interviewed applicants and her
judgment as to their qualifications is "highly regarded"
and given considerable weight by the director of nurs-
ing and the executive director. On many occasions,
Zambito also provides OR personnel to help in other
parts of the hospital and arranges with a shift supervi-
sor for extra coverage in the OR area.
Zambito fills out timecards, does scheduling, and
assigns personnel to specific tasks relating to surgery.
She has the authority to reprimand employees and to
excuse their tardiness. In addition, Zambito evaluates
employees in her area and attends supervisory meetings
whenever possible."
While it appears that Zambito acts as the team leader
of her group, we nevertheless find that she is a supervi-
13 Cf. Doctors' Hospital of Modesto, a wholly owned subsidiary of National
Medical Enterprises, Inc, 183 NLRB 950 (1970)
14 As indicated above, head nurses often refer to and depend upon the
shift supervisors for decisions as to discipline, changes in scheduling, and
granting time off to employees
15 The foregoing description of Zambito's duties is principally based on
the testimony of the director of nursing Although Zambito stated that she
was not told that she had the authority to discipline employees, her less
complete testimony as to her duties is not otherwise inconsistent with the
more comprehensive account of the director of nursing
WING MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ASSN.
sor within the meaning of the Act because, inter alia,
she also evaluates, schedules, and transfers employees,
and, most significantly, because she interviews appli-
cants for employment as to whom she makes effective
recommendations. We shall therefore exclude Zambito
from the unit.
Community health center department head..- Maureen
Burkavange, an RN," is responsible for the manage-
ment of the community health center, a department of
the hospital which provides outpatient care. The center
is staffed by two other RN's, LPN's, medical assistants,
and clerical employees. Although she reports to the
executive director and the assistant director-controller
rather than the director of nursing, she coordinates her
department with the rest of the hospital.
Burkavange may spend as much as a majority of her
time assisting the physicians at the center and directing
the other two RN's at the center in the interest of
patient care. She also interviews applicants referred to
her by the executive director and it is she who decides
who is hired." Burkavange has "wide discretion" to
discipline employees and her recommendations as to
discharge "outweigh" any contrary opinion of the ex-
ecutive director.
16 She receives a salary the amount of which was not contained in the
record
17 The record shows that Burkavange hired one of the RN's and that her
approval was required before the other RN was transferred to the center
from another part of the hospital.
1017
Burkavange schedules, assigns, and evaluates certain
employees, and has the authority to call in part-time
personnel in the event an employee fails to come to
work. She also has the authority to transfer employees
from the center to another location in the hospital.
It is clear from the foregoing that, in addition to her
professional duties, Burkavange has the authority to
hire RN's and other employees, makes effective recom-
mendations as to discharge, and is empowered to disci-
pline, schedule, assign, and transfer employees. We
therefore find that Burkavange is a supervisor within
the meaning of the Act and we shall exclude her from
the unit.
Upon the entire record, we find that the following
employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropri-
ate for the purpose of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All registered nurses employed by the Employer at
its hospital in `Palmer, Massachusetts, including
the diabetic teaching nurse, the admissions coor-
dinator, the nurse anesthetist, charge nurses, and
head nurses, but excluding all other employees,
the director of nursing, (shift) supervisors, operat-
ing room supervisor, community health center de-
partment head, and all other supervisors as de-
fined in the Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omit-
ted from publication.]