St. Claude General Hospital

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 5, 1975

219 N.L.R.B. 991 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

ST. CLAUDE GENERAL HOSPITAL Mendenco Hospitals of Louisiana , Inc., d/b/a St. Claude General Hospital and Laundry and Dry- cleaning International Union, Local 100, AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case 15-RC-5558 August 5, 1975 DECISION ON REVIEW AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING AND JENKINS Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Karn K. La- Martin of the National Labor Relations Board. On November 25, 1974, the Regional Director for Re- gion 15 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding, in which he found that a grouping of the Employer's service and main- tenance employees constitutes a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9(b) of the Act. Thereafter, the Em- ployer, in accordance with Section 102.67 of the Na- tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, filed a request for review of the decision of the Regional Director on the ground that he erred in not including switchboard operators, ad- mitting clerks-cashiers, and medical records depart- ment personnel in the overall unit found appropriate. Pursuant to the provisons 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. By telegraphic order dated May 16, 1975, the Board granted the Employer's request for review and stayed the election pending decision on review. The Board has considered the entire record in this case, with respect to the issues under review, includ- ing the briefs of the Employer and the Petitioner, and makes the following findings: The Employer operates a proprietary hospital pro- viding diagnostic and therapeutic health care for acutely ill patients. It employs approximately 183 employees in a highly integrated operation, divided into several departments: nursing, laboratory, radiol- ogy, dietary, housekeeping, maintenance, medical re- cords, purchasing, supply, and administration. The Petitioner in this case sought a unit of nonpro- fessional service and maintenance employees, ex- cluding office clericals, confidential employees, guards and supervisors, as well as medical records department employees (technician, transcriptionist, and file clerk), admitting clerk-cashiers, and switch- 991 board operators. The Employer agrees that the re- quested unit is appropriate except that it objects to the exclusion of the last three categories of employ- ees listed above. The Regional Director, in finding the requested unit appropriate, excluded the employees in question on the grounds that they perform basically clerical functions not related to the care and treatment of patients and are in limited contact with unit employ- ees. The Employer bases its request for review on its contention that the employees in question share a close cummunity of interests with those employees included in the unit because of the highly integrated nature of its overall operations. It also contends that not including these employees in the unit contra- venes the congressional policy expressed in the pas- sage of the health care amendments against prolifera- tion of bargaining units in the health care industry. The Board has considered the entire record with respect to the issues on review and has carefully weighed the considerations concerning the units ap- propriate in the health care industry and the necessi- ty of preventing the proliferation of units therein. We agree with the Regional Director that the switchboard operators are business office clerical employees and should therefore be excluded from the service and maintenance unit. As he noted, these employees are separately located and supervised by the business manager. Their duties are basically to receive incoming telephone calls and place the calls with the proper department. Their other duties, such as operating the public address system and relaying messages in the event of disaster, fire, or patient emergency, are routinely done by switchboard opera- tors whom the Board has found to be business office clericals not properly included in a service and main- tenance unit.' We also agree with the Regional Director's exclu- sion of the admitting clerk-cashiers, inasmuch as they also perform essentially as business office cleri- cals, with little or no contact with other unit person- nel. They spend 95 percent of their time in the "ad- mitting" and "cashier" areas located in close proximity to the business, personnel, and accounting offices, and are separately supervised by the business manager. Inasmuch as these employees perform es- sentially the same functions as similarly classified employees who have been excluded by the Board from service and maintenance units in the health care industry,' we adopt the Regional Director's ex- ' St Catherine's Hospital of Dominican Sisters of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Inc, 217 NLRB No 133 (1975), see also Duke University, 217 NLRB No 136 (1975) 2 Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, 217 NLRB No 135 (1975) 219 NLRB No. 116 992 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD clusion of them in this case. Finally, with respect to the medical records depart- ment employees , we find merit in the Employer's contention, contrary to the Regional Director's find- ings, that these employees should be included in the service and maintenance unit . As the Board has not- ed with respect to employees who perform the same function , although they perform duties essentially clerical in nature , they are normally hired based on nonclerical qualifications primarily associated with knowledge of medical terminology obtained through schooling or experience . In addition , they spend a substantial amount of their time in the patient care area performing functions , although clerical in na- ture , directly related to care and treatment of pa- tients through contacts with those employees in- volved in the medical aspects of the hospital .3 Accordingly, we shall include them in the service and maintenance unit. Based on the foregoing , we find that the following group of employees constitutes a unit appropriate for 7 St. Catherine 's Hospital of Dominican Sisters of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Inc, supra. the purpose of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9(c) of the Act: All full-time and regular part- time nurses aides (orderlies), nurses' assistants , certified op- erating room technicians, ward clerks, licensed practical nurses, x-ray assistants (orderlies), x- ray clerks, nuclear medicine technicians, x-ray technicians, laboratory assistant, cytotechnolo- gist, laboratory technicians, laboratory technol- ogist , central supply technicians, storeroom clerk, purchasing clerks, maintenance employ- ees, housekeepers, housemen, dietary employees (diet clerks, salad makers, pot washers, cashiers, cooks, dietary aides, cafeteria aides, utility man), and medical records department employees (technician, transcriptionist, and file clerk); ex- cluding admitting clerk-cashiers, switchboard operators, office clerical employees, confidential employees, professional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other employees. [Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote omit- ted from publication.]