Trumbull Memorial Hospital

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 23, 1975

218 N.L.R.B. 796 (N.L.R.B. 1975)

796 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Trumbull Memorial Hospital and American Federa-
tion of State, County, Municipal Employees,
District Council #78, Petitioner.' Case 8-RC-
9656
June 23, 1975
DECISION 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 Paul
Weingarten. Thereafter, the Regional Director for
Region 8 transferred this proceeding to the National
Labor Relations Board for decision, pursuant to
Section 102.67 of the Board's Rules and Regulations,
Series 8, as amended. The Employer and Petitioner
filed briefs in support of their respective positions.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Hearing
Officer made at the hearing and fmds that no
prejudicial error was committed. The rulings are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the
briefs, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. Petitioner seeks to represent all full- and part-
time nonprofessional employees employed by the
Employer with the exception, among others, of most
clerical employees, licensed practical nurses, nursing
technicians, and certain technical employees em-
ployed at the Employer's nonprofit hospital. The
Intervenor takes essentially the same position. The
Employer contends that these excluded categories of
employees do not share a distinct community of
interest apart from the employees sought by Petition-
er and, on that basis, should be included in any unit
in which an election may be directed. In addition, the
Employer and Petitioner disagree on the supervisory
status of certain employees both within the unit
1 Local 627, service Employees International Union intervened on the
218 NLRB No. 122
proposed by Petitioner and the larger unit sought by
the Employer.
The clerical employees: The Employer employs
approximately 160 employees it denominates as
clerical, in some 28 job categories. These employees
work throughout Employer's facility and include
employees in the following classifications: account-
ing clerk, admitting clerk, assistant admitting officer,
audit clerk, buyer, clerk typist, clerk receptionist,
cashier, credit clerk, file clerk, senior clerk, reception-
ist, insurance clerk, record clerk, x-ray transcriber,
payroll clerk, inventory clerk, medical stenographer,
medical secretary, medical transcriber, mail clerk,
patient hostess, keypunch operator, computer opera-
tor, programmer, switchboard operator, secretary,
and personnel clerk.
Although employees in these categories spend the
substantial portion of their time in functions admit-
tedly "clerical" in nature, many work alongside
employees in the unit sought by Petitioner. Thus, as
an example, while the Employer employs approxi-
mately nine file clerks, several work in such depart-
ments as pathology, heart station, and health clinic
and, .consequently, spend almost their entire working
day with employees in those departments. In addi-
tion, it is apparent that their placement in such
departments stems from the close functional relation-
ship their work shares with the work of other
employees in those departments, whom Petitioner
seeks to represent. At the same time, certain clerical
employees work in an essentially "business office"
capacity and, on that basis, have little in common
with the role played by those clerical employees who
work alongside and with a similar objective as
employees involved more immediately with the care
of patients. The Board for the reasons stated in
Mercy Hospitals of Sacramento, Inc., 217 NLRB No.
131 (1975), will exclude business office clericals from
a service and maintenance unit while including other
types of clericals in such a unit. Upon a careful
review of the record we conclude that the following
classifications are not business office clericals and
are to be included in the unit: records clerk,
receptionist, medical stenographer, medical secre-
tary, x-ray and medical transcriber, and patient
hostess. In addition, those clerk typists, cashiers, file
clerks, senior clerks, and secretaries who work in
areas other than the Employer's administration,
admitting, data processing, accounting, payroll,
purchasing, personnel, and business office depart-
ments shall be included in the unit. We conclude that
the following classifications are business office
clerical classifications and are properly excluded
from the unit: accounting clerk, admitting clerk,
basis of an independent showing of interest.
TRUMBULL MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 797
assistant admitting officer, audit clerk, buyer-pur-
chasing, clerk receptionist (School of Nursing), credit
clerk, insurance clerk, payroll clerk, inventory clerk,
mail clerk, keypunch operator, computer operator
and programmer, and switchboard operator.2
Technical employees: The Petitioner would exclude
and the Employer would include some 160 employ-
ees who work in the following classifications:
electroencephalogram (EEG) technicians, electrocar-
diograph (ECG) technicians, licensed practical nurs-
es (LPN's), pathology technicians, registered x-ray
technicians, physical therapy assistants, and respira-
tory therapy technicians.
Although prior experience may be preferable, no
formal training for the EEG and ECG technicians is
required by the Employer. Employees in these
classifications can perform their duties after relative-
ly brief periods of training in the hospital. In the case
of the ECG technicians such training may last fewer
than 2 weeks. Although training for the EEG
technicians appears to take a longer period of time
due to the more involved nature of setting up the
EEG equipment, it too is accomplished in a relatively
brief period of time. There is no requirement that
EEG and ECG technicians be licensed, certified, or
registered by an applicable authority. We fmd they
are not technical employees herein,3 and shall
include them in the unit .4
The LPN's must possess at least 1 year of training
and graduate from a National League of Nursing
approved school. Upon completing such schooling,
they, must pass a state examination in order to be
licensed by the State of Ohio. As we indicated in
Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, supra such licens-
ing requirements are official recognition of the
technical competence and proficiency of LPN's in
providing nursing care. We reaffirm our conclusion
in Barnert and fmd the LPN's properly classified as
technicalemployees. We shall not compel their
inclusion in the unit sought by Petitioner.5
There are some 18 medical technicians in various
subsections of the pathology department whose
placement is in dispute; The Employer further breaks
down this category of employees into three divisions,
medical technicians I, II, and III. Employees in the
first two, categories have generally achieved a higher
degree of expertise than those in category III,
whether by virtue of more extensive education or
greater experience. Those employees who work full
time in categories I and II are certified by the
2 The record indicates that an employee in the classification buyer-
dietary effectively recommends the hums and discipline of certain
storeroom clerks. On the basis of this buyer 's supervisory status, we shall
also exclude her from the unit found herein . Similarly, because the record
demonstrates that the chief transcriber and chief receptionist can effectively
recommend the hire and/or discipline of other employees in their
departments , we exclude them as supervisors.
American Society of Clinical Pathology. Employees
in the category medical technicians III are less
experienced and are paid less than employees in
categories I and II. They are trained on the job for
periods of time ranging between 1 month and 6
months. We shall exclude all medical technicians,
those in the first two categories on the basis of their
specialized skills and education as evidenced by their
certification, those in category III because of their
close functional relationship with the other medical
technicians and their concededly limited contact
with other employees and patients at the hospital.
The Employer employs 25 x-ray technicians. All
possess a high school diploma and, as required by the
hospital, have successfully completed a 2-year
training program given by the Employer. All are
registered by the American Radiology Association.
Although many procedures undertaken by the x-ray
technicians are set out for them in a manual, such
procedures call upon the x-ray technicians to utilize
their previous training and schooling, their courses of
instruction including such subjects as physics, phy-
siology, and anatomy. They are authorized to give
injections of certain substances, including radioiso-
topes. They are clearly technical employees whom we
shall exclude from the unit found appropriate.
The Employer would, include in the unit two
physical therapy assistants and approximately nine
respiratory therapy technicians. The physical therapy
assistants have 2-year associate degrees in physical
therapy. They work with both professional physical
therapists and physical therapy technicians, the latter
within the unit by agreement of the parties., Unlike
the technicians, however, only, physical therapists
and the assistants can give ultrasound, diathermy,
and traction treatments, and only physical therapists
and the assistants can operate equipment generating
ultraviolet rays and sonolators. Their work, as the
record demonstrates, is more aligned with that of the
professional physical therapists than with the work of
physical therapy technicians. We,shall exclude them,
therefore, as technical employees.
The respiratory therapy technicians possess high
school diplomas and have completed at least 6
months' on-the-job training. In addition, they contin-
ue to attend classes in anatomy and pharmacology.
Approximately five of the nine respiratory therapy
technicians are certified or are in the process of
certification by the American Association of Inhala-
tion Therapy. Although the majority of respiratory
3 See also Nathan and Miriam Barnert Memorial Hospital Association
d/b/a Barnert Memorial Hospital Center, 217 NLRB No. 132 (1975).
4 Newington Children's Hospital, 217 NLRB No. 134 (1975).
5 Id We make the same 'finding i with respect to nursing
technicians who do the same work, according to the Employer, as the
LPN's. These nursing technicians are working at present to become
registered nurses and have completed 2 years of such training.
798 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
therapy technicians were not, at the time of the
hearing herein , licensed, certified, or registered, we
note that the duties of the certified and uncertified
technicians are the same. Those duties include
electroconvulsive therapy, pulmonary function tests,
operation of ventilators, and setting up oxygen units.
We conclude that although the majority of these
technicians are not certified, licensed, or registered
they do share a community of interest with other
technical employees excluded and apart from the
service and maintenance employees sought. We shall,
therefore, exclude them. See Barnert Memorial
Hospital Center, supra.
Miscellaneous placements: The Petitioner would
exclude the housekeeping crew leaders from its
proposed unit on the ground they are supervisors.
The crew leaders work 5 days a week, and on 3 of
those days admitted supervisors are off duty. The
crew leaders assume the supervisors' duties on those
3 days. They inspect the work of other housekeeping
employees and hold an initial conference with
employees whose work is deficient. If an employee
commits an infraction, the crew leaders have recom-
mended discipline both orally and by preparing
written reprimands. Their recommendations are
followed "most of the time." They themselves are not
supervised by the admitted supervisors and are
responsible only to the executive housekeeper as are
the supervisors. When they replace a supervisor who
is off duty, 'they retain responsibility for their own
areas of work.- They do not perform manual work.
Based on their authority to assign and inspect work
tasks and to effectively recommend discipline and
their assumption of admitted supervisory duties on 3
of the 5 days per week they work, we exclude them
from the unit as supervisors.
Petitioner ' would further exclude the storeroom
manager . The storeroom manager assigns work to
the three employees in his department. He has never
recommended discipline of any of the employees in
his department because he does not "have any
trouble with them." Like the other employees in his
department, he punches a timeclock and is hourly
paid. He does not initial the timecards of the other
employees. He does not get involved in the hiring of
personnel, and on the one occasion when he
complained to his ' immediate supervisor about a
former employee's work the' employee left work; the
storeroom manager does not know if that employee
quit or was fired. He performs the same duties as the
other employees but is higher paid. On balance, we
conclude the storeroom manager is not a supervisor.
Whatever authority he possesses over other employ-
ees appears to evolve solely from his seniority and
work experience. We shall include him in the unit.
Finally the parties disagree on the inclusion of a
storeroom clerk who works, because of illness,
"whenever he feels like it." The Petitioner would
exclude him on the ground he is a casual employee.
This employee apparently suffers from an illness
which allows him to work only on those occasions
when weather permits. He normally works a full day
on the days he reports and works approximately half
the number of workdays in a given month, although
he is sometime absent for a week or more at a time.
The employee in question has worked in this manner
for some 6 years. It is, therefore, evident that he has a
continuing and substantial interest in the working
conditions at the hospital. We fmd that he is properly
included in the unit.
We therefore fmd the following unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All regular full-time and part-time service and
maintenance employees, including storeroom
manager, all storeroom clerks, EEG and ECG
technicians, all hospital clerical employees, rec-
ords clerks, receptionists, medical stenographers,
medical secretaries, x-ray and medical transcri-
bers, patient hostesses, and those clerk typists,
cashiers, file clerks, senior clerks, and secretaries
who work in areas other than the Employer's
administration, admitting, data processing, ac-
counting, payroll, purchasing, personnel, and
business office departments, employed by the
Employer at its hospital facility located at 1350 E.
Market Street, Warren, Ohio; but excluding all
professional employees, office clerical employees,
physical therapy assistants, licensed practical
nurses, nursing technicians, medical technicians,
x-ray technicians, respiratory therapy technicians,
housekeeping crew leaders, buyer-dietary, chief
transcriber, chief receptionist, confidential em-
ployees, guards, and other supervisors as defined
in the Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]