Beth Israel Hosp. and Geriatric Center v. N.L.R.B., 80-1942
| Decision Date | 20 July 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-1942,80-1942 |
| Citation | 677 F.2d 1343 |
| Parties | 107 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3214, 91 Lab.Cas. P 12,880 BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL AND GERIATRIC CENTER, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent, and Beth Israel Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals AFT/FNHP, CFT, AFL- CIO, Intervenor. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
John D. Coombe, Denver, Colo. (John M. Husband, Denver, Colo., with him on the brief), of Holland & Hart, Denver, Colo., for petitioner.
Linda Dreeben, Washington, D. C. (William A. Lubbers, Gen. Counsel, John E. Higgins, Jr., Deputy Gen. Counsel, Robert E. Allen, Acting Associate Gen. Counsel, Elliott Moore, Deputy Associate Gen. Counsel, and John H. Ferguson, N. L. R. B., Washington, D. C., with her on the brief), for respondent.
Michael Radzilowsky, Chicago, Ill. (Lawrence A. Poltrock and Stephen G. Daday, Chicago, Ill., with him on the brief), of DeJong, Poltrock & Giampietro, Chicago, Ill., for intervenor.
Robert J. Janowitz and Gina Kaiser of Roan & Grossman, Kansas City, Mo., filed an amicus curiae brief for American Hospital Association.
Before BARRETT and LOGAN, Circuit Judges, and O'CONNOR, District Judge. *
Beth Israel Hospital and Geriatric Center (Beth Israel) appeals from a National Labor Relations Board (Board) order directing that it bargain with Beth Israel Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, FNHP/AFT, CFT, AFL-CIO (Union).
Beth Israel is a non-profit corporation operating a hospital, health care institution and geriatric center in Denver, Colorado, under the direction and supervision of a board of directors, administrators, and various administrative support personnel. It operates a combined 300-bed acute care hospital and a 140-bed long term geriatric center. It employs approximately 682 persons, of whom 132 are registered nurses.
On August 31, 1979, Union filed a petition seeking certification as the exclusive representative for a unit comprised of the registered nurses employed at Beth Israel. Thereafter, the Board conducted a four day hearing to determine the appropriateness of Union's requested unit, limited exclusively to registered nurses. Beth Israel maintained that an appropriate unit should include its professional employees with whom the registered nurses worked and shared a significant amount of patient care responsibilities. In support thereof, Beth Israel noted that all of its professional employees are subject to centralized hospital management and centralized labor management relations; all share common working conditions; all have common educational requirements; all professionals are required to have licenses, certification, or registration; all share a primary responsibility to the patient; all exercise independent judgment; and, all health care professionals work together in a highly integrated operation.
Beth Israel also argued that Congress, in amending the National Labor Relations Act in 1974 to include employees of non-profit health care institutions, directed the Board to avoid the undue proliferation of bargaining units in the health care industry. Beth Israel further argued that Union's proposed unit comprised exclusively of registered nurses was in direct violation of Congress' mandate and, as such, could not be considered a presumptively appropriate unit.
Within his "Decision and Direction of Election" upholding the appropriateness of a unit limited exclusively to registered nurses, Board's Regional Director held:
The main area of dispute is whether the unit should be restricted to registered nurses ... or whether the unit should be an all professional unit ... The Board has consistently held that a unit restricted to registered nurses is a presumptively appropriate one ... The record discloses that the presumption that registered nurses at Beth Israel constitute an appropriate unit has not been overcome by Employer's (Beth Israel) evidence ... The contacts that the registered nurses have with the other professional employees is of a limited and routine nature. The contacts had by registered nurses with other registered nurses is substantially greater ... The above facts establish the "singularity" of interest shared by the registered nurses, and I, therefore, find that the requested unit of registered nurses at Beth Israel is an appropriate one.
On January 25, 1980, following a Board election, Union was duly certified as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of registered nurses only employed at Beth Israel. Thereafter, commencing on or about March 27, 1980, Beth Israel refused, and has continued to refuse to bargain collectively with Union, contending that a unit limited exclusively to registered nurses is inappropriate.
On April 30, 1980, Beth Israel and Union jointly filed a Stipulation for an Entry of Order with the Regional Director in which Beth Israel reiterated its position that a unit comprised exclusively of registered nurses was inappropriate. Subsequent thereto, the Board, pursuant to a motion filed by the General Counsel, transferred the proceeding to itself for findings of fact, conclusions of law and the issuance of a decision and order.
On August 26, 1980, Board entered its decision and order upholding the Regional Director's earlier determination that a unit limited exclusively to registered nurses employed by Beth Israel was appropriate. In so doing, the Board found, inter alia:
In their joint motion, all parties stipulated that the Union was certified as the bargaining representative for an appropriate unit of registered nurses pursuant to a Board conducted election on January 16, 1980. Since the submission of the joint motion herein, the Board has had occasion in its recent decision in Newton-Wellesley Hospital, 250 NLRB No. 86, to reexamine the appropriateness of a unit of registered nurses and to consider contentions that the Board had been finding registered nurses...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Trustees of Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund v. N.L.R.B.
...(2d Cir.1982); NLRB v. HMO Int'l/California Medical Group Health Plan, Inc., 678 F.2d 806 (9th Cir.1982); Beth Israel Hosp. & Geriatric Center v. NLRB, 677 F.2d 1343 (10th Cir.1981), modified, 688 F.2d 697 (10th Cir.1982) (en banc), petition for cert. dismissed, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 433......
-
American Hosp. Ass'n v. NLRB
...e.g., NLRB v. HMO Int'l/California Medical Group Health Plan, Inc., 678 F.2d 806, 808 (9th Cir.1982); Beth Israel Hosp. & Geriatric Center v. NLRB, 677 F.2d 1343, 1345 (10th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1025, 103 S.Ct. 433, 74 L.Ed.2d 522 (1982); Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center ......
-
Beth Israel Hosp. and Geriatric Center v. N.L.R.B., AFL-CI
...opinions that the NLRB's use of presumptions violated the mandate of Federal Rule of Evidence 301. See Beth Israel Hospital and Geriatric Center v. NLRB, 677 F.2d 1343 (10th Cir. 1981); St. Anthony Hospital Systems v. NLRB, 655 F.2d 1028 (10th Cir. 1981). Since the language the NLRB objects......
-
N.L.R.B. v. Walker County Medical Center, Inc.
...en banc, 688 F.2d 697 (10th Cir.), cert. dismissed, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 433, 74 L.Ed.2d 522 (1982); Beth Israel Hospital & Geriatric Center v. NLRB, 677 F.2d 1343 (10th Cir.1981); rehearing en banc, 688 F.2d 697 (10th Cir.), cert. dismissed, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 433, 74 L.Ed.2d 522......