05/09/2025: Registered Nurses Were Not Supervisors and Shared Community of Interest with Others
Just one Regional Election Decision today.
Roseville Point Health & Wellness Center, 20-RC-363639 (Regional Election Decision)
This case involves a petition filed by Service Employees International Union, Local 2015 on April 11, 2025, seeking to include registered nurses (RNs) in an existing bargaining unit at Roseville Point Health & Wellness Center, a skilled nursing facility in Roseville, California. The existing unit already includes Receptionists, Social Services Assistants, Respiratory Therapists, Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs), Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Restorative Nursing Assistants (RNAs), Housekeepers, Janitors, Laundry staff, Cooks, and Dietary Aides/Kitchen Assistants.
The Employer argued that the RNs should not be included because they are supervisors under Section 2(11) of the National Labor Relations Act and because they do not share a community of interest with the existing unit. The Petitioner contended that the RNs are not statutory supervisors and do share a community of interest with the existing unit.
After a hearing, the Regional Director determined that the Employer failed to meet its burden of establishing that the RNs are supervisors under the Act. The decision analyzed several potential supervisory functions:
Assignment: The Regional Director found that RNs do not possess authority to assign work within the meaning of Section 2(11). The Scheduler, not the RNs, determines employees' assignments, shifts, and schedules. RNs can only adjust patient assignments of CNAs due to gender pairing or patient requests, which is considered routine and done by other unit employees as well.
Responsible Direction: The Employer failed to show that RNs are held accountable for the performance of other employees. Without evidence of accountability, responsible direction was not established.
Transfer: No evidence was presented that RNs possess authority to transfer employees.
Discipline: RNs may investigate and write reports about incidents, but they do not make recommendations regarding outcomes or discipline. The reports are given to managers who conduct their own investigations.
Evaluation and Promotion: Although RNs provide observations of colleagues that could be used in evaluations, they do not recommend ratings, draft evaluations, or perform other functions related to evaluations.
The Regional Director also analyzed whether the RNs share a community of interest with the existing unit, considering several factors:
Administrative Organization: RNs work alongside existing unit employees in both skilled and subacute units, indicating organizational integration.
Skills and Training: Despite licensing differences, RNs and LVNs exercise many of the same skills, use similar medical instruments, and receive similar facility training.
Terms and Conditions of Employment: RNs, LVNs, and CNAs wear the same uniforms, share facilities, receive similar benefits, and work the same shifts.
Common Supervision: RNs and LVNs are directly supervised by the Director of Nursing.
Functional Integration: There is a high degree of functional integration among RNs, LVNs, and CNAs, who work together in patient care.
Interchange and Contact: RNs and LVNs perform many of the same duties, are assigned to patients in the same manner, and interact throughout their shifts.
Based on this analysis, the Regional Director concluded that the RNs share a community of interest with the existing unit and are not statutory supervisors. Accordingly, the Regional Director directed a self-determination (Armour-Globe) election among the RNs to determine whether they wish to be represented by the Petitioner as part of the existing unit. The election was scheduled for May 14, 2025.
Significant Cases Cited
Oakwood Healthcare, Inc., 348 NLRB 686 (2006): Established key definitions of supervisory indicia including independent judgment and responsible direction.
NLRB v. Kentucky River Community Care, Inc., 532 U.S. 706 (2001): Outlined the three requirements to establish supervisory status under Section 2(11).
United Operations, 338 NLRB 123 (2002): Articulated the test for evaluating community of interest between groups of employees.
Warner-Lambert Co., 298 NLRB 993 (1990): Established that petitioned-for employees need not constitute a separate appropriate unit to be added to an existing unit.
Croft Metals, 348 NLRB 717 (2006): Clarified that for direction to be "responsible," the person must be accountable for the performance of the directed tasks.