Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 28, 2004

341 N.L.R.B. 1079 (N.L.R.B. 2004)

LABORATORY CORP. OF AMERICA HOLDINGS 1079
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings and
United Food and Commercial Workers Union,
Local 1358, AFL–CIO, Petitioner. Case 4–RC–
20624
May 28, 2004
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN BATTISTA AND MEMBERS WALSH
AND MEISBURG
On May 2, 2003, the Regional Director for Region 4
issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-
entitled proceeding. She found appropriate the peti-
tioned-for multifacility unit of phlebotomists, administra-
tive team leaders, technical team leaders, and reference
tests clerks employed by the Employer at seven Patient
Service Centers (PSCs), located in southeastern New
Jersey under the supervision of Phlebotomist Supervisor
Lana Gray.
Thereafter in accordance with Section 102.67 of the
National Labor Relations Board’s Rules and Regulations,
the Employer filed a timely request for review, contend-
ing, inter alia, that the smallest appropriate unit must
include employees at all 29 PSCs that comprise its
Southern New Jersey Region.
By Order dated May 28, 2003, the Board granted the
Employer’s request for review solely with respect to
whether the petitioned-for unit of seven PSCs, excluding
the Employer’s remaining 22 PSCs in its Southern New
Jersey Region, is an appropriate unit.1 The election was
conducted as scheduled on May 30, 2003, and the ballots
were impounded pending the Board’s Decision on Re-
view.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Having carefully considered the entire record in this
proceeding, we reverse the Regional Director’s finding
that the petitioned-for unit is appropriate.
Facts
The Employer, headquartered in Burlington, North
Carolina, operates PSCs in various locations throughout
the United States. Each PSC has a reception area, a wait-
ing room for patients, and clinical testing rooms where
blood is drawn. The PSCs are staffed primarily by phle-
botomists, technical team leaders, and administrative
team leaders. Some PSCs have as few as two employees
and others have as many as five.2

1 The Board denied the Employer’s request for review of the Re-
gional Director’s exclusion of the customer service representatives and
drivers from the unit.
2 Of the petitioned-for PSCs, the Absecon, Pleasantville, and Somers
Point PSCs each has five employees; the Vineland and Cape May
PSC employees take specimens from patients and send
the specimens to the Employer’s laboratory in Raritan,
New Jersey for physician-ordered blood, saliva, and
urine tests. Phlebotomists take patient samples, assist
patients, answer telephones, and prepare necessary pa-
perwork. Technical team leaders and administrative
team leaders are phlebotomists with additional adminis-
trative duties. The administrative team leaders are the
highest-ranking employees at most of the PSCs.3 There
is also one reference test clerk. She is not trained to
draw blood, but she greets patients, inputs information
into the computer, and helps maintain the integrity of
samples taken for drug screens.
The Employer’s organizational structure is based on
geography. Harry Bush is the Employer’s director of
operations for its Northeast Division, which extends from
Maine to Virginia. Bush has an office in Raritan, New
Jersey. The Northeast Division is segmented into four
smaller subdivisions, each headed by a general manager.
One such subdivision, called the Cloverleaf Division,
encompasses southern New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania,
the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the State of Dela-
ware. Elke Beyer is the Employer’s general manager for
the Cloverleaf Division. Her office is located in the Em-
ployer’s New Castle, Delaware office, which also houses
the human resources department for the Cloverleaf Divi-
sion.
Within the Cloverleaf Division there are several
smaller administrative groupings, including the Southern
New Jersey Region, which encompasses 29 PSCs. Mi-
chael Boylan is the director of field operations for this
region, and his office is located in Marlton, New Jersey.
The supervision of nonunit drivers, dispatchers, and cus-
tomer service representatives conforms to the Southern
New Jersey Region administrative grouping.4 The phle-
botomists, technical team leaders, administrative team
leaders, and reference test clerk in the 29 PSCs in the
Southern New Jersey Region are supervised by four dif-

Courthouse PSCs each has four employees; and the Marmora and Mays
Landing PSCs each has two employees.
3 No party contends that the administrative teams leaders are super-
visors with the meaning of Sec. 2(11) of the Act, and the parties agreed
to their inclusion in the unit.
4 There are 30 drivers and 3 dispatchers that service the Southern
New Jersey Region, all of whom are commonly supervised by the
distribution supervisor, whose office is located in the Marlton, New
Jersey facility. Drivers pick up and deliver test reports and samples
among PSCs, physicians offices, the Raritan laboratory, and various
third-party locations along specific routes. The Marlton facility is also
the home of 11 customer service representatives who are commonly
supervised by the customer service supervisor. The customer service
representatives respond to questions from PSC employees, doctors, and
patients concerning billing or test results and handle various clerical
tasks.
341 NLRB No. 140
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 1080
ferent phlebotomist supervisors, each of whom handles a
different geographic area.
Phlebotomist Supervisor Lana Gray oversees the Ab-
secon, Cape May Courthouse, Marmora, Mays Landing,
Pleasantville, Somers Point, and Vineland PSCs—the
seven PSCs sought by the petition.5 These PSCs are
located in the southeastern part of New Jersey. At the
hearing, the Employer made an offer of proof that it was
seeking to hire an additional phlebotomist supervisor for
the Southern New Jersey Region in order to reduce the
number of employees reporting to each supervisor; there-
fore, the supervisors’ areas of responsibility will be
changing. The new position was requested and approved
prior to the filing of the petition in the instant case and a
copy of the job announcement was included in the re-
cord.
The Employer has had a practice of changing its ad-
ministrative structure and supervisory assignments. For
example, the Hammonton PSC, which is also located in
southeastern New Jersey, was included in a grouping
with the seven petitioned-for PSCs until 2002, when it
was reassigned to Phlebotomist Supervisor Darlene
Hines.6 Prior to that time, the Employer had made some
significant administrative changes. Before 1997, there
had been three distinct operating units within the South-
ern New Jersey geographic area. These units were com-
monly referred to as Marlton, Brick, and Pleasantville.
Each unit operated separately under the direction of an
operations manager who reported directly to a general
manager. In 1998, Harry Bush became regional opera-
tions manager for what would become the Southern New
Jersey Region.7 In this role, Bush made changes to the
organizational structure of the Marlton, Brick, and Pleas-
antville operations. He consolidated the operations of all
three areas, and instead of having three operations man-
agers, he served as regional operations manager and
managed the entire Southern New Jersey Region.8
The Employer’s labor relations policies emanate from
its corporate headquarters, and consequently the employ-
ees at the seven PSCs encompassed by the petition, as
well as at the Employer’s other PSCs in the Southern
New Jersey Region, enjoy the same benefits and working
conditions. Employees are all paid on an hourly basis
and are governed by the same employee handbook. They

5 The parties stipulated that Gray is a supervisor within the meaning
of Sec. 2(11) of the Act.
6 The petition initially included the Hammonton PSC, but at the
hearing the Union amended the petition to remove this location.
7 This position is analogous to the current director of field operations
position held by Michael Boylan.
8 The Employer also consolidated the customer service and driving
operations for the entire Southern New Jersey Region and reduced the
number of supervisors for the area.
also have similar lunch and break times. The wage rates
for all employees in the Southern New Jersey Region are
the same. The Employer’s human resources department
in New Castle, Delaware, maintains personnel files for
all employees in the Cloverleaf Division. Phlebotomist
supervisors maintain employee files containing copies of
paperwork that they send to the human resources de-
partment regarding employees and notes about conversa-
tions they have with employees. Supervisors also main-
tain files concerning attendance and leave matters.
Gray is based in the Absecon PSC, but she regularly
visits each PSC in her area, and she provides employees
with day-to-day directions as needed. Gray oversees
employee performance and approves vacation requests,9
other types of leave requests, and overtime. She distrib-
utes company-wide and region-wide directives to em-
ployees in her PSCs on such subjects as timecards and
patient sign-in sheets, but she also issues memoranda at
her own initiative to employees concerning such matters
as the use of “special care” rooms for patients and the
scheduling of meetings, among other things. Gray pre-
pares the employees’ weekly work schedules.
Gray evaluates employees by filling out a form on a
computer that generates a score for the employee. She
then inputs the score into a matrix formulated by the cor-
porate office in North Carolina in order to determine
what salary increase to give the employee. Gray is free
to recommend that an employee receive a raise higher
than the one dictated by the preformulated matrix; how-
ever, she must justify her request in writing and a senior
manager or senior vice president must approve the in-
crease. Gray testified that she was instructed by the di-
rector of field operations not to give out too many
evaluations in the “outstanding” range but instead give
more in the “great” range.
As a phlebotomist supervisor, Gray may also issue
verbal and written disciplinary warnings without ap-
proval. Nevertheless, she must consult with higher au-
thority concerning more severe levels of discipline, in-
cluding suspension and termination. Gray gathers all of
the facts and recommends to the human resources de-
partment that disciplinary action be taken. The depart-
ment then evaluates the facts and makes the final deci-
sion as to the appropriate degree of discipline.
If Gray wants to hire a new employee, she must fill out
a requisition form. The requisition form and supporting
documentation are reviewed by the director of field op-
erations, who must approve the request. Additional ap-
proval is required from the general manager and vice
9 Vacation is approved on a “seniority” or “first come” basis. If the
request is in excess of 2 weeks, it must be approved by the director of
field operations.

LABORATORY CORP. OF AMERICA HOLDINGS 1081
president. Upon approval, the human resources depart-
ment solicits applications, and a human resources repre-
sentative conducts an initial telephone screening of ap-
plicants. Gray then interviews a prescreened applicant,
personally tests the applicant’s skills, and recommends to
the human resources department whether the applicant
should be hired.10 The human resources department
makes the final offer to the candidate. If a current em-
ployee of the Employer applies for a different position
within the organization, such as a phlebotomist applying
for a team leader position, the application is sent to the
human resources department to determine if the candi-
date is eligible for the position. A human resources rep-
resentative may participate in the interview by telephone,
while Gray meets with the applicant face-to-face. Gray’s
hiring recommendations are generally accepted, but on at
least two occasions human resources did not follow her
recommendations.
Gray conducts quarterly meetings that are attended by
the employees she supervises. According to Gray, the
employees from the Hammonton PSC, who are super-
vised by Darlene Hines, also attend those meetings. Re-
cently, all of Gray’s employees attended a meeting with
all of Hines’ employees to discuss safety and billing is-
sues. Several times a year, the Employer conducts em-
ployee “speak-out” meetings. These meetings are open
to all employees throughout the Southern New Jersey
Region and are forums for employees to ask management
questions as well as discuss any concerns.
There are four phlebotomists currently serving as
“floaters,” who work at all seven of these PSCs super-
vised by Gray depending on the needs of the facilities.
Additionally, employees commonly transfer among PSCs
in their areas to work closer to home, for example, or to
change from a floater position to a regular site position.
However, employees also transfer among PSCs not in
their area. The two employees in the Hammonton PSC,
which is supervised by Darlene Hines, each work in
Gray’s area once every 3 weeks, on a designated Satur-
day, because the Hammonton PSC is closed on the
weekend. In turn, Gray assigns her employees to work at
Hammonton to cover the shifts of those employees who
work at her PSCs on Saturday. She also assigns floaters
to work at Hammonton when it is short staffed. While
most floaters stay within their assigned areas, in the past
Gray has assigned a phlebotomist to work outside her
area at the Tuckerton PSC.
All of the Employer’s employees receive training
throughout their employment. New employees in the
Cloverleaf Division attend a 3-day training/orientation

10 The operations manager interviews candidates at job fairs.
session at the New Castle, Delaware divisional headquar-
ters. They are then trained by their local phlebotomist
supervisor who monitors their initial work. Team leader
training was conducted in New Castle in late 2002.
Team leaders from all over the Cloverleaf Division, in-
cluding some of Gray’s employees, were in attendance.
Further, employees from all over the Southern New Jer-
sey Region attended ICD–9 code training in Marlton,
New Jersey. These employees also must take an annual
skills assessment exam that is given in Marlton. A Vine-
land PSC employee under Gray’s supervision regularly
trains employees in the area how to perform drug-
screening tests, and employees report to the Vineland
PSC for this training. Those that cannot attend the Vine-
land training session go to the Brick PSC where they are
trained with employees not supervised by Gray.
With regard to the 7 petitioned-for facilities, approxi-
mately 25 miles separates the 2 most distant PSCs, Vine-
land and Cape May Courthouse, and most of the 7 are
within 10 miles of each other. Of the excluded locations,
it appears from the record that the Tuckerton PSC is
within 25 miles of the Absecon, Pleasantville, Mays
Landing, and Somers Point PSCs; and the excluded
Hammonton PSC is within 25 miles of all but the Mar-
mora and Cape May Courthouse PSCs.
There is no bargaining history for any of the employ-
ees in the petitioned-for unit. In 1997, the Employer and
Service Employees International Union Local 455 stipu-
lated to a unit of phlebotomists, drivers, technicians, cus-
tomer service representatives, clerk typists, supply
clerks, data entry clerks, and general clerks employed by
the Employer at 11 PSCs, including 6 of the 7 PSCs in
the petitioned-for unit in this case.11 At that time, these
11 PSCs comprised the old Pleasantville unit. At the
subsequent election, the employees did not vote for un-
ion representation.
Analysis
In determining whether a petitioned-for multifacility
unit is appropriate, the Board evaluates the following
factors: employees’ skills and duties; terms and condi-
tions of employment; employee interchange; functional
integration; geographic proximity; centralized control of
management and supervision; and bargaining history.
Bashas’, Inc., 337 NLRB 710 (2002); Alamo Rent A-Car,
330 NLRB 897 (2000); NLRB v. Carson Cable TV, 795
F.2d 879, 884 (9th Cir. 1986).
11 The only PSC currently in Gray’s area that was not included in
that voting unit was Vineland. After 1997, the Ocean City PSC was
closed, and the Pomona PSC was merged into the Absecon PSC. The
Atlantic City and Linwood PSCs no longer exist.

DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 1082
In this case, the Union maintains that the Regional Di-
rector did not err in finding that employees at the seven
PSCs share a separate and identifiable community of
interest and therefore constitute an appropriate unit. The
Employer, on the other hand, contends that the peti-
tioned-for unit is inappropriate and that the unit must
include the other 22 PSCs comprising its Southern New
Jersey Region because: the supervisory responsibility of
Lana Gray is not stable enough to form the basis of a
finding that the 7–PSC unit is appropriate; there is com-
mon supervision at the Regional level; there is significant
temporary interchange between the 7 included PSCs and
the excluded PSCs; and there is contact among all the
employees in the Region during attendance at meetings
and training programs.
We agree with the Employer that the petitioned-for
unit is not an appropriate unit for collective bargaining,
as we find that the employees of the seven petitioned-for
PSCs as a group do not share a community of interest
distinct from that shared with employees from other
PSCs in the Southern New Jersey Region. As set forth
below, the seven PSCs do not comport with any of the
Employer’s administrative divisional or regional group-
ings; the Employer’s supervisory structure is in flux;
there is employee interchange with other PSCs; the seven
PSCs do not constitute a coherent geographic grouping;
the terms and conditions of employment of the included
employees are the same as those of the excluded employ-
ees; and there is no collective-bargaining history for the
employees sought by the petition.
Thus, it is clear that the Employer has divided its or-
ganizational structure into divisions, subdivisions, and
regions. Notably, the seven petitioned-for PSCs do not
comport with any of these administrative groupings. See
Stormont-Vail Healthcare, Inc., 340 NLRB No. 143, slip
op. at 4 (2003). By contrast, supervision of the Em-
ployer’s drivers and customer service representatives
conforms to one of the Employer’s regional groupings.
In finding the petitioned-for unit appropriate, the Re-
gional Director relied heavily on the fact that Lana Gray
commonly supervises all seven petitioned-for PSCs.
Contrary to the Regional Director, we find that manage-
ment of all of the Southern New Jersey PSCs is relatively
centralized, that there are limitations on Gray’s supervi-
sory authority, and that the Employer’s supervisory
structure is in the process of changing.
As a phlebotomist supervisor, Gray is responsible for
distributing companywide and regionwide directives to
her employees. Gray prepares employee evaluations but
is constrained by a preformulated matrix when determin-
ing what salary increase to give to employees. While she
is free to recommend increases above the norm, higher
management must approve any increase. She must also
consult with the human resources department when im-
posing any sort of discipline above the warning level.
Gray may also not create a new position nor hire a new
employee without express approval from her superiors
and the human resources department respectively, al-
though her hiring recommendations are usually followed.
These limitations are consistent among the four current
supervisors in the Southern New Jersey Region.
Furthermore, we must also consider Gray’s supervi-
sory authority in light of planned future changes and re-
cent past changes. The documentary evidence supports
the Employer’s contention that a new phlebotomist su-
pervisor will be hired shortly. Gray may be supervising
a different set of PSCs once this new supervisor is hired.
Indeed, as one employee testified, “Management’s al-
ways changing.” In 1998, the Employer reengineered its
entire southern New Jersey operation by placing the re-
gion under the central control of one regional operations
manager. In 2002, the Employer reorganized the super-
vision of its southern New Jersey PSCs, removing the
Hammonton PSC from Gray’s supervision and placing it
under Phlebotomist Supervisor Darlene Hines’ responsi-
bility. Less than a year later, the Employer once again
initiated plans to alter the supervisory complement of this
region. Based on these changes (both past and future),
when viewed in the light of the other facts set forth, we
find that the seven PSCs currently under Lana Gray’s
supervision do not constitute a sufficiently stable collec-
tion of facilities forming a cohesive, coherent unit. See
Burlington Food Store, Inc., 235 NLRB 205, 206 (1978).
Further, there is regular interchange between the peti-
tioned-for PSCs and the excluded Hammonton PSC.
Every weekend phlebotomists from the Hammonton PSC
work in a PSC under Gray’s supervision because the
Hammonton PSC is closed on the weekend. In return,
Gray sends one of her phlebotomists to cover open shifts
at Hammonton. Additionally, she sends a phlebotomist
to work at Hammonton when it is short staffed. Gray has
also assigned one of her supervisees to work at the Tuck-
erton PSC.
Employees from Hammonton regularly attend meet-
ings with Gray’s employees and recently all employees
under Gray’s and Darlene Hines’ supervision attended a
joint meeting. Furthermore, employees throughout the
Southern New Jersey Region interact during various
training programs and can attend “speak-out” meetings
together.
In addition, we find that the Regional Director improp-
erly relied on the geographic proximity of Gray’s

LABORATORY CORP. OF AMERICA HOLDINGS 1083
PSCs.12 She found that the petitioned-for PSCs are gen-
erally within 10 miles of each other and are no more than
25 miles apart. Of the excluded locations, however, the
Tuckerton PSC is within 25 miles of the Absecon, Pleas-
antville, Mays Landing, and Somers Point PSCs; and the
excluded Hammonton PSC is within 25 miles of all but
the Marmora and Cape May Courthouse PSCs. Instead
of supporting a separate unit, we believe that the prox-
imity of the excluded PSCs supports a finding that the
petitioned-for unit is not appropriate. See Bashas’ Inc.,
supra at 711.
It is undisputed that the employees at the 29 southern
New Jersey PSCs have identical skills, duties, and func-
tions and work under identical terms and conditions of
employment. All PSCs perform the same basic func-
tions—drawing blood or urine for laboratory testing—
and all are staffed in the same manner. All employees
enjoy the same benefits and are subject to the same labor
policies that are set by the corporate office in North
Carolina. Wage rates for all employees in southern New
Jersey are the same. The human resources department,
located in New Castle, Delaware, maintains personnel
files for every employee in Cloverleaf Division.
Finally, there is no collective-bargaining history for
the employees sought by the petition. Although the peti-

12 The Union contends that the seven facilities that constitute the pe-
titioned-for unit are within the local union’s jurisdictional area and that
the remainder of the southern New Jersey facilities (with the exception
of the Hammonton facility) are outside its jurisdictional area. While
this may be true, the Board has long held that a union’s territorial juris-
diction and limitations do not generally affect the determination of the
appropriate unit. See generally Groendyke Transport, 171 NLRB 997,
998 (1968); CCI Const. Co., 326 NLRB 1319, 1319 (1998); Alley Dry-
wall, Inc., 333 NLRB 1005, 1008 (2001).

tioned-for unit is similar to the Pleasantville unit that was
stipulated as appropriate in 1997, there was no Board
finding as to its appropriateness. It has long been the
Board’s policy not to consider itself bound by a bargain-
ing history (or lack of bargaining history) resulting from
a consent election in a unit stipulated by the parties rather
than one determined by the Board. Amoco Production
Co., 233 NLRB 1096, 1097 (1977); Mid-West Abrasive
Co., 145 NLRB 1665, 1667 (1964). Furthermore, at the
time of the election, the Pleasantville unit operated as a
separate and distinct area. As mentioned above, since
that time organizational changes have been made which
have had an impact on the separateness of the unit.
In conclusion, we find for all of the foregoing reasons
that the petitioned-for facilities do not constitute an ap-
propriate unit. See Bashas’ Inc., supra; Alamo Rent-A-
Car, supra; Acme Markets, Inc., 328 NLRB 1208 (1999).
Although it is clear that the employees in the petitioned-
for unit share a community of interest, we find that the
evidence fails to establish that it is separate and distinct
from the community of interest they share with other
employees of the Employer’s Southern New Jersey Re-
gion. Accordingly, we reverse the Regional Director’s
finding that the petitioned-for unit is appropriate and
remand the case to the Regional Director for further ap-
propriate action.
ORDER
The Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of
Election is reversed. This proceeding is remanded to the
Regional Director for further appropriate action consis-
tent with this Order.