Roseland Community Hospital

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board Decisions

Jun 25, 2020

13-RC-259788 (N.L.R.B. Jun. 25, 2020)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ROSELAND COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
Employer
and Case 13-RC-259788
SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL
UNION (SEIU) HEALTHCARE ILLINOIS &
INDIANA
Petitioner
ORDER
The Employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of
Election is denied as it raises no substantial issues warranting review.1 The Employer’s request
for extraordinary relief is denied as moot.
JOHN F. RING, CHAIRMAN
MARVIN E. KAPLAN, MEMBER
WILLIAM J. EMANUEL, MEMBER
Dated, Washington, D.C., June 25, 2020.
1 In denying review, we note that the Board’s decision in San Diego Gas & Electric, 325 NLRB 1143, 1145
(1998), recognizes that Board elections should, as a general rule, be conducted manually and specifies well-settled
guidelines for determining whether a mail-ballot election would normally be appropriate. Under normal
circumstances, this would almost certainly not be an election where a mail ballot would be considered. But in San
Diego Gas & Electric, the Board also recognized that “there may be other relevant factors that the Regional Director
may consider in making this decision” and that “extraordinary circumstances” could permit a Regional Director to
exercise his or her discretion outside of the guidelines set forth in that decision. Id.
In finding that a mail-ballot election is warranted in this case, we rely on the extraordinary federal, state,
and local government directives regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in a determination that the
regional office charged with conducting this election should remain on mandatory telework at the time the Regional
Director directed a mail-ballot election. Mandatory telework in the regional office is based on the Agency’s
assessment of current Covid-19 pandemic conditions in the local area. Under all of the foregoing circumstances, we
are satisfied that the Regional Director did not abuse his discretion in ordering a mail-ballot election here.
The Board is open to addressing the normal criteria for mail balloting in a future appropriate proceeding.