Opinion ID: 71511
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Facts Surrounding Mead's Vote

Text: The polls were open at VNHS's facilities for the December 18, 1992 election from 7:30 to 10:00 A.M. On that day, Mead had to conduct a blood sugar test on a patient and had to deliver the blood sample to the laboratory that same morning for testing. Mead left the patient's house at approximately 7:50 A.M., visited one or two more patients, and drove to the laboratory to deliver the blood sample. Mead then drove directly from the laboratory to VNHS's Lawrenceville, Georgia facility. Mead testified that she arrived in the parking lot at approximately 9:45 or 9:50 A.M. Just as she was entering the parking lot, Mead was paged on her pager by her supervisor. Mead's personal practice was to answer her page as soon as possible. There was not a policy in place at VNHS, however, that required staff nurses to answer their pages as soon as possible, nor was there any indication on Mead's pager that this page constituted an emergency. 2 This court does not reach the issue of whether staff nurses, who individually provide nursing services to patients in their homes, are supervisors under Health Care. The court agrees with the Board in Visiting Nurse Health System, 319 N.L.R.B. at 899 n. 1. VNHS never raised the issue of the supervisory status of its staff nurses in the representation proceeding. Thus, VNHS is barred from raising the issue before the Board and before this court on appeal. See Flatbush Manor Care Center, 314 N.L.R.B. 702, 703 n. 4, 1994 WL 424153 (1994); HeartShare Human Services of New York, 317 N.L.R.B. 611 n. 1, 1995 WL 321741 (1995). When Mead entered the building, she reported to her supervisor regarding her page. During a short conversation with her supervisor, Mead was asked if she had voted, to which Mead responded that she had not. Mead's supervisor then told Mead she could go vote. After this conversation, Mead went to her desk to put her things down. Mead's testimony shows that she may have spoken with a few co-workers, or as the Board found, chit-chatted with co-workers. It was after this that Mead went to the polling place to vote. Very shortly prior to Mead's arrival at the voting room, the ballot box had been closed and sealed. Although there was a dispute about the exact time of the poll's closing3, Mead was allowed to vote but she was told by the Board agent that her vote would be considered a challenged vote. Mead responded that if it [voting] had been important to me I would have been [t]here. Visiting Nurses Association, 314 N.L.R.B. at 404. Mead also testified that voting was not my priority of the day. It did not matter a whole lot to me whether I voted or not. Id. at 404 n. 4. Mead then marked her ballot and the ballot box was re-sealed.