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🗞️ Labor Board Upholds Single Clinic Union Vote at DaVita's Vallejo Dialysis Center

The National Labor Relations Board denied DaVita Vallejo's bid to overturn a union election, ruling that the dialysis clinic must bargain with SEIU as a standalone facility rather than as part of a larger multi clinic unit.

onthelaborfront

onthelaborfront

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🗞️ Labor Board Upholds Single Clinic Union Vote at DaVita's Vallejo Dialysis Center

The National Labor Relations Board has denied two requests for review filed by DVA Renal Healthcare, doing business as DaVita Vallejo, closing out a lengthy dispute over a union election at the company's Vallejo, California clinic. In a decision dated July 22, 2026, a three member panel comprising Chairman James Murphy and Members David Prouty and Scott Mayer found that the company had not met its burden of showing the Vallejo clinic should be folded into a broader, multi facility bargaining unit spanning the employer's operating region. The ruling leaves in place the certification of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West as the bargaining representative for employees at the clinic.

The Board reaffirmed long standing precedent holding that a single facility is presumptively an appropriate bargaining unit in the healthcare industry, and that an employer seeking to expand that unit carries a heavy burden to show integration substantial enough to erase the clinic's separate identity. The panel found the company's evidence fell short of that standard and, in one instance, undercut its own argument. An employer exhibit meant to show that Vallejo employees regularly worked shifts at other clinics contained a data error: the company's counsel told the hearing officer the figure was 661 shifts, or 26 percent of Vallejo's total shifts, when the underlying document actually showed 66 shifts, or about 2.55 percent. A separate employer exhibit indicated Vallejo employees spent roughly 26 percent of their hours working at other clinics, while a third showed the clinic drew in employees from elsewhere to fill vacancies at an average rate of about 17 percent, a practice the Board found less persuasive because it often relied on volunteers rather than mandatory reassignment.

The Board also held that the regional director was not required to separately assess whether the petitioned for unit was readily identifiable and internally cohesive under the standard set out in American Steel Construction, a 2022 Board decision, because DaVita did not clearly raise that argument until after the hearing had closed. The panel distinguished the case from earlier precedent requiring regional directors to solicit additional evidence when an employer declines to take any position on the appropriate unit, noting that DaVita had taken a specific, if unsuccessful, position throughout the proceeding.

On a separate election objection, the Board declined to disturb the regional director's finding that the union's videotaping of an antiunion rally at the company's North Hollywood clinic, footage the employer said was later shared in a group chat that included Vallejo unit employees, did not amount to objectionable conduct affecting the Vallejo election. Member Mayer dissented from that portion of the ruling, arguing the allegation raised issues substantial enough to warrant a hearing.

The decision also touched on a broader administrative question facing the Board. Citing its own ruling earlier this year in a case involving Satellite Healthcare, the panel rejected DaVita's argument that the regional director lacked authority to rule on its objections and certify the election because the Board itself lacked a quorum at the time, a gap that lasted roughly a year before new members were sworn in this past January.

Key Points

  • The NLRB denied both of DaVita Vallejo's requests for review, leaving intact the certification of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West as bargaining representative for the Vallejo clinic.
  • The Board found DaVita failed to rebut the presumption that a single healthcare facility is an appropriate bargaining unit, a standard requiring proof of integration substantial enough to negate the clinic's separate identity.
  • An employer exhibit cited at the hearing as showing 661 outside shifts, or 26 percent of Vallejo's total shifts, actually showed 66 shifts, or about 2.55 percent, once the Board reviewed the underlying data.
  • Other employer exhibits showed Vallejo employees spent about 26 percent of their hours at other clinics, while clinics drew in outside employees to fill vacancies at an average rate of about 17 percent.
  • The Board held the regional director was not required to separately analyze whether the petitioned for unit was readily identifiable under the American Steel Construction framework because DaVita did not clearly dispute that point before the hearing closed.
  • The panel rejected an election objection concerning the union's videotaping of an antiunion rally at DaVita's North Hollywood clinic; Member Mayer dissented on that point and would have ordered a hearing.
  • The Board reaffirmed that regional directors retain authority to process representation cases and certify election results even when the Board itself lacks a quorum.

Primary Source Author

National Labor Relations Board (Chairman James R. Murphy, Members David M. Prouty and Scott A. Mayer)

Primary Source

DVA Renal Healthcare, Inc. d/b/a DaVita Vallejo and SEIU, United Healthcare Workers West, 375 NLRB No. 2 (Case 20 RC 346835), July 22, 2026

National Labor Relations Board case docket, 20 RC 346835

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