Holly Farms Corp. v. NLRB: Chicken Catchers' Classification under Labor Act, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Law

Download Holly Farms Corp. v. NLRB: Chicken Catchers' Classification under Labor Act and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Law in PDF only on Docsity! Holly Farms Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board 517 U.S. 392 (1996) Docket Number: 95-210 Abstract Argued: February 21, 1996 Decided: April 23, 1996 Subjects: Unions: Representative Election Facts of the Case Holly Farms Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tyson Foods, Inc., is a vertically integrated poultry producer. In 1989, the Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers, Local 391, filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board, seeking an election in a proposed unit that included live-haul employees working out of Holly Farms' Wilkesboro processing plant. The unit included workers described as "live-haul" crews, or teams of chicken catchers, forklift operators, and truckdrivers, who collect for slaughter chickens raised as broilers by independent contract growers, and transport the birds to the processing plant. Classifying the live-haul workers as employees protected by the National Labor Relations Act, rather than agricultural laborers excluded from the Act's coverage, the Board approved the bargaining unit. On petition for review, the Court of Appeals enforced the Board's order, holding that the Board's classification rested on a reasonable interpretation of the Act and was consistent with the Board's prior decisions. Question Presented Did the National Labor Relations Board correctly classify chicken catchers as employees, and not as exempt agricultural workers, for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act? Conclusion Yes. In a 5-4 opinion delivered by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Court