Kentucky River Case: Supervisory Status and Independent Judgment under NLRA, Slides of Labour Law

Download Kentucky River Case: Supervisory Status and Independent Judgment under NLRA and more Slides Labour Law in PDF only on Docsity! Kentucky River – Relevant Statutory Provisions • Sec. 2(3) The term “employee” . . . shall not include. . . any individual employed as a supervisor, . . ... • Sec. 2 (11). The term supervisor means any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment (emphases added). Docsity.com Health Care and Retirement Corp. (Earlier Case) • Broad definition of “supervisors” – use of term “or” in the listing – “in the interest of” means furthering the employer’s interests Docsity.com Kentucky River (cont.) • Two Issues – Issue 2 (cont.) – independent judgment” ambiguous terminology with respect to amount of judgment – “independent judgment” not ambiguous terminology with respect to source of judgment – Board may exercise discretion regarding amount of, but not source of, independent judgment – Board’s finding in Kentucky River that RN’s are not supervisors (within the meaning of NLRA) because their independent judgment to responsibly direct employees based on their expertise and technical training, and not from management’s delegation of authority must be overturned • “responsibly direct” function cannot be treated differently than the other 11 functions Docsity.com Kentucky River (cont.) – Source of employee judgment (professional expertise or employer’s authority) an irrelevant consideration, Board may look only at amount of judgment to determine “independence” • Sec. 2(11) creates no distinction between sources • If direction is provided through independent judgment, ee a supervisor and not covered. • RN’s exercise independent judgment and are therefore excluded Docsity.com Judicial Review Issue • Courts may not directly review unit determination decision by Board – Review can be obtained only by a refusal to bargain Docsity.com