The Impact of Recent NLRB Decisions on Supervisory Status

A legal firm is being sued for not paying their employees enough. The employees claim they were not paid for their overtime work. The lawsuit is being taken to court, and both sides will have to prove their case. In 1935, Congress passed a law called the NLRA to protect industrial workers’ rights. However, in 1947, Congress changed the law to exclude supervisors from its protection. The NLRA now defines a supervisor as someone who has the power to make important decisions, uses independent judgment, and acts in the best interest of the employer. In a case involving Kentucky River Community Care, the court ruled that registered nurses were supervisors because they made important decisions in the interest of the employer. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the NLRB, but criticized their definition of “independent judgment” for workers like nurses. The court ordered the NLRB to come up with a new way to decide if someone is a supervisor. The NLRB responded with new rules in 2006. Oakwood Healthcare wanted to exclude charge nurses from the RN bargaining unit, saying they were “supervisors.” The board came up with new definitions for terms like “assign,” “responsibly to direct,” and “independent judgment” to decide if the charge nurses were supervisors or not. The board decided that permanent charge nurses were supervisors because they had authority to assign employees using their independent judgment, but rotating charge nurses were not because they did not spend a lot of time performing supervisory functions. The decisions in these cases could affect many professional workers who direct less skilled subordinates, like nurses, lead persons, and workers in other professions. Employers might find it easier to classify certain workers as supervisors exempt from labor law protections. The NLRB will likely continue to make decisions on a case-by-case basis, depending on the specific facts and circumstances of each case. Employers should be prepared for more cases challenging how they classify employees as supervisors. To avoid problems, employers should make sure their supervisors actually have supervisory responsibilities, give them authority to do supervisory duties, let them make decisions, and keep good records. This advice comes from lawyers Scott T. Silverman and Jennifer L. Watson. This column is written by the Labor and Employment Law Section. It’s meant to teach lawyers about serving the public, improving how justice is given, and advancing the science of law.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/the-impact-of-recent-nlrb-decisions-on-supervisory-status/