October 16th is the annual celebration of Boss’s Day, which has traditionally been the day for employees to “thank their boss for being kind and fair throughout the year”. In most workplaces, it is clear who is a boss and who is not. The boss is the one who tells you what to do, completes your performance review and hassles you when you do not follow company policy.

The term “boss” generally means “supervisor”. For us in the legal-compliance world, knowing who is a supervisor and who is not is very important. Supervisors are not paid minimum wage and overtime; cannot be members of a union; and make the company liable for their actions like sexual harassment. Organized Labor has pushed the NLRB to narrowly define supervisor, but the Supreme Court rejected previous definitions as inconsistent with the text of the NLRA. In Oakwood Healthcare Inc, the NLRB modified the definitions of "assign," "responsibly direct," and "independent judgment" (all used to determine a supervisor) to conform to the Supreme Court rulings in NLRB v. Kentucky River Comty. Care, Inc. and NLRB v. HCR.

The RESPECT Act would make three major changes to the current definition. It would eliminate the two most common supervisory duties- the authority "to assign" other employees, and the authority to "responsibly to direct" other employees. In addition, the RESPECT Act would require that the "majority of a supervisor’s work time" be spent engaging in the remaining duties outlined in the NLRA definition below.

The new definition of “supervisor” under Section 2(11) of the NLRA would read as follows:

Any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, and for a majority of the individual’s worktime, 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.

 

Changing the definition of “supervisor” would significantly affect many workplaces by:

  • Create divided loyalties among front-line supervisors who assign work to employees. Under the RESPECT Act, such supervisors would be covered by the NLRA and could then form, join or assist labor organizations; be eligible to vote in NLRB supervised elections; solicit signatures for union authorization cards from "co-workers;" or picket, go on strike or engage in other work stoppages that would be inconsistent with a supervisor’s duty.
  • Fundamentally tip the balance between the dual functions of the national labor policy: (1) to protect the rights of rank-and-file employees in exercising their rights to form, join or assist a union without managerial or supervisory interference, while at the same time (2) ensuring supervisors act as agents in the interests of their employers in matters of labor-management relations.
  • To the extent that the NLRA definition is changed, there may also be changes to the FLSA’s definition, triggering litigation involving individuals currently classified, as "supervisors" but who may not meet a new definition.

Organized Labor’s legislative wish list includes the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Trades workers ("RESPECT") Act, along with similarly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.   Candidate Obama supports both acts; while Candidate McCain opposes them. The addition of supervisors to the ranks of potential union members and the ease of organizing workforces without a secret ballot election would dramatically change the balance of labor management relations. It would also greatly increase the dues collected by unions from organized employees.