National Labor Relations Board v. Kentucky River Community Care, Inc., et al. (532 U.S. 706)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 29, 2001 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 532 U.S. 706 · 121 S. Ct. 1861
- Decided
- May 29, 2001
- Term
- October Term 2000
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. Under the National Labor Relations Act, employees are deemed to be “supervisors” and thereby excluded from the protections of the Act if, inter alia, they exercise “independent judgment” in “responsibly . . . direet[ing]” other employees “in the interest of the employer.” 29 U. S. C. §152(11). This ease presents two questions: which party in an unfair-labor-practiee proceeding bears the burden of proving or disproving an employee’s supervisory status; and whether judgment is not “independent judgment” to the extent that it is informed by professional or technical training or experience. I In Pippa Passes, Kentucky, respondent Kentucky River Community Care, Inc., operates a care facility for residents who suffer from mental retardation and mental illness. The facility, named the Caney Creek Developmental Complex (Caney Creek), employs approximately 110 professional and nonprofessional employees in addition to roughly a dozen coneededly managerial or supervisory employees. In 1997, the Kentucky State District Council of Carpenters (a labor union that is co-respondent here, supporting petitioner) petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to represent a single unit of all 110 potentially eligible employees at Caney Creek. See National Labor Relations Act (Act) §9(c), 49 Stat. 453, 29 U. S. C. § 159(c). At the ensuing…
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