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In a partial victory for the NLRB, the Supreme Court 5/29/01 affirmed the Board’s rule that the burden of proving that an employee is a "supervisor" for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act falls on the party making the claim. Accordingly, the Court affirmed that the Board had properly placed the burden of proof on the operator of a mental health care facility, where the operator had claimed that its six registered nurses were supervisors and should therefore be excluded from an employee bargaining unit. Nevertheless, the Board failed to win the Court’s approval for its decision to reject the employer’s offer of proof. Under the National Labor Relations Act, an employee is a supervisor if his or her exercise of authority over other employees requires the use of "independent judgment." According to the Board’s interpretation of the Act, however, employees do not use independent judgment when they exercise "ordinary professional or technical judgment in directing less-skilled employees to deliver services in accordance with employer-specified standards." The Court rejected that interpretation, finding no justification for its categorical exclusion of employees who would otherwise fall within the Act’s definition of a "supervisor.”

This decision will broaden the class of individuals that the NLRB must recognize as supervisors under the NLRA.