The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) granted the Employer's Request for Review of the Regional Director's Decision and Direction of Election solely concerning whether Work Group Leads are statutory supervisors based on their "responsible direction" of employees. The Board directed the parties to submit briefs on this specific issue, including whether Work Group Leads possess secondary indicia of supervisory status.

In denying review on all other grounds, the Board found that the Employer had not met its evidentiary burden to prove that Work Group Leads effectively recommend employees for "Step-Up" positions. While a Maintenance Supervisor testified that Work Group Leads usually identify candidates and their recommendations are generally followed, the Employer's policy (GOP-317) outlines an extensive evaluation and training checklist requiring approval from an Area Trainer, Area Team Leader, and Operations Manager. The Board concluded that without more detailed evidence of how this process functions, the Employer failed to demonstrate that Work Group Leads' recommendations for Step-Up positions are made without independent investigation by higher-level management. The Board cited Children's Farm Home for the principle that "effective recommendation" implies the action is taken without independent investigation by superiors, not merely that the recommendation is ultimately followed. The Board also clarified that it did not rely on the Regional Director's citation to Family Healthcare, Inc. because that decision was invalidated by the Supreme Court's ruling in New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB.

Member Prouty dissented, agreeing with the Regional Director that the Employer failed to present sufficient evidence to prove the Work Group Leads are statutory supervisors based on responsible direction.

Significant Cases Cited

This summary was generated using Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite. It could contain errors.