Kentucky River Case
The Kentucky River Case and What it Means for ALL Nurses
As a multi-purpose professional organization representing the diverse interests of every registered nurse in the United States, the ANA has long supported the rights of registered nurses to have the freedom of choice regarding their work environments. ANA has a strong track record in preserving and protecting the inalienable rights and preferences of nurses regarding whether or not they choose to join a union. ANA recognizes that collective bargaining is not the preferred route for some registered nurses, but for many others, it is. As a result, ANA works to preserve the legal right to organize and bargain collectively.
The freedom to decide to organize is underscored in the ANA's Code of Ethics:
The professional association [ i.e., the SNA] also serves as an advocate for the nurse by seeking to secure just compensation and humane working conditions for nurses. To accomplish this, the professional association may engage in collective bargaining on behalf of nurses. While seeking to assure just economic and general welfare for nurses, collective bargaining, nonetheless, seeks to keep the interests of both nurses and patients in balance.
Am. Nurses Ass'n,Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretative Statements, Canon 6.3 (2001) [PDF].
The Legal Battle: When Are Registered Nurses “Supervisors” & Who Can't Be In A Collective Bargaining Unit?
Over the years, employers have claimed that registered nurses are “supervisors” because of their oversight of other staff members' work in some settings and under some circumstances. This is significant because the National Labor Relations Act does not protect the rights of supervisors to bargain collectively, even though the Act does protect these same individuals' right to join unions. In fact, the constitutional right to freedom of association mandates that the government cannot restrict a class of employees from belonging to any organization they choose.
As the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Supreme Court have considered the question of whether registered nurses are supervisors, various parts of the National Labor Relations Act have been considered. Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court considered and rejected the National Labor Relations Board's longstanding view that the professional judgment exercised by registered nurses did not make RNs supervisors when they directed the work of other employees when the RNs served as charge nurses or delegated tasks to other health care team members. NLRB v. Kentucky River Community Care, Inc., 532 U.S. 706 (2001).
The Act defines “supervisor” as “. . . any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, 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 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.” 29 U.S.C. §2(11). The inclusion of the phrase “independent judgment” arose in connection with the attempt of Congress to distinguish between true “supervisors” with “genuine management prerogatives” and those who are still eligible to organize under the Act, even if they perform “minor supervisory duties.”
The NLRB and the courts have long recognized that work leaders of all sorts, like charge nurses, are not “supervisors.” ANA thinks that this approach is correct as a matter of law, and mirrors the realities of nursing practice.
ANA's Amicus Briefs Explain Professional Nursing Practice
The ANA submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the Kentucky River case (2001), as it has done in numerous other cases related to employees' rights under federal labor law over the years. The Court did not permit the NLRB's ruling to stand and suggested that the NLRB reconsider its approach to the questions related to whether RNs acted as “supervisors” when they did direct others or assign tasks to others.
In response to the Supreme Court's Kentucky River decision, the NLRB identified a number of cases pending before it that addressed the issue of whether employees who direct others' work are “supervisors” excluded from the rights granted under the Act. The NLRB asked interested parties to submit information through amicus briefs regarding the legal questions it was considering. The ANA is uniquely positioned to offer information to the National Labor Relations Board about professional nursing practice. Accordingly, ANA and its labor affiliate, the United American Nurses, filed a joint amicus brief to describe for the board the nature of nursing practice and how that fits within the context of labor law. ANA urges interested parties to read the brief as it provides an excellent overview of nursing practice and the National Labor Relations Act. [PDF]
Waiting For the NLRB Decision and ANA's Plan for Action
The NLRB's decision is still pending, and ANA awaits the results of the NLRB's review.
The ANA knows that delegation [PDF] is an integral part of professional nursing practice that is constrained by ethical considerations as well as state nurse practice acts. Delegation is not a supervisory act connected to acting on behalf of the employer as true supervisors do when they hire, fire and discipline employees. It would be a grave mistake for the NLRB to confuse the nature of nursing practice with supervisory prerogatives and find that charge nurses or nurses who delegate tasks are “supervisors” who lose their rights.
Organized nurses have obtained negotiated rights that enhance their professional practice and support patient safety. ANA does not want RNs to lose these rights. ANA awaits the NLRB decision regarding the meaning of certain phrases in the National Labor Relations Act as they relate to registered nurses. It is hoped that the decision will not take away nurses' freedom of choice, but if it does ANA will work to protect and restore RN's rights to organize and bargain collectively, and will help its members to show their employers, the NLRB and the courts that the norms of nursing practice do not place RNs outside the scope of bargaining units and the protection of the National Labor Relations Act.
Watch this site for more information on the Kentucky River case.
For additional information see materials posted by ANA's labor affiliate, the United American Nurses: