Physicians aren’t always supervisors under NLRA

Physicians aren’t automatically “supervisors” under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), according to a recent decision by Region 10 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Although doctors have the authority to direct other employees within a healthcare institution, their primary role is to provide care to patients, not administrative and personnel services to the institution itself. Thus, in certain situations, physicians can be considered employees under the NLRA and may unionize with other healthcare personnel.

Definition of ‘supervisor’

The Piedmont Health Services United union filed an election petition seeking to represent employees in the company’s North Carolina facilities. The proposed unit included a group of nurses, physicians’ assistants, and physicians. The company argued the physicians should be excluded from the unit because they were supervisors under the NLRA.

Under Section 2(11) of the NLRA, “supervisor” is defined 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 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.”