29 U.S.C. § 152 — Definitions

Page 37 TITLE 29—LABOR § 152 pressions, by depressing wage rates and the pur- chasing power of wage earners in industry and by preventing the stabilization of competitive wage rates and working conditions within and between industries. Experience has proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and bar- gain collectively safeguards commerce from in- jury, impairment, or interruption, and promotes the flow of commerce by removing certain rec- ognized sources of industrial strife and unrest, by encouraging practices fundamental to the friendly adjustment of industrial disputes aris- ing out of differences as to wages, hours, or other working conditions, and by restoring equality of bargaining power between employers and employees. Experience has further demonstrated that cer- tain practices by some labor organizations, their officers, and members have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by preventing the free flow of goods in such commerce through strikes and other forms of industrial unrest or through concerted activities which impair the interest of the pub- lic in the free flow of such commerce. The elimi- nation of such practices is a necessary condition to the assurance of the rights herein guaranteed. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of com- merce and to mitigate and eliminate these ob- structions when they have occurred by encour- aging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-orga- nization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negoti- ating the terms and conditions of their employ- ment or other mutual aid or protection. (July 5, 1935, ch. 372, § 1, 49 Stat. 449; June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title I, § 101, 61 Stat. 136.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1947—Act June 23, 1947, amended section generally to restate the declaration of policy and to make the find- ing and policy of this subchapter ‘‘two-sided’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1947 AMENDMENT Act June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title I, § 104, 61 Stat. 152, provided that: ‘‘The amendments made by this title [amending this subchapter] shall take effect sixty days after the date of the enactment of this Act [June 23, 1947], except that the authority of the President to ap- point certain officers conferred upon him by section 3 of the National Labor Relations Act as amended by this title [section 153 of this title] may be exercised forth- with.’’ § 152. Definitions When used in this subchapter— (1) The term ‘‘person’’ includes one or more individuals, labor organizations, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representa- tives, trustees, trustees in cases under title 11, or receivers. (2) The term ‘‘employer’’ includes any per- son acting as an agent of an employer, di- rectly or indirectly, but shall not include the United States or any wholly owned Govern- ment corporation, or any Federal Reserve Bank, or any State or political subdivision thereof, or any person subject to the Railway Labor Act [45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.], as amended from time to time, or any labor organization (other than when acting as an employer), or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization. (3) The term ‘‘employee’’ shall include any employee, and shall not be limited to the em- ployees of a particular employer, unless this subchapter explicitly states otherwise, and shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice, and who has not ob- tained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment, but shall not include any individual employed as an agricultural la- borer, or in the domestic service of any family or person at his home, or any individual em- ployed by his parent or spouse, or any indi- vidual having the status of an independent contractor, or any individual employed as a supervisor, or any individual employed by an employer subject to the Railway Labor Act [45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.], as amended from time to time, or by any other person who is not an em- ployer as herein defined. (4) The term ‘‘representatives’’ includes any individual or labor organization. (5) The term ‘‘labor organization’’ means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which ex- ists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. (6) The term ‘‘commerce’’ means trade, traf- fic, commerce, transportation, or communica- tion among the several States, or between the District of Columbia or any Territory of the United States and any State or other Terri- tory, or between any foreign country and any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or within the District of Columbia or any Ter- ritory, or between points in the same State but through any other State or any Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign country. (7) The term ‘‘affecting commerce’’ means in commerce, or burdening or obstructing com- merce or the free flow of commerce, or having led or tending to lead to a labor dispute bur- dening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce. (8) The term ‘‘unfair labor practice’’ means any unfair labor practice listed in section 158 of this title. (9) The term ‘‘labor dispute’’ includes any controversy concerning terms, tenure or con- ditions of employment, or concerning the as- sociation or representation of persons in nego- tiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of em- ployment, regardless of whether the dispu- tants stand in the proximate relation of em- ployer and employee. Page 38 TITLE 29—LABOR § 153 1 So in original. Probably should be ‘‘persons.’’ (10) The term ‘‘National Labor Relations Board’’ means the National Labor Relations Board provided for in section 153 of this title. (11) The term ‘‘supervisor’’ means any indi- vidual 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 inde- pendent judgment. (12) The term ‘‘professional employee’’ means— (a) any employee engaged in work (i) pre- dominantly intellectual and varied in char- acter as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work; (ii) involving the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in its performance; (iii) of such a character that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time; (iv) re- quiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily ac- quired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study in an in- stitution of higher learning or a hospital, as distinguished from a general academic edu- cation or from an apprenticeship or from training in the performance of routine men- tal, manual, or physical processes; or (b) any employee, who (i) has completed the courses of specialized intellectual in- struction and study described in clause (iv) of paragraph (a), and (ii) is performing re- lated work under the supervision of a profes- sional person to qualify himself to become a professional employee as defined in para- graph (a). (13) In determining whether any person is acting as an ‘‘agent’’ of another person so as to make such other person responsible for his acts, the question of whether the specific acts performed were actually authorized or subse- quently ratified shall not be controlling. (14) The term ‘‘health care institution’’ shall include any hospital, convalescent hospital, health maintenance organization, health clin- ic, nursing home, extended care facility, or other institution devoted to the care of sick, infirm, or aged person.1 (July 5, 1935, ch. 372, § 2, 49 Stat. 450; June 23, 1947, ch. 120, title I, § 101, 61 Stat. 137; Pub. L. 93–360, § 1(a), (b), July 26, 1974, 88 Stat. 395; Pub. L. 95–598, title III, § 319, Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2678.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The Railway Labor Act, referred to in pars. (2) and (3), is act May 20, 1926, ch. 347, 44 Stat. 577, which is classified principally to chapter 8 (§ 151 et seq.) of Title 45, Railroads. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 151 of Title 45 and Tables. AMENDMENTS 1978—Par. (1). Pub. L. 95–598 substituted ‘‘cases under title 11’’ for ‘‘bankruptcy’’. 1974—Par. (2). Pub. L. 93–360, § 1(a), struck out provi- sions which had excepted from definition of ‘‘em- ployer’’ corporations and associations operating hos- pitals if no part of the net earnings inured to the ben- efit of any private shareholder or individual. Par. (14). Pub. L. 93–360, § 1(b), added par. (14). 1947—Act June 23, 1947, amended section generally to redefine terms used in this subchapter and to define several new terms. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 95–598 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 402(a) of Pub. L. 95–598, set out as an Effec- tive Date note preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bank- ruptcy. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1974 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 93–360 effective on thirtieth day after July 26, 1974, see section 4 of Pub. L. 93–360, set out as an Effective Date note under section 169 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1947 AMENDMENT For effective date of amendment by act June 23, 1947, see section 104 of act June 23, 1947, set out as a note under section 151 of this title. § 153. National Labor Relations Board (a) Creation, composition, appointment, and ten- ure; Chairman; removal of members The National Labor Relations Board (herein- after called the ‘‘Board’’) created by this sub- chapter prior to its amendment by the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 [29 U.S.C. 141 et seq.], is continued as an agency of the United States, except that the Board shall consist of five instead of three members, appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Of the two additional members so provided for, one shall be appointed for a term of five years and the other for a term of two years. Their successors, and the successors of the other members, shall be appointed for terms of five years each, excepting that any individual chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of the member whom he shall succeed. The President shall designate one mem- ber to serve as Chairman of the Board. Any member of the Board may be removed by the President, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause. (b) Delegation of powers to members and re- gional directors; review and stay of actions of regional directors; quorum; seal The Board is authorized to delegate to any group of three or more members any or all of the powers which it may itself exercise. The Board is also authorized to delegate to its re- gional directors its powers under section 159 of this title to determine the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining, to inves- tigate and provide for hearings, and determine whether a question of representation exists, and to direct an election or take a secret ballot under subsection (c) or (e) of section 159 of this title and certify the results thereof, except that