Nathanson v. National Labor Relations Board

Summary

The Court held that the National Labor Relations Board could prove a back-pay claim in bankruptcy because the statutory obligation was an implied-contract debt, and that the Board was the proper entity to liquidate the claim. It rejected priority treatment because the claim was collected for private wage claimants rather than for public revenue or protected governmental wards, and the Bankruptcy Act provided no basis for giving it greater priority than other wage claims. The judgment was reversed and the case remanded for proceedings consistent with that conclusion. Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Black, dissented, reasoning that the Government's enforcement role justified extending governmental priority to the claims.