National Labor Relations Board v. Kentucky River Community Care, Inc.

Summary

The Court unanimously upheld the NLRB's rule placing the burden of proving supervisory status on the party asserting it, including an employer challenging a bargaining unit through an unfair-labor-practice proceeding. A five-Justice majority, in an opinion by Justice Scalia, nevertheless held unlawful the Board's categorical exclusion of ordinary professional or technical judgment from independent judgment when employees responsibly direct others. Because the Board defended its order only under that invalid interpretation, the Court affirmed the Sixth Circuit's judgment denying enforcement without remanding. Justice Stevens, joined by Justices Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, concurred on the burden of proof but dissented otherwise. They would have deferred to the Board's interpretation and reversed; alternatively, they favored returning the case to the Board rather than affirming.