Nebraska Ass'n of Public Employees v. Nebraska Game and Parks Com'n, 40748
| Decision Date | 08 December 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 40748,40748 |
| Citation | 247 N.W.2d 449,197 Neb. 178 |
| Parties | , 94 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2428, 80 Lab.Cas. P 53,979 NEBRASKA ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, a corporation, Appellant, v. NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION, Appellee. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Supervisory or managerial personnel may not enter into a bargaining unit with rank and file employees and may not retain the same bargaining agent.
Steven D. Burns, Lincoln, for appellant.
Paul L. Douglas, Atty. Gen., Gary B. Schneider, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lincoln, for appellee.
Heard before SPENCER, NEWTON and BRODKEY, JJ., HASTINGS, District Judge, and KUNS, Retired District Judge.
This is an appeal from the Court of Industrial Relations. The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, as plaintiff, sought designation as the bargaining agent for supervisory personnel of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, defendant. The court refused to call an election or to permit such representation. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Industrial Relations.
Material to a solution of this case is a determination of what is meant by the terms 'employer' and 'employee' for purposes of labor relations under Nebraska law. These terms have received a multiplicity of definitions under acts involving employer-employee relationships in other respects such as workmen's compensation and fair employment acts. None are applicable here. Resort must be had to legislative intention as expressed in Chapter 48, article 8, R.R.S.1943. Most jurisdictions have specifically defined these terms and classified supervisory personnel as 'management' as distinguished from employees. Experience under the National Labor Relations Act under which supervisory personnel were formerly classified as employees proved to be so unsatisfactory that it was amended by Congress so that supervisors could not be deemed employees. Presumably the Legislature was aware of the federal experience at the time the Nebraska act was amended in 1972 with regard to firemen and policemen.
Section 48-801, R.R.S.1943, states: 'Employer shall mean the State of Nebraska * * *' and that 'Employee shall include any person employed by any employer * * *.' The State, like a corporation, can only function through individual officers and assistants yet, strictly interpreted, the statute blandly ignores this fact. No line is drawn between management and labor. Department heads and officers would be free to enter into a bargaining unitwith employees under their supervision and subject to be discharged...
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