## Facts

- Loretto Heights College is a four-year liberal arts college in Denver, Colorado, founded by the Sisters of Loretto, later becoming independent (1968) and coeducational (1970).
- Faculty organized a union in 1971; in 1972 the Faculty Education Association was certified as the bargaining representative for specified full- and part-time professional employees.
- The parties negotiated successive collective bargaining agreements; the last agreement expired in May 1980.
- After *NLRB v. Yeshiva University* (1980), the College withdrew recognition from the union and refused to bargain, asserting the faculty were “managerial employees” excluded from NLRA coverage.
- The union filed an unfair labor practice charge; an ALJ found the College violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5), and the NLRB affirmed and ordered the College to recognize and bargain.
- The College sought judicial review; the NLRB sought enforcement.
- The College employed roughly 60–65 full-time faculty, 30–35 part-time faculty, and about 26–27 administrators, with an academic dean and program directors forming an administrative hierarchy.
- Faculty participated in committees and academic matters, but their recommendations were commonly subject to administrative approval and were treated as largely advisory.

## Issues

1. Whether the faculty were “managerial employees” under *Yeshiva* and therefore excluded from NLRA protections.
2. Whether the College’s withdrawal of recognition and refusal to bargain constituted unfair labor practices under NLRA §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5).

## Decision

- The court denied the College’s petition for review and granted enforcement of the NLRB’s order.
- The court held the faculty were not managerial employees and remained covered by the NLRA.
- The court upheld the Board’s finding that the College violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5) by withdrawing recognition and refusing to bargain.
- The court concluded the Board’s decision was consistent with applicable law and supported by substantial evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Faculty are “managerial employees” only if they effectively formulate and implement institutional policy through discretionary authority that aligns them with management interests.
- Participation on committees and input on academic matters, without effective control over policy outcomes, does not by itself establish managerial status.
- The existence of an administrative hierarchy that retains final decision-making authority supports a finding that faculty function in an advisory, not managerial, role.
- Courts review the NLRB’s managerial-employee determinations for substantial evidence and generally defer to the Board’s application of governing precedent to the record.

## Conclusion

Because the faculty’s governance role was largely advisory and subject to administrative control, the court upheld the NLRB’s determination that they were not managerial employees under *Yeshiva* and enforced the order requiring the College to recognize and bargain, finding the refusal to bargain violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5).


Loretto Heights Coll. v. NLRB, 742 F.2d 1245 (10th Cir. 1984)