## Facts

- Florida Memorial College (Florida Memorial) was a private, nonprofit four-year liberal arts college in the Miami area with about 1,000 students and roughly 35–40 full-time faculty members.
- The college was organized into six academic divisions, and it was governed by a 16-member board of trustees that included two nonvoting faculty representatives.
- In 1979, a union sought to represent a bargaining unit that included all full-time faculty members, professional librarians, and professional counselors (excluding part-time faculty, administrative staff, nonprofessional employees, guards, and statutory supervisors).
- The union won the representation election (21–14) and was certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
- Florida Memorial refused to bargain, asserting that the full-time faculty were excluded from National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) coverage as “managerial” or “supervisory” employees.
- Full-time faculty did not have an exclusive faculty organization (such as an autonomous senate) through which they could exercise institutional authority.
- Faculty participation occurred through standing committees; faculty members were selected by the vice president, and committees included administrators and students.
- Committee recommendations on personnel matters (including hiring and advancement) were not binding and could be disregarded by the academic dean.
- Academic policies such as curriculum, graduation requirements, and enrollment were set by the college catalog, and faculty had no input into the catalog’s dictates.
- Faculty could suggest new courses, but implementation required approval by the academic dean.
- Florida Memorial used open admissions and did not offer tenure.
- After an unfair-labor-practice charge, the NLRB found Florida Memorial violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5) by refusing to bargain and ordered the college to bargain; the NLRB petitioned the Eleventh Circuit for enforcement.

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the NLRB’s finding that Florida Memorial’s full-time faculty were not “managerial employees” excluded from the NLRA.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported the NLRB’s finding that Florida Memorial’s full-time faculty were not “supervisors” under NLRA § 2(11).
3. Whether, given the employees’ statutory status and the union’s certification, Florida Memorial’s refusal to bargain violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5) such that the Board’s order should be enforced.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit granted the NLRB’s application and enforced the Board’s order requiring Florida Memorial to bargain with the union.
- The court upheld the Board’s determination that the faculty were not managerial employees because they did not effectively formulate and carry out institutional policy in the manner described in *NLRB v. Yeshiva University*.
- The court also upheld the Board’s determination that the faculty were not statutory supervisors because their committee work and recommendations did not amount to authority (or effective recommendation) over the personnel actions listed in NLRA § 2(11).
- Because the unit employees were covered by the NLRA and the union had been properly certified, the refusal to bargain constituted violations of §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5).

## Legal Principles

- The NLRB’s factual findings are conclusive on judicial review if supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole, and the Board’s unit determinations receive deference when grounded in supported findings.
- Employees are “managerial” (and therefore outside NLRA coverage) when they formulate and carry out management policy; professional participation that is limited to giving advice, especially where administrators retain final control, does not establish managerial status.
- Under *NLRB v. Yeshiva University*, faculty may be managerial when they exercise effective, collective control over core academic policy (such as curriculum and admissions); the inquiry turns on the actual allocation of decision-making power at the institution.
- “Supervisory” status under NLRA § 2(11) requires authority (or effective recommendation), exercised with independent judgment, to take one or more listed personnel actions (e.g., hire, discipline, or reward) in the employer’s interest.
- Participation in committees whose recommendations can be freely rejected by administrators generally does not satisfy § 2(11)’s “effective recommendation” requirement.
- An employer violates NLRA § 8(a)(5) by refusing to bargain with a duly certified representative of statutory employees, and such refusal also interferes with employees’ § 7 rights in violation of § 8(a)(1).

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit enforced the NLRB’s bargaining order because substantial evidence showed Florida Memorial’s faculty lacked effective, final authority over institutional policy and did not exercise supervisory power with independent judgment; the college’s refusal to bargain with the certified union therefore violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5).


N.L.R.B. v. Florida Memorial College, 820 F.2d 1182 (1987)