## Facts

- New York University Medical Center (NYUMC) provided physician services at Bellevue Hospital and employed psychiatrists staffing Bellevue’s inpatient psychiatric units.
- Bellevue’s psychiatric department was divided into multiple units, each led by a unit chief with other psychiatrists assigned to the unit.
- Psychiatrists formed the Association of Staff Psychiatrists, Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital (Association) to address hours, wages, working conditions, and grievances, and it regularly dealt with NYUMC management over those matters.
- Psychiatrists had an established practice in some positions of working six-hour days.
- Citing budget constraints, NYUMC’s psychiatry leadership announced plans to eliminate or modify the six-hour day practice, effectively requiring longer hours or reduced pay.
- Association members, including executive committee members, opposed the change and protested implementation.
- NYUMC managers made statements connecting continued opposition or Association activity with adverse consequences, including layoffs or “further penalties.”
- NYUMC later reorganized the department and laid off ten psychiatrists, including six members of the Association’s executive committee and several unit chiefs.
- NYUMC asserted the layoffs were justified by budgetary needs and by individual performance or administrative deficiencies.
- The Association filed unfair labor practice charges alleging the layoffs and statements were retaliation for protected concerted and associational activity.

## Issues

1. Whether the Association qualified as a “labor organization” under NLRA § 2(5) despite being an informal professional group rather than a certified union.
2. Whether psychiatrist unit chiefs were “supervisors” under NLRA § 2(11), excluding them from statutory protection.
3. Whether NYUMC violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(3) and 8(a)(1) by selecting psychiatrists for layoff because of protected activity and Association involvement under the *Wright Line* framework.
4. Whether managers’ statements about layoffs and penalties tied to opposition to schedule changes or Association activity were unlawful threats under NLRA § 8(a)(1) rather than lawful economic predictions.

## Decision

- The NLRB adopted the ALJ’s findings in substantial part and found NYUMC violated NLRA § 8(a)(1) by making coercive statements linking protected activity to layoffs and penalties.
- The Board found NYUMC violated NLRA §§ 8(a)(3) and 8(a)(1) by laying off ten psychiatrists to discourage Association activity and other protected concerted conduct.
- The Board determined the Association was a “labor organization” under NLRA § 2(5) because it existed, in part, to deal with NYUMC over terms and conditions of employment.
- The Board concluded the unit chiefs were not “supervisors” under NLRA § 2(11) and remained protected “employees.”
- The Board ordered reinstatement with backpay and benefits, cessation of unlawful conduct, and posting of remedial notices.

## Legal Principles

- An entity is a “labor organization” under NLRA § 2(5) when employees participate and the entity exists, at least in part, to deal with an employer about grievances, wages, hours, or working conditions; formal certification is not required.
- A worker is a “supervisor” under NLRA § 2(11) only if the worker has enumerated managerial authority exercised with independent judgment; professional or clinical judgment alone does not establish supervisory status.
- Under *Wright Line*, the General Counsel must show protected activity, employer knowledge, and that protected activity was a motivating factor; the employer then must prove it would have taken the same action absent protected conduct.
- Employer statements violate NLRA § 8(a)(1) if they reasonably tend to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in exercising NLRA § 7 rights; lawful predictions must be based on objective facts and not framed as retaliation.

## Conclusion

The NLRB held that NYUMC unlawfully threatened and laid off psychiatrists because of their protected concerted activity and participation in an employee association that qualified as a labor organization, and it ordered reinstatement and make-whole relief.


N.Y. Univ. Med. Ctr. & Ass'n of Staff Psychiatrists, Bellevue Psychiatric Hosp., 324 N.L.R.B. No. 139 (1997)