Labor - 29 USC Section 152

01/19/04

Sec. 152. Definitions

When used in this subchapter -
(1) The term "person" includes one or more individuals, labor
organizations, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal
representatives, trustees, trustees in cases under title 11, or
receivers.
(2) The term "employer" includes any person acting as an agent
of an employer, directly or indirectly, but shall not include the
United States or any wholly owned Government corporation, or any
Federal Reserve Bank, or any State or political subdivision
thereof, or any person subject to the Railway Labor Act [45
U.S.C. 151 et seq.], as amended from time to time, or any labor
organization (other than when acting as an employer), or anyone
acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor
organization.
(3) The term "employee" shall include any employee, and shall
not be limited to the employees of a particular employer, unless
this subchapter explicitly states otherwise, and shall include
any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in
connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any
unfair labor practice, and who has not obtained any other regular
and substantially equivalent employment, but shall not include
any individual employed as an agricultural laborer, or in the
domestic service of any family or person at his home, or any
individual employed by his parent or spouse, or any individual
having the status of an independent contractor, or any individual
employed as a supervisor, or any individual employed by an
employer subject to the Railway Labor Act [45 U.S.C. 151 et
seq.], as amended from time to time, or by any other person who
is not an employer as herein defined.
(4) The term "representatives" includes any individual or labor
organization.
(5) The term "labor organization" means any organization of any
kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan,
in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose,
in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning
grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of
employment, or conditions of work.
(6) The term "commerce" means trade, traffic, commerce,
transportation, or communication among the several States, or
between the District of Columbia or any Territory of the United
States and any State or other Territory, or between any foreign
country and any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or
within the District of Columbia or any Territory, or between
points in the same State but through any other State or any
Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign country.
(7) The term "affecting commerce" means in commerce, or
burdening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce,
or having led or tending to lead to a labor dispute burdening or
obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce.
(8) The term "unfair labor practice" means any unfair labor
practice listed in section 158 of this title.
(9) The term "labor dispute" includes any controversy
concerning terms, tenure or conditions of employment, or
concerning the association or representation of persons in
negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange
terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether the
disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and
employee.
(10) The term "National Labor Relations Board" means the
National Labor Relations Board provided for in section 153 of
this title.
(11) The term "supervisor" means any individual having
authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer,
suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or
discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to
adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action,
if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such
authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but
requires the use of independent judgment.
(12) The term "professional employee" means -
(a) any employee engaged in work (i) predominantly
intellectual and varied in character as opposed to routine
mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work; (ii) involving
the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in its
performance; (iii) of such a character that the output produced
or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation
to a given period of time; (iv) requiring knowledge of an
advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily
acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual
instruction and study in an institution of higher learning or a
hospital, as distinguished from a general academic education or
from an apprenticeship or from training in the performance of
routine mental, manual, or physical processes; or
(b) any employee, who (i) has completed the courses of
specialized intellectual instruction and study described in
clause (iv) of paragraph (a), and (ii) is performing related
work under the supervision of a professional person to qualify
himself to become a professional employee as defined in
paragraph (a).
(13) In determining whether any person is acting as an "agent"
of another person so as to make such other person responsible for
his acts, the question of whether the specific acts performed
were actually authorized or subsequently ratified shall not be
controlling.
(14) The term "health care institution" shall include any
hospital, convalescent hospital, health maintenance organization,
health clinic, nursing home, extended care facility, or other
institution devoted to the care of sick, infirm, or aged
person.(!1)

AMENDMENTS
1978 - Par. (1). Pub. L. 95-598 substituted "cases under title
11" for "bankruptcy".
1974 - Par. (2). Pub. L. 93-360, Sec. 1(a), struck out provisions
which had excepted from definition of "employer" corporations and
associations operating hospitals if no part of the net earnings
inured to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
Par. (14). Pub. L. 93-360, Sec. 1(b), added par. (14).
1947 - Act June 23, 1947, amended section generally to redefine
terms used in this subchapter and to define several new terms.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT
Amendment by Pub. L. 95-598 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section
402(a) of Pub. L. 95-598, set out as an Effective Date note
preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bankruptcy.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1974 AMENDMENT
Amendment by Pub. L. 93-360 effective on thirtieth day after July
26, 1974, see section 4 of Pub. L. 93-360, set out as an Effective
Date note under section 169 of this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1947 AMENDMENT
For effective date of amendment by act June 23, 1947, see section
104 of act June 23, 1947, set out as a note under section 151 of
this title.

Last modified: April 16, 2006