586
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
to carry out that charge is the matter under examination in this case.
The controversy before the Court involves the employment status of certain licensed practical nurses at Heartland Nursing Home in Urbana, Ohio. Unlike registered nurses, who are professional employees, licensed practical nurses are considered "technical" employees. The Board, however, applies the same test of supervisory status to licensed practical nurses as it does to registered nurses where, as in this case, the practical nurses have the same duties as registered nurses. See 306 N. L. R. B. 68, 69, n. 5 (1992) (duties of staff nurses at Heartland, the evidence showed, "were virtually the same whether the nurses were [licensed practical nurses] or [registered nurses]"); Ohio Masonic Home, Inc., 295 N. L. R. B. 390, 394-395, and n. 1 (1989); cf. NLRB v. Res-Care, Inc., 705 F. 2d 1461, 1466 (CA7 1983) (licensed practical nurses "are, if not full-fledged professionals, at least sub-professionals").
Through case-by-case adjudication, the Board has sought to distinguish individuals exercising the level of control that truly places them in the ranks of management, from highly skilled employees, whether professional or technical, who perform, incidentally to their skilled work, a limited supervisory role. I am persuaded that the Board's approach is rational and consistent with the Act. I would therefore uphold the administrative determination, affirmed by the Board, that Heartland's practical nurses are protected employees.
I
As originally enacted in 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (Act), 29 U. S. C. § 151 et seq., did not expressly exclude supervisors from the class of "employees" entitled to the Act's protections. See §§ 7, 2(3), 49 Stat. 452, 450. The Board decided in Packard Motor Co., 61 N. L. R. B. 4 (1945), that in the absence of an express exclusion, supervisors must be held within the Act's coverage. This Court agreed,
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