708
Opinion of the Court
Laurence Gold filed briefs for Kentucky State District Council of Carpenters as respondent under this Court's Rule 12.6 in support of petitioner.
Michael W. Hawkins argued the cause for respondent Kentucky River Community Care, Inc. With him on the brief were Louise S. Brock and Cheryl E. Bruner.*
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, employees are deemed to be "supervisors" and thereby excluded from the protections of the Act if, inter alia, they exercise "independent judgment" in "responsibly . . . direct[ing]" other employees "in the interest of the employer." 29 U. S. C. § 152(11). This case presents two questions: which party in an unfair-labor-practice proceeding bears the burden of proving or disproving an employee's supervisory status; and whether judgment is not "independent judgment" to the extent that it is informed by professional or technical training or experience.
I
In Pippa Passes, Kentucky, respondent Kentucky River Community Care, Inc., operates a care facility for residents who suffer from mental retardation and mental illness. The facility, named the Caney Creek Developmental Complex (Caney Creek), employs approximately 110 professional and nonprofessional employees in addition to roughly a dozen concededly managerial or supervisory employees. In 1997, the Kentucky State District Council of Carpenters (a labor
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the American Nurses Association by Barbara J. Sapin and Woody N. Peterson; and for the Service Employees International Union et al. by Judith A. Scott, Diana O. Ceresi, Robert E. Funk, Jr., David J. Strom, Jack Dempsey, and Larry Weinberg.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the American Health Care Association by Thomas V. Walsh and Thomas P. McDonough; and for Human Resource Management et al. by G. Roger King.
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