§ 152. — Definitions.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 29USC152]
TITLE 29--LABOR
CHAPTER 7--LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS
SUBCHAPTER II--NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS
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\
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\1\ So in original. Probably should be ``persons.''
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(July 5, 1935, ch. 372, Sec. 2, 49 Stat. 450; June 23, 1947, ch. 120,
title I, Sec. 101, 61 Stat. 137; Pub. L. 93-360, Sec. 1(a), (b), July
26, 1974, 88 Stat. 395; Pub. L. 95-598, title III, Sec. 319, Nov. 6,
1978, 92 Stat. 2678.)
References in Text
The Railway Labor Act, referred to in pars. (2) and (3), is act May
20, 1926, ch. 347, 44 Stat. 577, as amended, which is classified
principally to chapter 8 (Sec. 151 et seq.) of Title 45, Railroads. For
complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 151 of
Title 45 and Tables.
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.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 1803 of this title; title 7
section 2015; title 20 section 76k; title 42 section 653a.
