Lemoyne-Owen College v. National Labor Relations Board

After Lemoyne-Owen College's (LOC) (plaintiff) faculty formed a union and petitioned the NLRB (defendant) for recognition, LOC opposed recognition on the ground that the faculty itself functioned as part of college management, citing numerous NLRB cases — the clear majority of precedent — denying union recognition to faculties with similar managerial involvement in curriculum and admissions decisions. The NLRB instead relied on a handful of outlier cases granting recognition, involving unconventional school structures where faculty decisions were routinely overruled, without explaining why that minority precedent should control over the majority precedent LOC identified. LOC appealed the NLRB's recognition decision.