A labor-management battle is brewing in Washington that could have major implications for employers in California and across the nation. At issue is who can be considered a supervisor and therefore ineligible to join a union.

The National Labor Relations Board this summer is set to rule on a series of cases that could broaden the definition of who can be considered a “supervisory employee.” Under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, all supervisory employees are barred from joining unions.

Currently, only employees who exercise independent judgment as supervisors or who have the authority to assign tasks to others can be considered supervisors. But a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2001 in a case involving nurses at a Kentucky community care center called this definition into question and two subsequent cases left the issue unresolved.

The National Labor Relations Board is now considering all three cases as it prepares to come out with new guidelines for who can be considered a supervisory employee.

Union leaders have mounted a nationwide campaign aimed at pressuring the board to keep the existing definition. They say that the Bush Administration is pushing to broaden the definition of supervisor to include all employees who have ever had any oversight over co-workers, even for such things as showing a new co-worker how to use a computer program. They say such a definition would result in the reclassification of millions of employees as supervisors.

“This could further erode workers’ freedom to form unions,” according to a press release from the AFL-CIO.

Employer groups counter that anyone who directs other people should themselves report directly to management, not to a union boss.

“We strongly believe that anybody who has supervisory authority should be exempt,” said Stephen Bokat, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center, the public policy law firm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “You cannot have double loyalty in a unionized facility. If you are directing subordinates, then you should report to management, but that will not work if you are also a member of a union because your loyalties are divided.”

The National Labor Relations Board is expected to rule on these cases by Labor Day.

Taxable Tips?


It’s long been the law that restaurants do not pay sales taxes to the state for optional tips left by restaurant patrons for their servers.

But what hasn’t been so clear is what happens when on the menu there’s a line: “A tip of 15 percent will be included for parties of six or more,” or “A gratuity of 15 percent is suggested.”

The state Board of Equalization, which oversees the collection of sales taxes, has generally interpreted lines referring to “mandatory tips” as part of the overall sales price and therefore subject to sales taxes.

But restaurateurs argue that the money from these tips goes directly to the server and not towards the restaurant’s bottom line and therefore restaurants should not have to pay sales taxes on them. They have petitioned the Board of Equalization to change the rule.

“Restaurant owners never see this money, so why should they be forced to pay a sales tax?” asked Lara Diaz Dunbar, vice president of government affairs and public policy for the California Restaurant Association.

The issue comes to a head this week at a board hearing Thursday in Sacramento, with proposed amendments to the existing regulation due out in September.

Truck Controls Mulled


The state Air Resources Board is considering a broad array of proposals to reduce diesel emissions from heavy-duty trucks.

The proposals which will be aired at a workshop on Tuesday range from requiring retrofits of all trucks that are at least six years old and requiring the scrapping of all trucks more than 12 years old to restricting older trucks from major population centers.

In coming up with these proposals, Air Resources Board staff cite new scientific data on the health impacts of diesel emissions, including 2,900 premature deaths each year, 2,500 cases of chronic bronchitis and 600,000 lost work days due to illness.

Representatives of the California Trucking Association did not return calls seeking comment. But in the past, the association has said that regulations requiring the retrofit of trucks place extreme hardship on many truckers, especially independent operators who own their own trucks. The timing of any additional regulations could be particularly bad for independent truckers who have already taken major hits from escalating fuel prices.

Energy Boost


The South Coast Air Quality Management District is considering allowing the developers of major energy-related projects to buy emission credits to offset any pollution their projects might generate.

Under the proposed rule changes, qualifying electric generating facilities, other energy-related projects of regional significance and non-public biosolids processing facilities will be allowed to access the agency’s “community bank” to buy emission credits.

Business groups and energy industry advocates have long pushed for this, saying it would help ensure adequate energy supplies for the L.A. region and jump-start the region’s alternative energy industry.

Environmental groups are expected to oppose the granting of offsetting emission credits; they say such credits help create “toxic hot spots” that harm the health of residents next to these projects.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached at

[email protected]

or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 227.