What employee categories are excluded from a union bargaining unit?

According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an appropriate bargaining unit is a group of two or more employees who share a community of interest and may reasonably be grouped together for purposes of collective bargaining. The determination of what is an appropriate unit for such purposes is, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), left to the discretion of the NLRB.

The Act excludes certain individuals, such as agricultural laborers, independent contractors, supervisors and persons in managerial positions, from the meaning of "employees." None of these individuals can be included in a bargaining unit established by the Board. In addition, the Board, as a matter of policy, excludes from bargaining units employees who act in a confidential capacity to an employer's labor relations officials. 

Under the NLRA:

• A supervisor is defined as someone who uses independent judgment to make personnel decisions or to recommend personnel decisions. Personnel decisions include hiring, promoting, transferring, rewarding and terminating employees.
• A managerial employee is defined as someone who makes, executes and exercises independent judgment about management policies.
• A confidential employee is defined as someone who assists and acts in a confidential capacity to the management personnel who make and implement labor relations policies, or as someone who has regular access to confidential information about future bargaining strategy or changes that the employer anticipates may result from collective bargaining.
• Other employees who are excluded from the bargaining unit include independent contractors, agricultural workers, domestic workers, people employed by a parent or a spouse, and public employees.

For more information on who is covered by the NLRA, visit the NLRB website.