National Labor Relations Board Decision Finds House Staff Subject to National Labor Relations Act

On November 26, 1999, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held that house staff, composed of interns, residents and fellows, are employees subject to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The decision in Boston Medical Center Corporation reversed 23 years of NLRB precedent which had held that interns and residents were predominantly students and, as such, were not able to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining under the NLRA.

In a 3-2 decision, a Board majority of Chairman Truesdale and Members Fox and Leibman overruled the Board’s long-standing precedent in Cedars Sinai Medical Center and Saint Clare’s Hospital in which the Board had previously ruled that “house staff” are primarily students and, therefore, not employees within the meaning of the NLRA. Members Hurtgen and Brame both filed dissents, asserting that there has been no change in circumstances to justify the Board’s change in position and, in the case of Member Brame, that the Board’s decision will undermine the system of graduate medical education.

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