On June 10, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (the NLRB or the Board) issued a decision that reversed a 2014 Board decision regarding the test for exercising jurisdiction over faculty members at religious institutions. In Bethany College , the Board held that the test for exercising such jurisdiction that was established by the Board in Pacific Lutheran University was inconsistent with U.S. Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals precedent, and restored the test established by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in University of Great Falls v. NLRB . The Origin of the Newly Restored Great Falls Standard In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court considered the issue of the NLRB’s jurisdiction over church-operated schools and their teachers in NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago . The Supreme Court rejected the Board’s decision to exercise jurisdiction over separate bargaining units of lay teachers at two groups of Catholic high schools, holding that there would be a substantial risk that such an exercise of jurisdiction would result in an infringement of rights guaranteed under the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Catholic Bishop , the Board began to […]
