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Act. Therefore, it is important to examine the methodology the Board and the courts of
appellate review employ to determine whether other individuals, not specificay excluded
by statute, are employees under the Act.
A. The Analytical Framework
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision, N.L.R.B, v, Town & Country Electric, Inc.,
116 S.Ct. 450 (1995), aff'g Town & Country Electric, Inc., 309 NLRB 1250 (1992), is
illustrative. There the Court upheld the Board's ruling that union organizers were "employees"
and were thus entitled to the protections afforded by the Act. In supporting this holding, the
Court looked to the plain language of the Act, the legislative history of the Act,
previous Board and Court decisions, and the conunon law. Applying this analysis to the instant
case results in the inexorable conclusion that the unpaid staff at WBAI are "employees" within
the meaning of the Act.
B. Applying this analysis to the instant case.
1. The definition of an employee
The National Labor Relations Act, as amended, (the "Act" herein) defines an
employee as follows:
The term "employee" shall include any employee, and shall not be limited to the
employees of a particular employer, unless this subchapter explicitly states
otherwise, and shaff include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence
of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor
practice, and who has not obtained any other regular and substantially equivalent
employment, but shall not include any individual employed as an agricultural laborer,
or in the domestic service of any family or person at his home, or any individual
employed by his parent or spouse, or any individual having the status of an
independent contractor, or any individual employed as a supervisor, or any individual
employed by an employer subject to the Railway Labor Act, as
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