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When undertaking this task, the Board has uniformly interpreted "employee" in the
"broad generic sense" to include members of the working class generally. Under
this expansive interpretation, the Board has found that Section 2(3) covers not only
employees of a particular employer, but also employees of another employer, former
employees of a particular employer, applications for work, temporary and part-time
employees, and individuals attending school or working a second job.
Town & Country Electric. Inc., 309 NLRB at 1255. Generally, the Board's inclusion of the above
referenced individuals as "employees" entitled to the protection of the Act, centers on whether
they are hired by, work under the control of and receive compensation from the employer. How
the worker is compensated is less critical than other factors. The following cases, which
distinguish between "independent contractors" and "employees" are illustrative of the
Board's analysis.
In Booth Broadcasting Company, 134 NLRB 817 (1961). The Board found that free-
lance announcers, who had historically been part of a bargaining unit of staff announcers,
should be included in the unit description for purposes of a decertification election. There
the Board distinguished free-lance announcers from staff announcers in that they were not
regularly employed, were free to work for other stations, and were paid on a per-program
or per-job basis. Id.. 134 NLRB at 821. In the instant case, unpaid staff are regularly
employed at least ten hours per month. (Ex. J-1A) They are assigned to work on particular
programs and at particular times. (T., p. 295 LL. 16-22) When they work on a specific
project they often receive pay for that project, (T., p. 298 L. 3 -- p. 299 L. 12 ), and are
paid on an interim basis, full or part-time, when they substitute for full or part-time paid
staff who are on vacation or maternity leave. (T., p. 82 LL. 7-16)
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