Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-556_11o2.pdf
Page Number: 14

Cite as:  570 U. S. ____ (2013) 

11 

Opinion of the Court 

ciently specific meaning to be helpful for present purposes.
Petitioner is certainly right that the term is often used to
refer to a person who has the authority to direct another’s
work.  See, e.g., 17 Oxford English Dictionary 245 (2d ed.
1989) (defining the term as applying to “one who inspects 
and  directs  the  work  of  others”).    But  the  term  is  also 
often  closely  tied  to  the  authority  to  take  what  Ellerth 
and Faragher referred to as a “tangible employment action.” 
See,  e.g.,  Webster’s  Third  New  International  Dictionary
2296,  def.  1(a)  (1976)  (“a  person  having  authority  dele- 
gated  by  an  employer  to  hire,  transfer,  suspend,  recall,
promote,  assign,  or  discharge  another  employee  or  to  rec-
ommend such action”).

A  comparison  of  the  definitions  provided  by  two  collo­
quial  business  authorities  illustrates  the  term’s  impreci­
sion  in  general  usage.  One  says  that  “[s]upervisors  are
usually  authorized  to  recommend  and/or  effect  hiring, 
disciplining,  promoting,  punishing,  rewarding,  and  other
associated  activities  regarding  the  employees  in  their 
departments.”5   Another  says  exactly  the  opposite:  “A
supervisor  generally  does  not  have  the  power  to  hire  or
fire  employees  or  to  promote  them.”6    Compare  Ellerth, 
524 U. S., at 762 (“Tangible employment actions fall with­
in the special province of the supervisor”).

If  we  look  beyond  general  usage  to  the  meaning  of  the
term in other legal contexts, we find much the same situa­
tion.  Sometimes  the  term  is  reserved  for  those  in  the 
upper echelons of the management hierarchy.  See, e.g., 25 
U. S. C.  §2021(18)  (defining  the  “supervisor”  of  a  school 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Affairs  as 

—————— 

5 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/supervisor.html  (all  In- 
ternet  materials  as  visited  June  21,  2013,  and  available  in  Clerk  of 
Court’s case file). 

6 http://management.about.com/od/policiesandprocedures/g/

supervisor1.html