Opinion ID: 2827787
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hire

Text: The last supervisory function that the Acting Regional Director considered was the authority to hire (or to effectively . . . recommend the hiring of) other employees. 29 U.S.C. § 152(11). The Acting Regional Director supportably found that NSTAR had not shown that TSSs have such authority. The sole point of dispute concerns whether the TSSs have the authority to effectively recommend the hiring of other TSSs. 29 U.S.C. § 152(11); see Empress Casino Joliet Corp. v. NLRB, 204 F.3d 719, 721 (7th Cir. 2000) (finding such authority where the uncontradicted testimony showed that the captains and first mates interviewed job applicants and that [the official with final hiring power] relied heavily on their recommendations). But wherever the line between non-supervisory involvement in hiring and an effective[] recommend[ation] to hire may fall, the Acting Regional Director reasonably concluded that it was not crossed here. NSTAR relies on Conlon's testimony once again. Conlon testified that he introduced applicants for TSS positions to the current TSSs at the end of the applicant's job interviews. But significantly, Conlon did not describe the TSSs' role in the hiring process as a job interview, even though he described himself as - 36 - conducting interviews with the candidates. Rather, Conlon testified that his purpose in having TSSs sit with job applicants was to give the applicant a feel for the job . . . and just give [the current TSSs] a feel for the person that's coming in for an interview. And Conlon said he did not seek to have any particular TSSs meet with the applicant; it's just whoever's on that day. Conlon also testified that, afterwards, he would ask the TSSs what they thought of the applicant. And Conlon testified that he did not recall ever hiring someone whom the current TSSs did not favorably describe. Nor did Conlon recall ever not hiring someone whom the current TSSs did favorably describe. But Conlon testified that the questions he asked of the TSSs who had happened to meet with candidates were general ones: Say what do you think of this guy? Do you think he'll fit in? Do you think -- you know, does he know it? Does he get what's going on? And Conlon could not remember any specific person[] whom he had declined to hire based on TSS feedback. Moreover, while Conlon testified that the last three TSSs he hired had been well-liked by the current TSSs with whom they spoke, Conlon could not recall the names of those TSSs nor any details on the nature of the feedback those TSSs had offered. It is thus not clear on this record how significant, if at all, the TSSs' impressions were to Conlon's hiring decisions. And, as a result, we conclude that the Acting Regional Director - 37 - supportably found that NSTAR failed to meet its burden of establishing that the TSSs' role in hiring rises to the level of an effective recommendation sufficient to render it supervisory.