National Labor Relations Board v. Town & Country Electric, Inc., and Ameristaff Personnel Contractors, Ltd.

Decided November 28, 1995. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 94-947 · 516 U.S. 85 (1995) · Cited 156 times

Holding

A worker may be a company’s “employee,” within the terms of the National Labor Relations Act, even if, at the same time, a union pays that worker to help the union organize the company.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• National Labor Relations Board v. Hendricks County Rural Electric Membership Corp. · 454 U.S. 170 (1981)
• Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Darden · 503 U.S. 318 (1992)
• Phelps Dodge Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board · 313 U.S. 177 (1941)
• Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid · 490 U.S. 730 (1989)
• Republic Aviation Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board · 324 U.S. 793 (1945)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Hearst Publications, Inc. · 322 U.S. 111 (1944)
• Allied Chemical & Alkali Workers of America, Local Union No. 1 v. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. · 404 U.S. 157 (1971)
• Sure-Tan, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board · 467 U.S. 883 (1984)
• Packard Motor Car Co. v. National Labor Relations Board · 330 U.S. 485 (1947)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Babcock & Wilcox Co. · 351 U.S. 105 (1956)
• National Labor Relations Board v. United Insurance Co. of America · 390 U.S. 254 (1968)
• Beth Israel Hospital v. National Labor Relations Board · 437 U.S. 483 (1978)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc. · 494 U.S. 775 (1990)
• Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board · 502 U.S. 527 (1992)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Local Union No. 1229, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers · 346 U.S. 464 (1953)
• ABF Freight System, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board · 510 U.S. 317 (1994)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Gasperini v. Center for Humanities, Inc. · 518 U.S. 415 (1996)
• Olmstead v. L.C. · 527 U.S. 581 (1999)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Kentucky River Community Care, Inc. · 532 U.S. 706 (2001)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1995). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).