After years of legal back and forth, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled May 23 that the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, was wrong to allow sergeants and sergeant detectives to organize with the Northeastern University Police Department union.

In 2023, the Northeastern University Police Department, or NUPD, voted to organize under the American Coalition of Public Safety, or ACOPS — a labor union that represents private-sector law enforcement personnel. Before the vote, the university filed an objection to the vote, arguing sergeant and sergeant detectives are supervisors, disqualifying them from joining the union. Shortly after, the NLRB rejected the university’s argument.

In the recent overruling, the court rejected the NLRB’s original conclusion that NUPD sergeants and sergeants detectives are not supervisors. 

Under the National Labor Relations Act, or NLRA, employers aren’t required to recognize anyone who is deemed a supervisor as an employee for bargaining purposes. The court found that the board’s decision lacked substantial evidence and contradicted a precedent that state supervisors may not unionize.

“The Board’s conclusion that Sergeants and Sergeant Detectives are not supervisors deviates from its own precedents without adequate explanation and is not supported by the record,” the May 23 court document reads. “And because we hold that substantial evidence supports the conclusion that Sergeants and Sergeant Detectives were supervisors by virtue of their authority to assign their subordinates and exercise independent judgment while doing so, we need not and do not reach the other issues argued by the parties.”

The court found that sergeants exercise independent judgment in assigning officers to details, including when and who to “force into assignment” when there are no available volunteers. 

The court document states that since patrol officers and community service officers report to sergeants, they have authority within the department.

An email from NUPD Sgt. Carlos E. Ramirez provided evidence of such supervisory authority, the court ruled. As a result, the court overturned the NLRB’s findings of unfair labor practices against Northeastern and remanded the case for further proceedings. This means the NUPD union could potentially rerun elections or simply eliminate sergeants and sergeant detectives from the membership.