Efforts to form a union for full time faculty members at Marywood University were rejected in a decision by a Regional Director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Regional Director applied standards established by the NLRB in 2014, in the Pacific Lutheran University case.

Marywood made two arguments against the faculty union: 1) the university was exempt because of its religious character, which was rejected because the faculty were not shown to have a “specific role in promoting the institution’s religious mission and values;” and 2) the institution’s assertion that the faculty had a managerial role in the operation of the university, which was upheld.

The faculty members have two weeks, from the May 11 ruling, to request that this decision be reviewed by the full National Labor Relations Board. It is not yet known whether such a request for a review will be made.