Under § 7103(a)(10), a supervisor is "an individual employed by an agency having authority in the interest of the agency to hire, direct, assign, promote, reward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend, discipline, or remove employees, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action, if the exercise of the authority is not merely routine or clerical in nature but requires the consistent exercise of independent judgment, except that, with respect to any unit which includes firefighters or nurses, the term 'supervisor' includes only those individuals who devote a preponderance of their employment time to exercising such authority[.]" In 45 FLRA No. 57 the Authority also held that a person exercising independent judgment in preparing performance appraisals is a supervisor.
The individual need exercise only one of the indicia of supervisory authority, not a majority of them, to qualify as a supervisor under the FSLMRS, provided it involves the consistent exercise of independent judgment. See, e.g., 35 FLRA No. 137. Moreover, it is sufficient if that individual exercises supervisory authority over a single employee (rather than three employees as required by classification requirements). Job titles are not determinative, as FLRA bases its determinations on what the individuals do, not on what the positions they occupy are called or how they are classified. For example, sometimes team leaders are found to be supervisors, and sometimes they are not, depending on what they actually do. See, e.g., 8 FLRA No. 10 (where 2 of 15 team leaders were found to be supervisors), 11 FLRA No. 37(where FLRA found 6 team leaders to be supervisors), and SSA and AFGE, Case No. WA-RP-60063, February 26, 1997 (where a Regional Director with FLRA found that 49 team leaders in 10 regions were both supervisors and confidential employees).
Although supervisors can join unions and vote in union elections, they may not represent the union in its dealings with management. See court case quoted under MANAGEMENT OFFICIAL.