In the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Bell Aerospace Company, Division of Textron Inc., 1973, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that managerial employees are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and therefore do not have collective bargaining rights. The court held that it was within Congress's purview to decide whether managers should be included in labor laws or not. The dispute arose when Bell Aerospace tried to prevent its buyers from joining a union on grounds they were part of management. The NLRB disagreed with this classification and ordered a representation election for these workers which led to legal proceedings culminating at the Supreme Court level.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Bell Aerospace Company, Division of Textron Inc., Justice Douglas argued that managerial employees should be allowed to unionize and bargain collectively under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). He contended that excluding these employees from NLRA protections was inconsistent with both legislative intent and previous court decisions. Douglas pointed out that Congress had not explicitly excluded managers from collective bargaining rights in their drafting of the NLRA, suggesting they intended for all workers to have these rights. Furthermore, he noted past Supreme Court cases where managerial staff were permitted to form unions without any negative impact on labor relations or business operations. Therefore, he believed it was inappropriate for this precedent to be overturned based solely on a policy decision by the NLRB.