The following public employees shall be excluded from the provisions of this chapter:
1. Elected officials and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices, and members of any board or commission.
2. Representatives of a public employer, including the administrative officer, director or chief executive officer of a public employer or major division thereof as well as the officer’s or director’s deputy, first assistant, and any supervisory employees. “Supervisory employee” means any individual having authority in the interest of the public employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other public employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if, in connection with the foregoing, exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. All school superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals and assistant principals shall be deemed to be supervisory employees.
3. Confidential employees.
4. Students working as part-time public employees twenty hours per week or less, except graduate or other postgraduate students in preparation for a profession who are engaged in academically related employment as a teaching, research, or service assistant.
5. Temporary public employees employed for a period of four months or less.
6. Commissioned and enlisted personnel of the Iowa national guard.\n\nTue Dec 09 22:32:26 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 20 (35, 0) §20.4, PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS (COLLECTIVE BARGAINING) 4\n\n 7. Judicial officers, and confidential, professional, or supervisory employees of the judicial branch.
8. Patients and inmates employed, sentenced or committed to any state or local institution.
9. Persons employed by the state department of justice.
10. Persons employed by the credit union division of the department of insurance and financial services.
11. Persons employed by the banking division of the department of insurance and financial services.
12. The appointee serving as the coordinator of the office of renewable fuels and coproducts, as provided in section 159A.3. [C75, 77, 79, 81, §20.4] 83 Acts, ch 186, §10012, 10201; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §230; 86 Acts, ch 1246, §612; 89 Acts, ch 158, §3; 89 Acts, ch 296, §5; 91 Acts, ch 254, §3; 94 Acts, ch 1119, §9; 98 Acts, ch 1047, §12; 2007 Acts, ch 88, §1; 2010 Acts, ch 1061, §5; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §2053, 2073, 2714 Referred to in §12.9, 20.3, 279.23\n\n 20.5 Public employment relations board. Repealed by 2024 Acts, ch 1170, §368. \n
Notes of Decisions
Jackson Cnty. Pub. Hosp. v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 280 N.W.2d 426 (Iowa 1979).
· cites it 8× “" The section provides: "`Public Employee' means any individual employed by a public employer, except individuals exempted under the provisions of section 20.4." As previously noted, the parties agree that the hospital is a public employer; no claim is made that the food service…”
City of Des Moines v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 264 N.W.2d 324 (Iowa 1978).
· cites it 34× “Returning to the disjunctively itemized powers in the Iowa Code § 20.4 (2) definition of supervisor, the majority correctly articulates the rule the statute does not make exercise of one or more of these powers the test of supervisory status.”
Lockhart v. Cedar Rapids Cmty. Sch. Dist., 963 F. Supp. 805 (N.D. Iowa 1997).
· cites it 5× “Given that the statute’s reach includes a vast number of public employees in the state of Iowa, yet Iowa courts have unquestioningly found the “at-will” doctrine was applicable to such public employees, this court has great hesitation to reach a contrary conclusion.”
City of Mason City v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 316 N.W.2d 851 (Iowa 1982).
· cites it 4× “3(3) provides: "`Public employee' means any individual employed by a public employer, except individuals exempted under the provisions of section 20.4." The nature and timing of the benefits to be received does not affect the public employee status of the police officers as of…”
Marshalltown Educ. Ass'n v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 299 N.W.2d 469 (Iowa 1980).
· cites it 4× “3(3), The Code, defines “public employee” as “any individual employed by a public employer, except individuals exempted under the provisions of section 20.4.” Section 20.4 provides: The following public employees shall be excluded from the provisions of this chapter: 2.”
Dubuque Cmty. Sch. Dist. v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 424 N.W.2d 427 (Iowa 1988).
· cites it 16× “First, it claimed the substitute teachers sought to be included in the bargaining unit were precluded from coverage under the Act by section 20.4(5) which excludes “[temporary public employees employed for a period of four months or less.”
Clay Cnty. v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 784 N.W.2d 1 (Iowa 2010).
· cites it 2× “Moreover, we do not see how allowing a public employee to negotiate a contract for nonpublic employees promotes harmonious and cooperative relationships between the government and its employees.”
— Iowa Code § 20.4(2) — 3 cases
City of Des Moines v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 264 N.W.2d 324 (Iowa 1978).
“Returning to the disjunctively itemized powers in the Iowa Code § 20.4 (2) definition of supervisor, the majority correctly articulates the rule the statute does not make exercise of one or more of these powers the test of supervisory status.”
— Iowa Code § 20.4(5) — 3 cases
Dubuque Cmty. Sch. Dist. v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 424 N.W.2d 427 (Iowa 1988).
“First, it claimed the substitute teachers sought to be included in the bargaining unit were precluded from coverage under the Act by section 20.4(5) which excludes “[temporary public employees employed for a period of four months or less.”
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