August 06, 2011

Unit determinations and substitute teachers


Unit determinations and substitute teachers
In the Matter of North Syracuse Central School District, PERB Decision C-2367

The 1981 amendment to the Taylor Law providing for representation of per diem substitute teachers (Chapter 814, Law of 1981) has required PERB to consider a number of “unit” questions.

The Board ruled that per diem substitutes whose employer gives them reasonable assurance of continuing employment should not be placed in “fractionalized units” within a school district depending on the frequency or infrequency of their employment.

PERB indicated that the authors of amendment “saw no difficulty in multiple representation of (such) per diem substitute teachers who hold ... substitute teaching positions” with a number of school districts.

Finally, the decision indicates that “the status of per diem substitutes who did not receive a reasonable assurance of continuing employment was not changed by the 1981 amendment. (See Section 201.7(d) of the Civil Service Law.)