Membership in the employee organization subjects the individual to the terms and conditions set out in the relevant collective bargaining agreement

Membership in the employee organization subjects the individual to the terms and conditions set out in the relevant collective bargaining agreement

The Appellate Division, 4th Department, in a succinct decision, said that “by accepting employment as a school instructor and entering into a collective bargaining agreement as a result of his membership in the union representing him, the [school instructor] waived any right to be credited for seniority in the tenure area of teacher.”*

The court cited Dietz v Board of Educ. of Rochester City School Dist., ___ AD3d ___ [Sept. 28, 2012] and Wiener v Board of Educ. of E. Ramapo Cent. School Dist., 90 AD2d 832, appeal dismissed 58 NY2d 1115), in support of its ruling.

In Dietz the court noted that “… the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the District and the union representing petitioner provided that layoffs of ‘school instructors’ would be affected within the four separate categories of school instructors identified in the CBA rather than within tenure areas; that separate seniority lists for purposes of layoffs are maintained for school instructors; and that, ‘[i]n the event that positions are abolished, school instructors shall not have rights to displace teachers in regular school programs having less seniority, nor shall teachers have rights to displace school instructors having less seniority.’"

* See Szumigala v Hicksville Union Free School District, 148 AD2d 621. In Szumigala  the Appellate Division, citing Cheektowaga v Nyquest, 38 NY2d 137, ruled that a seniority clause in a Taylor Law agreement violated §2510 of the Education Law when it permitted seniority in different tenure areas to be combined for the purposes of determining seniority with the District for the purposes of layoff. Further, in City of Plattsburgh v Local 788, 108 AD2d 1045, a decision involving the layoff of employees in the competitive class of the Classified Service, the court held that seniority for the purposes of layoff cannot be diminished or impaired by the terms of collective bargaining agreement, explaining  §80 of the Civil Service Law [and, presumably, §80-a of such law] "reflects a legislative imperative" that the City was powerless to bargain away.


The decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2012/2012_06726.htm