Scope of arbitrating an alleged violation of a collective bargaining agreement

Scope of arbitrating an alleged violation of a collective bargaining agreement

Richfield Springs CSD v Allen, 270 AD2d 734

Changes in health insurance benefits may be initiated by a third party that actually provides the benefit. Does an employee organization have any right to challenge a unilateral change in the health insurance plan made by the third party?

This was the major issue in Richfield Springs, a case that essentially explores the issue of the scope of arbitration under a Taylor Law agreement.

The health insurance plan covering members of the Richfield Faculty Association was changed. The plan had been established under Sections 92-a and 119 of the General Municipal Law and was commonly referred to as the BOCES plan.

The Association’s basic objection: there was a change of carriers responsible for administering the BOCES Plan’s coverage for prescription drugs. The Association’s basic concern: the coverage to be provided by the new carrier would be inferior to the coverage under the BOCES’s existing plan.

The Association demanded that the former prescription drug insurance be continued and that unit members be given reimbursement for any financial loss that they incurred as a result of the change. To enforce its demand, the Association filed a grievance formally objecting to the change. Eventually Richfield Springs Faculty Association President Tracy Allen demanded that the Association’s grievance be submitted to arbitration.

In response to the demand for arbitration, the Richfield Central School District asked for, and obtained, a stay of arbitration from a State Supreme Court judge. Its argument: the dispute was not subject to the arbitration clause of the Agreement. The Association appealed.*

The Appellate Division reversed the lower court’s ruling. The court decided that the Association’s grievance regarding the change in the carrier of the prescription drug plan covering its members is arbitrable after all.

The court explained that “[i]t is settled law that grievances arising under public sector parties’ collective bargaining agreements are subject to arbitration where both arbitration of the subject matter of the dispute is authorized by the Taylor Law (Civil Service Law Article 14) and the parties clearly agreed by the terms of their contractual arbitration clause to refer their differences in the specific disputed area to arbitration,” citing Matter of Liverpool Central School, 42 NY2d 509.

This view was amplified by the Court of Appeals in a subsequent ruling, Matter of Watertown Education Association, 93 NY2d 132.

Using a two-step analysis, first the Appellate Division applied the Liverpool test and concluded that contract arbitration clause in the contract covered the subject matter of the dispute. It then applied the Watertown test -- did the parties in fact agree to arbitrate this particular grievance? It concluded that the parties had so agreed.

The court pointed to the fact that the Richfield Springs collective bargaining agreement specifically included a clause stating that prescription drug coverage was to be provided by Prescription Card Services (PCS). Further, said the court, the Agreement expressly provided that [a]ny change in [insurance] plan or carrier shall be by mutual agreement of the parties.

The Appellate Division said that since there is no dispute that the specified carrier of the prescription drug plan was changed from PCS to another provider without the Association’s consent, this supported the claim of an alleged violation of the Agreement, which the parties clearly and unequivocally agreed to arbitrate.

What about the district’s argument that it was not compelled to arbitrate changes unilaterally initiated by a third party? The Appellate Division decided that this was irrelevant insofar as the parties to the collective bargaining agreement were concerned.

The decision indicates that the fact that the claimed reduction in employee health benefits may have been effected by a third party, here the BOCES Plan’s Board of Directors, which was not a party to the collective bargaining agreement, rather than by the school district, does not determine whether or not the grievance is arbitrable.

The test applied by the Appellate Division: where the parties broadly agreed to arbitrate any alleged violation of their collective bargaining agreement or any dispute with respect to its meaning or application, and included language dealing specifically with health insurance benefits, a grievance concerning a claimed reduction in health insurance benefits is arbitrable.

Accordingly, the Appellate Division ruled that the Association’s grievance was arbitrable and the scope of the pertinent provisions of the Agreement and the merits of the grievance should be resolved by the arbitrator.

In another case involving the implementation of a contract arbitration procedure, In re Marinelli (Keller), 269 AD2d 750, the Appellate Division, Fourth Department granted Keller’s motion to compel the arbitration of a contract dispute.

Keller, as president of the Wayne Finger Lakes BOCES Faculty Association, had submitted a grievance claiming that the BOCES’s scheduling of a work day prior to Labor Day was in violation of an express provision in the collective bargaining agreement.

When the BOCES refused to submit the question to arbitration, Keller filed a petition to compel arbitration pursuant to Article 75 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules.

The Appellate Division pointed out the collective bargaining agreement in question defined an arbitrable grievance as a claim by any member of the bargaining unit based on a violation of any of the specific and express provisions of this Agreement.

The court agreed with the Association that parties agreed `by the terms of their particular arbitration clause to refer their differences in this specific area to arbitration.’

However, there are other considerations that may preclude a unilateral change in a Taylor Law agreement from being submitted to arbitration.

Although not identified as an issue in the Richfield Springs case, as the Appellate Division, Second Department noted in Port Washington USFD v Port Washington Teachers Association, 268 AD2d 523, [motion for leave to appeal denied, 95 NY2d 761], a statute, decisional law or public policy may preclude referring a Taylor Law contract dispute to arbitration.

In Port Washington, the parties agreed to include a specific religious holiday provision in a Taylor Law agreement. The clause allowed employees to be absent with pay to observe certain religious holidays without charging any leave accruals. The school district then refused to implement the provision, claiming that it was unconstitutional.

The Appellate Division agreed that the provision was unconstitutional and held that the school district’s refusal to implement the contract clause was not subject to arbitration under the contract’s grievance procedure.

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* Initially the Association’s motion to compel arbitration was granted by the Supreme Court but subsequently an amended order was issued staying arbitration based on the court’s finding that the Taylor Law agreement did not bind the district to arbitrate disputes between the Association and a third party, here the BOCES Plan administrators.

Liquidation of sick leave benefits upon retirement

Liquidation of sick leave benefits upon retirement
O’Brien v Deer Park UFSD, USDC, EDNY, 127 F. Supp.2d 342

Federal District Court Judge Denis R. Hurley ruled that paying teachers who retire after age 55 less for their unused sick leave than that paid to teachers who retire before attaining age 56 as provided by the terms of an agreement negotiated pursuant to the Taylor Law violated the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act [ADEA] and the Older Workers’ Benefit Protection Act [OWBPA].

The collective bargaining agreement provided that teachers who retired during the first year after reaching age 55 would be paid in full for all of their accumulated sick leave; those who retired later, i.e. at age 56 or older, would per paid a decreasing percentage of the full value of their sick leave credits.

The court said that under ADEA and Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, employment benefits must be equally available regardless of age.

Applicant denied unemployment insurance benefits after being terminated for sexual harassment after a disciplinary hearing

Applicant denied unemployment insurance benefits after being terminated for sexual harassment after a disciplinary hearing
Matter of Nwaozor v City of New York, 2011 NY Slip Op 02098, Appellate Division, Third Department

Pius C. Nwaozor, a supervisor for the Department of Homeless Services, was served with disciplinary charges alleging sexual harassment involving a client of the agency. Although the arbitrator determined that Nwaozor was guilty of certain charges and that suspension without pay should be imposed as the penalty, the appointing authority dismissed him from his position.

When his application for unemployment insurance benefits was ultimately rejected by the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, Nwaozor appealed.

The Appellate Division affirmed the Board’s determination.

Nwaozor had argued that the Board was bound by the arbitrator’s determination that although he was found guilty of sexual harassment, his termination “was unwarranted.”

The Appellate Division disagreed, pointing out that the Board is required to give the arbitrator’s determination collateral estoppel effect. It is then “incumbent upon the Board to make an independent evaluation” as to whether Nwapzpr’s constituted ‘misconduct’ for the purposes of unemployment insurance.

The arbitrator found that Nwaozor had sexually harassed a client, which behavior is detrimental to his employer's interest. Accordingly, said the court, the Board's decision disqualifying Nwaozor from receiving benefits due to misconduct was rationally based.

The decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2011/2011_02098.htm

Certifying the preferred list to fill a vacancy

Certifying the preferred list to fill a vacancy
Castle v Putnam-Westchester BOCES, 269 AD2d 394

Section 3013 of the Education Law deals with layoff upon the abolishment of a position by a school district or a BOCES.

The statute provides, in pertinent part, for the reinstatement of a person who has been laid off “to an office or position similar to the one, which such person filled without reduction in salary or increment....”

The implication of the Castle decision by the Appellate Division is that an employer is not obligated to combine two part-time positions into a single full-time position in order to reinstate an educator whose name is on a preferred list. Lorraine Castle, then a full-time school psychologist, was excessed from her position.

When Castle learned that two part-time school psychologist positions were created she asked the court to direct that these two positions be combined into one full-time position and order her reinstatement with back salary.*

Castle’s basic argument: Putnam-Westchester BOCES should have combined the two part-time positions to create one full-time position and then reinstated her from the preferred list rather than employee two part-time per diem school psychologists. The Appellate Division disagreed and affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing her petition.

According to the ruling, there was no “vacancy” within the meaning of Section 3013(3) for the purposed of entitling Castle to have her name certified from the preferred list for appointment. The court cited Zurlo v Ambach, 75 AD2d 662, as authority for its ruling.

In Zurlo, the Appellate Division, Third Department, Judge Mikoll dissenting, approved a school board’s creating two three-quarter time positions rather than one full-time position and one half-time position notwithstanding the fact that Zurlo, who was appointed to one of the new three-quarter time positions, was on a preferred list after having been excessed from a full-time position. In contrast, the fact that an appropriate preferred list is available to fill a vacancy does not mandate that the appointing authority actually fill an existing vacant position.

If, however, an appointment is to be made to the vacancy, the preferred list must used.

* An individual whose name is on a preferred list may be appointed to a position for which he or she is otherwise qualified “part-time.” If the individual whose name is on a preferred list is appointed to a “part-time position” or in a different full-time position in the same jurisdiction, or is employed full-time by another jurisdiction, he or she would retain his or her preferred list status for appointment to a full-time position that is “the same or similar” to his or her former position should one become available while his or her name is on the preferred list.

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Vacating an arbitration award

Vacating an arbitration award
Westchester County v CSEA Local 869, 270 AD2d 348, leave to appeal denied, 95 NY2d 755

It is unusual for an arbitration award to be vacated by a court, given the limited reasons for vacating such an award set out in Article 75 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules.

However, the Appellate Division, Second Department found justification for doing just that after an arbitrator reinstated a union member to his former position after he had been terminated by Westchester County. The arbitrator issued an award reinstating Local 869 unit member Donald Holtum to his position as Lead Technical Assistant at Westchester Community College.

The County challenged the decision and a State Supreme Court judge vacated the award. Local 869 appealed.

The Appellate Division affirmed the lower court’s ruling, finding that the award was irrational within the meaning of Article 75. According to the ruling, the arbitrator’s interpretation of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement was “unsupported by the plain language of that agreement...” thereby justifying its being vacated by the court.
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