A Capehart Scatchard Blog

Tag: labor law

Passage of Chapter 79 Makes Subcontracting More Cumbersome

Passage of Chapter 79 places new restrictions on a school district’s ability to subcontract work performed by its existing employees.  Chapter 79, which was approved on September 11, 2020 and became effective immediately, prohibits a school district from entering into a subcontracting agreement affecting the employment of any employees in a collective bargaining unit during the term of an existing collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”). A district may enter into a subcontracting agreement for a period following the term of the current CBA if the district: provides written notice to the majority representative of employees in each collective bargaining unit which […]

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N.J. Supreme Court Decides Issue on Compensation for Unused Sick Time

On April 20, 2020, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued an important decision regarding a teacher’s right to compensation for unused sick leave at the time of retirement or separation from a board of education. In Barila v. Board of Education of Cliffside Park, the State’s Supreme Court held that the unambiguous terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the teachers’ union and the board of education dictated the right to sick leave compensation upon retirement and such agreement did not violate a vested right. The Cliffside Park Education Association (“Association”) is the exclusive collective bargaining representative for all teachers […]

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N.J. District Court Issues Post-Janus Decision on WDEA

On May 18, 2018, the New Jersey Governor signed into law the Workplace Democracy Enhancement Act (“WDEA”), which allows union employees to withdraw from the union and cease paying dues upon notice to the employer during the 10 days following each anniversary date of their employment. On June 27, 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Janus, holding that public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from non-consenting employees. On December 27, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey issued a decision in Thulen v. AFSCME regarding union members’ argument that the […]

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Appellate Division Rules Chapter 78 Does Not Preempt Terms of CNA

The Ridgefield Park Education Association (“Association”) filed an appeal with the New Jersey Appellate Division challenging a ruling by the Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”) in favor of the Ridgefield Park Board of Education (“Board”), which held that Chapter 78 preempted the terms of the parties’ collective negotiations agreement (“CNA”) for the period July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2018. On May 3, 2019, the Appellate Division reversed PERC’s determination in In the Matter of Ridgefield Park Board of Education and Ridgefield Park Education Association and remanded the matter to PERC to implement a remedial mechanism to refund the excess […]

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Appellate Division Upholds Arbitrator’s Decision to Limit Increment Withholding

On January 28, 2019, the Appellate Division affirmed an arbitrator’s decision to limit the withholding of a teacher’s increment to one year. In Trenton Board of Education v. Trenton Education Association, the Trenton Board of Education (“Board”) approved the withholding of a teacher’s increment for an indefinite period of time. The Trenton Education Association (“Association”) challenged that decision. During the 2015-2016 school year, the Board employed Carmel Gabriel as a middle school teacher. The principal, who was Gabriel’s direct supervisor, and vice principal cited him for various deficiencies, such as problems with his teaching practices, failure to attend mandatory meetings, and […]

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Districts Ordered to Pay Increments Upon Expiration of Contract

Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. The question of whether a school district with a collective bargaining agreement of less than five years in duration is required to pay the increment for teaching staff members at the expiration of the agreement has existed since the amendment of N.J.S.A. 18:29-4.1.  The amendment permits school districts to adopt a salary policy schedule for a period of up to five years. In In the Matter of Englewood Board of Education and Englewood Teachers’ Association (decided October 29, 2018) and In the Matter of Cliffside Park Board of Education and Cliffside Park Education Association (decided […]

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Appellate Division Affirms School Calendar is Non-Negotiable

On August 28, 2018, the New Jersey Appellate Division in West Morris Regional High School Board of Education v. Morris Regional Education Association, affirmed the Public Employment Relations Commission’s (“PERC”) determination that the start and end date of the school calendar is a non-negotiable managerial prerogative. The dispute involved the collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) between the West Morris Regional High School Board of Education (“Board”) and the West Morris Education Association (“Association”). During their negotiations of a successor CBA, the Board sought to remove the following phrase from the CBA: “teachers…shall be employed from September 1 through June 30.” The […]

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PERC Restrains Two Districts from Demanding New Dues Authorizations from Union Members

Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. The Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”) recently granted interim relief restraining two school districts from requiring that union members file new dues deduction authorizations. In Delanco Board of Education and Delanco Township Education Association (Docket No. CO-2019-043), school administrators informed the Association President that Board counsel advised that Janus v. AFSCME[1] required the Board to obtain written authorization from all employees in order to continue making membership dues deductions from unit employees’ compensation.  The Superintendent provided the Association President with a copy of a draft letter to the Association’s members requesting the new authorization and represented […]

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Atlantic County and Bridgewater Township Required to Continue Step Increases After Expiration of Contracts

Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. The New Jersey Supreme Court on August 3, 2017 decided In re County of Atlantic in which it held that the salary increment systems in collective bargaining agreements between two public entities, Atlantic County and the Township of Bridgewater, and their respective FOP and PBA unions remained in effect after the agreements’ expiration dates. The County and Township were required to pay salary step increases during the period between the expiration of those contracts and the formation of their successor agreements. Accordingly, the Court upheld the Appellate Division’s ruling in favor of the unions. The […]

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