A Capehart Scatchard Blog

Tag: managerial prerogative

Unilaterally Reducing Teachers’ Hours During Economic Crisis Prohibited

On November 29, 2016, the New Jersey Supreme Court In the Matter of Robbinsville Township Board of Education v. Washington Township Education Association ruled that boards of education must negotiate employees’ work hours and cannot unilaterally reduce those hours even in times of economic crisis. The collective negotiation agreement between the Robbinsville Township Board of Education (“Board”) and the Washington Township Education Association (“Association”) stated that teachers’ salaries would be based on 188 days for new teachers and 185 days for all other teachers. In 2010, a series of events caused a significant reduction in the Board’s funding. As a […]

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Court Upholds Withholding of Teacher’s Increment

Advancements on the salary guide and annual increments for teachers must be earned – they are not automatic. In a recent opinion issued on May 20, 2016, Administrative Law Judge Evelyn J. Marose affirmed the Jersey City Board of Education’s decision to withhold teacher John Baran’s salary increment for the 2013-2014 school year. In Baran v. Board of Education of the City of Jersey City, OAL Dkt. No. EDU 14772-14, 2016 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 351 (2016), ALJ Marose held that the decision to withhold Baran’s increment was consistent with the school laws and was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. Baran […]

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Appellate Division Decides Arbitrability Issue Involving Former School District Employees

Collective negotiated agreements (“CNAs”) delineate the terms and conditions of employment for many, if not the majority, of board of education employees.  They often dictate an employee’s rights and privileges, hours, salary, benefits, procedures for the termination of employment, and grievance procedures for challenging a board’s interpretation or application of the CNA.  On February 2, 2016, the Appellate Division in Egg Harbor Township Board of Education v. Egg Harbor Township Education Association, 2016 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 205 (App. Div. 2016) addressed the issue of whether the Egg Harbor Township Board of Education’s (“Board”) actions resulting in the discontinuation of […]

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