IN THE MATTER OF LINDEN BOARD OF EDUCATION v. LINDEN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION)

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the
internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-0434-21
IN THE MATTER OF LINDEN
BOARD OF EDUCATION,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
LINDEN EDUCATION
ASSOCIATION,
Respondent-Respondent.
____________________________
Argued October 4, 2022 – Decided October 13, 2022
Before Judges Geiger and Susswein.
On appeal from the New Jersey Public Employment
Relations Commission, PERC No. 2021-29.
Jorge R. De Armas argued the cause for appellant
(Scarinci Hollenbeck, LLC, attorneys; Robert E. Levy
and Nathanya Simon, of counsel and on the briefs;
Jorge R. De Armas, on the briefs).
William P. Hannan argued the cause for respondent
Linden Education Association (Oxfeld Cohen, PC,
attorneys; William P. Hannan, of counsel and on the
brief).
Frank C. Kanther, Deputy General Counsel, argued the
cause for respondent New Jersey Public Employment
Relations Commission (Frank C. Kanther, on the brief).
PER CURIAM
Petitioner Linden Board of Education (Board) appeals from a final
decision of the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) denying the
Board's scope of negotiation petition that sought to restrain binding arbitration
of a grievance filed by respondent Linden Education Association (Association)
contesting the reduction of certain teaching staff members' salaries when they
were transferred from 12-month to 10-month positions for the 2020-2021 school
year. PERC found the Board had a managerial prerogative and statutory right
to leave positions unfilled for educational or budgetary reasons and to reassign
teaching staff to positions of need. Based on our review of the record and
applicable legal principles, we affirm.
We take the following facts from the record. M.P. and R.M.1 (collectively
grievants) were teaching staff members employed by the Board in 12-month
positions. The terms and conditions of their employment were governed by a
collective negotiations agreement (CNA). In July 2020, the Board eliminated
1
The affected employees are referred to by initials in the record.
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grievants' positions for the 2020-2021 school year and reassigned them to 10-
month teaching positions. The reassignments placed grievants on the CNA's
salary guide for 10-month teachers, resulting in a reduction in compensation
compared to their former 12-month positions.
The Association filed a grievance that asserted that the Board violated
Article XV of the CNA by reducing grievants' salaries when they were
involuntarily transferred by the Board from 12-month to 10-month positions for
the 2020-2021 school year. As a remedy, the Association sought that grievants'
salaries be maintained at their 12-month salary level "until such time that the
10-month salary guide catches up to their 12-month compensation." 2
The Board denied the grievance at every step. On December 22, 2020,
the Association filed a request for binding arbitration. In response, on January
20, 2021, the Board filed a scope of negotiations petition to restrain binding
arbitration of the grievance.
The Board asserted that because it had a non-negotiable managerial
prerogative pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:28-9 to abolish positions for reasons of
economy or other good cause, its decision to eliminate grievants' 12-month
2
PERC noted that the parties referred to this type of temporary compensation
freeze as "redlining salaries," whereas PERC has typically referred to this
practice as "red-circling" salaries.
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positions and reassign them to 10-month positions at a reduced salary was not
arbitrable. The Board argued that grievants' prior positions, Instructional Coach
and Site Coordinator, were eliminated for the 2020-2021 school year due to
reduced state aid and increased costs associated with COVID-19 measures, and
that grievants were needed to fill vacancies in essential teaching positions. The
Board maintained that when grievants were transferred from eliminated 12-
month positions to 10-month positions, the resulting loss of compensation is not
arbitrable because the dominant concern was the Board's managerial prerogative
to determine educational policy. The Board also contended that any alleged
violations of tenured teachers' salaries should be heard by the Commissioner of
Education.
The Association asserted the grievance is arbitrable because it only
contests the reduction in salaries caused by the transfers, not the Board's
authority to transfer grievants or to leave the 12-month positions unfilled. The
Association maintained that the sole remedy sought – red-circling grievants'
salaries to avoid a reduction in compensation – does not interfere with the
Board's prerogative to transfer grievants to the 10-month positions. The
Association also contended that the 12-month positions were left unfilled, not
eliminated.
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PERC made the following pertinent findings:
The Association represents a broad-based unit of
Board employees including certificated instructional
and educational services positions, technology
technicians, secretarial and clerical employees,
paraprofessionals and school aids, hall monitors,
attendance officers, and crisis intervention aids. The
Board and Association are parties to a CNA in effect
from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2021. The grievance
procedure ends in binding arbitration.
Article XV, paragraph C. of the CNA, entitled
"Discipline," provides:
No employee shall be disciplined,
reprimanded, reduced in rank or
compensation or deprived of any
professional advantage without just cause.
Any such action asserted by the Board, or
any agent or representative thereof, shall
be subject to the grievance procedure
herein set forth.
For the 2019-2020 school year, M.P. was appointed to
the 12- month position of Instructional Coach. For the
2019-2020 school year, R.M. was appointed to the 12-
month position of Site Coordinator (21st Century
Grant). On July 30, 2020, the Board eliminated the 12-
month Instructional Coach and Site Coordinator (21st
Century Grant) positions for the 2020-2021 school
year. The Board reassigned M.P. and R.M. back to 10-
month teaching positions for the 2020-2021 school
year. M.P. was reassigned to Teacher of Biology and
R.M. was reassigned to Teacher of English. These
reassignments placed M.P. and R.M. on the CNA's
salary guide for 10-month teachers, which resulted in a
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loss of compensation compared to their 12-month
positions.
[Linden Superintendent Dr. Marnie] Hazleton
certifies that the 12-month positions were eliminated
for reasons of economy and efficiency, including cuts
in state aid, the need to utilize funds for COVID-19
reopening compliance, and the need to staff classes
with appropriately certified teachers to directly instruct
students. She certifies that the Board had to reallocate
funds to purchase PPE and other supplies for the
District's COVID-19 reopening plans. Hazelton
certifies that due to the Families First Coronavirus
Response Act (FFCRA), employees were entitled to
additional paid sick leave and child care leave, which
resulted in a shortage of available teaching staff for in-
person instruction. Hazelton certifies that after
discussing staffing needs with the Director of Human
Resources, the Board decided to eliminate M.P.'s 12-
month Instructional Coach position and R.M.'s 12-
month Site Coordinator position and reassign them to
vacant 10-month teaching positions for which they held
teaching certificates and tenure.
On July 28, 2020, the Board's former Director of
Human Resources provided a statement to M.P. and
R.M. explaining that the reason for the involuntary
transfer was to avoid a Reduction in Force and loss of
jobs by moving teaching staff members serving in
support positions back to essential teaching positions.
Hazelton certifies that when teaching staff are
reassigned from 12-month to 10-month positions, they
do not retain the salary of their prior positions but are
compensated based on the negotiated 10-month salary
guide.
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PERC noted that its jurisdiction is narrow. Following the Supreme Court's
holding in Ridgefield Park Educ. Ass'n v. Ridgefield Park Bd. of Educ., 78 N.J.
144, 154-55 (1978), PERC explained that in determining whether the subject
matter in dispute was within the scope of collective negotiations and the scope
of the arbitration clause of the CNA, it "[does] not consider the merits of the
grievance or any contractual defenses the employer may have." PERC then set
forth the standards adopted in Local 195, IFPTE v. State, 88 N.J. 393, 404-05
(1982), for determining whether a subject is mandatorily negotiable:
[A] subject is negotiable between public employers and
employees when (1) the item intimately and directly
affects the work and welfare of public employees; (2)
the subject has not been fully or partially preempted by
statute or regulation; and (3) a negotiated agreement
would not significantly interfere with the determination
of governmental policy. To decide whether a negotiated
agreement would significantly interfere with the
determination of governmental policy, it is necessary to
balance the interests of the public employees and the
public employer. When the dominant concern is the
government's managerial prerogative to determine
policy, a subject may not be included in collective
negotiations even though it may intimately affect
employees' working conditions.
PERC rejected the Association's distinction between leaving positions
unfilled versus eliminating them. It noted that the Commissioner of Education
had previously found "that a school board's decision to leave a position unfilled
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is equivalent to abolishing the position." PERC explained that "[t]he Board has
a statutory right and managerial prerogative to abolish positions and reduce its
staff for organizational and budgetary reasons pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:28-9."
PERC recognized that "[t]he Board has a non-negotiable 'managerial duty to
deploy personnel in the manner which it considers most likely to promote the
overall goal of providing all students with a thorough and efficient education.'"
(quoting Ridgefield Park, 78 N.J. at 156). PERC noted, however, that "a public
employer ordinarily has a duty to negotiate before reducing its employees' work
hours and compensation."
In balancing educational policy goals and negotiated terms and conditions
of employment, PERC relied upon Bd. of Educ. of Woodstown-Pilesgrove Reg'l
Sch. Dist. v. Woodstown-Pilesgove Reg'l Educ. Ass'n, in which the Court stated
"[i]t is only when the result of bargaining may significantly or substantially
encroach upon the management prerogative that the duty to bargain must give
way to the more pervasive need of educational policy decisions." 81 N.J. 582,
593 (1980). Because the Association did not challenge the Board's prerogative
to leave grievants' former positions unfilled or to transfer them to teaching
positions it needed to fill, PERC found there was "no[] interference with the
Board's managerial prerogative to determine educational policy by eliminating
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positions and transferring staff to positions of need." PERC also found there
was "no[] significant interference with the Board's right pursuant to N.J.S.A.
18A:28-9 to eliminate positions for reasons of economy because the grievants
do not seek to continue to advance in salary based on the 12-month salary guides
for their previous positions." "Under these narrow circumstances," PERC found
that the Association's claim that the CNA had been violated due to grievants'
reduction in compensation was "legally arbitrable and severable from the
Board's managerial prerogative to eliminate positions for educational or
budgetary reasons." Accordingly, PERC denied the Board's application to
restrain binding arbitration. This appeal followed.
The Board raises the following points for our consideration:
POINT I
THE COMMISSION'S DETERMINATION AS A
MATTER OF LAW UNREASONABLY
ENCROACHES ON THE BOARD'S MANAGERIAL
PREROGATIVES TO REASSIGN TEACHERS TO
POSITIONS WITH NEGOTIATED SALARY
GUIDES WHEN THEIR FORMER POSITIONS ARE
ELIMINATED.
A. The Commission Correctly Recognized the
Board's Managerial Prerogative to Institute a
Reduction in Force.
B. The Commission However Erroneously
Concluded that the Teacher[s] Have a Vested
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Compensation Right to Compensation that
Outweighs the Board's Managerial Prerogative.
C. The Elimination of the Teachers' Former
Positions and Subsequent Reassignment to 10-
Month Position with Negotiated 10-Month Salary
Guides is Beyond the Scope of Negotiations.
POINT II
THE COMMISSION[] PROVIDES NO BASIS FOR
ITS CLEAR DEPARTURE FROM PAST
APPLICABLE JUDICIAL AND COMMISSION
PRECEDENT THAT HOLDS THAT IMPACTS ON
COMPENSATION FROM A RIF RESULTING IN
THE ELIMINATION OF A POSITION ARE NOT
SUBJECT TO NEGOTIATION.
A. Applicable Precedent Requires Arbitration to
be Restrained.
B. As the Commission Determined that the
Teachers' Former Positions Were Eliminated or
"Abolished," the Commission Was Required to
Restrain Arbitration as the Association
Conceded.
C. The Commission may not Decline to Restrain
Arbitration Based on its Interpretation of the
School Laws.
POINT III
AS THE COMMISSION IS WITHOUT AUTHORITY
TO ENFORCE THE SCHOOL LAWS, ITS
DETERMINATION MUST BE REVERSED, AND
ARBITRATION RESTRAINED.
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POINT IV
THE COMMISSION'S PROPOSED REMEDY
IMPROPERLY INVITES AN ARBITRATOR TO
VIOLATE THE TERMS OF THE CNA'S SALARY
GUIDES.
We affirm substantially for the reasons expressed by PERC in its thorough
and well-reasoned final decision. We add the following brief comments.
Our role in reviewing the decision of an administrative agency is limited.
Circus Liquors, Inc. v. Governing Body of Middletown Twp., 199 N.J. 1, 9
(2009). We will not disturb the determination of an administrative agency
absent a clear showing that it was arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. Id. at
10; State v. Pro. Ass'n of N.J. Dep't of Educ., 64 N.J. 231, 258-59 (1974). This
standard of review applies to appeals from PERC's negotiability determinations.
See e.g., Hunterdon Cnty. Bd. of Chosen Freeholders and Commc'ns Workers
of Am., 116 N.J. 322, 329-31 (1989); In re Belleville Educ. Ass'n, 455 N.J.
Super. 387, 400 (App. Div. 2018); Twp. of Franklin Twp. v. Franklin Twp. PBA
Local 154, 424 N.J. Super. 369, 377-78 (App. Div. 2012).
In determining whether an agency action is arbitrary,
capricious, or unreasonable, a reviewing court must
examine: (1) [w]hether the agency's action violates
express or implied legislative policies, that is, did the
agency follow the law; (2) whether the record contains
substantial evidence to support the findings on which
the agency based its action; and (3) whether in applying
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the legislative policies to the facts, the agency clearly
erred in reaching a conclusion that could not reasonably
have been made on a showing of the relevant factors.
[Blanchard v. N.J. Dep't of Corr., 461 N.J. Super. 231,
238 (App. Div. 2019) (quoting In re Carter, 191 N.J.
474, 482 (2007))].
Substantial evidence has been defined as "evidence furnishing a
reasonable basis for [an] agency's action.'" Figueroa v. N.J. Dep't of Corr., 414
N.J. Super. 186, 192 (App. Div. 2010) (quoting McGowan v. N.J. State Parole
Bd., 347 N.J. Super. 544, 562 (2002)).
"Decisions of administrative agencies carry with them a presumption of
reasonableness." Id. at 191. "Even if a court may have reached a different result
had it been the initial decision maker, it may not simply 'substitute its own
judgment for the agency's.'" Circus Liquors, 199 N.J. at 10 (quoting Carter, 191
N.J. at 483). Reviewing courts "must be mindful of, and deferential to, the
agency's 'expertise and superior knowledge of a particular field.'" Ibid. (quoting
Greenwood v. State Police Training Ctr., 127 N.J. 500, 513 (1992)).
The Employer-Employee Relations Act, N.J.S.A. 34:13A-1 to -64,
requires public employers and majority representatives to negotiate the terms
and conditions of employment. N.J.S.A. 34:13A-5.3. Mandatorily negotiable
subjects are arbitrable. Old Bridge Twp. Bd. of Educ. v. Old Bridge Twp. Educ.
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Ass'n, 98 N.J. 523, 527-28 (1985). "The 'prime examples' of mandatorily
negotiable terms and conditions of employment under New Jersey case law 'are
rates of pay and working hours.'" Robbinsville Twp. Bd. of Educ. v. Washington
Twp. Educ. Ass'n, 227 N.J. 192, 199 (2016) (quoting Local 195, 88 N.J. at 403).
PERC has been granted "broad authority and wide discretion in a highly
specialized area of public life," and has been entrusted with deciding scope of
negotiations petitions due to its ability "to use expertise and knowledge of
circumstances and dynamics that are typical or unique to the realm of employer-
employee relations in the public sector." Hunterdon Cnty., 116 N.J. at 328. To
that end, PERC has primary jurisdiction to determine whether the subject matter
of a "dispute is within the scope of collective negotiations." N.J.S.A. 34:13A-
5.4(d); Ridgefield Park, 78 N.J. at 154. "[A]lthough N.J.S.A. 18A:28-9 reposes
the substantive managerial decision of when to effect a layoff in the Board, the
statute does not automatically preempt all negotiation surrounding that
decision." Old Bridge, 98 N.J. at 529.
"The burden of demonstrating that the agency's action was arbitrary,
capricious or unreasonable rests upon the [party] challenging the administrative
action." In re Arenas, 385 N.J. Super. 440, 443-44 (App. Div. 2006). The Board
has not satisfied that burden. The record amply supports PERC's findings of
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fact. Its conclusions are consonant with applicable legislative policies and
precedential case law. The denial of the Board's application to restrain binding
arbitration was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.
Affirmed.
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