DocketNumber: Appeal, No. 120 C.D. 1982
Citation Numbers: 76 Pa. Commw. 381
Judges: MacPhail, Rogers, Williams
Filed Date: 8/17/1983
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 6/24/2022
Opinion by
Appellant, Sheila Stein, appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County which affirmed an arbitrator’s award in favor of the appellees, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (“Union”) and School District of Philadelphia (“District ”). We affirm.
The controversy involves the determination of appellant’s seniority date as established through application and interpretation of pertinent transfer and seniority provisions set forth in Articles T-VIII (“Transfer Policy”) and T-IX (“Seniority”) of the collective bargaining agreement (Agreement) entered into between appellees. Appellant, a social studies teacher, and Union member, began teaching in the District at Germantown High School on January 3, 3967, until her transfer to George Washington High School on September 1, 1973. Appellant’s transfer from Germantown High School, the voluntariness of which is in dispute, occurred because of a student’s repeated threats to appellant’s well-being and the deleterious effects of such threats on appellant’s health.
After a number of subsequent involuntary transfers, none of which is pertinent to the instant appeal, appellant returned to George Washington High School on February 1, 1979. In May 1979, upon the posting of a list denominating the school seniority dates
Utilizing the transfer and seniority provisions of the Agreement, Articles T-VIII and T-IX, repectively, and after two days of hearings (during which appellant was represented by independent counsel of her own choice), the arbitrator decided, on September 8, 1981, that appellant’s transfer to George Washington High School in 1973 was voluntary rather than involuntary or forced; thus, appellant’s school seniority date was determined to be September 1, 1973.
Our extremely circumscribed scope of review is limited to determining whether the arbitrator’s decision can in any rational way be derived from the collective bargaining agreement, viewed in light of its
The instant arbitration award is certainly within the essence, or can be rationally derived from, the Agreement. As stated in appellant’s brief, the sole issue before the arbitrator was the validity of the District’s calculation of appellant’s school seniority date. Such issue is clearly encompassed by the transfer and seniority provision of the Agreement, Article T-VIII and Article T-IX, respectively. See Pittston Area School District.
Generally alleging that the grievance-arbitration procedures violated principles of due process and fundamental fairness, appellant therefore urges this Court to vacate the arbitrator’s award. A review of the record reveals not only an absence of actual bias on the part of the arbitrator, but that appellant, subsequent to the Step Two grievance hearing has been represented by aggressive and independent counsel throughout each stage of the proceedings. Further,
We therefore affirm the order of the trial court.
Order
And Now, this 17th day of August, 1983, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, dated December 28, 1981, is hereby affirmed.
Article T-IX, entitled “Seniority,” of the Agreement provides in pertinent part:
la. School Seniority shall be the continuous length of service as an appointed teacher in the present school except that length of service as an appointed teacher in a previous school shall be included under the foüowing circumstances :
la(i). If he is involuntarily transferred to his present school by the Board.
By the terms of the Agreement, a teacher subject to a forced or involuntary transfer retains seniority. Article T-IX, ia(i). See, n.l. Therefore, had appellant’s transfer from Germantown High Sehool to George Washington High School in 1973 been deemed involuntary, she would have retained all of her seniority from German-town High School and her school seniority date would have then been January 3, 1967.
Conversely, a teacher who voluntarily transfers to a new school loses all school seniority theretofore accumulated at the abandoned school. Id. Thus if appellant’s 1973 transfer was deemed voluntary, the correct school seniority date would then be September 1, 1973.
In Leechburg Area School District, our Supreme Court stated: The fact that [an] arbitrator in analyzing [a] dispute may have failed to properly perceive the question presented or erroneously resolved it, does not, provide justification for judicial interference.
Id. at 521, 424 A.2d at 1313.