Bargaining Update

SUBJECT	DESCRIPTION	STATUS	CASE NAME
Deferred Compensation	Employer refused to submit to arbitration on labor organization’s proposal for deferred compensation matching contribution. Proposal was not preempted by state law establishing statewide retirement system for law enforcement officers.	Mandatory. Employer required to submit to arbitration over proposal.	Snohomish County, Washington, 2005 WL 636212 (Wash. PERC 2005).
Job Duties	County imposed new requirement that district attorney investigators maintain detailed time records of their daily activities.	Mandatory. Employer required to rescind requirement.	Madera County Deputy Sheriffs Association v. Madera County Civil Service Commission, 2005 WL 236513 (Cal.App. 2005).
Promotions	Employer refused to bargain over proposals concerning the order in which the employer would administer various components of the promotional process and whether to withhold the results of one component – the numerical scores from the written examination – until all other aspects of the promotional process were completed. Court found proposals did not impinge upon managerial prerogative of determining criteria for promotions.	Mandatory. Employer required to bargain over proposals.	Township of Piscataway, 31 NJPER ¶7 (N.J.Sup. 2005).
Subcontracting	Employer unilaterally implemented a technologically advanced incident information management system in its consolidated dispatch centers and unilaterally began assigning non-unit members to supervise police communications operators at its centers. Prior to the system’s implementation, unit members supervised the operators.	Mandatory. Employer required to rescind transfer of duties.	Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, 36 PPER ¶8 (Pa. LRB ALJ 2005).
Travel	Employer unilaterally implemented new travel policy requiring employees to share hotel accommodations with other employees at local arts festival. Board found that impact on employees outweighed by proximity of hotel to festival, and that the potential availability of alternative accommodations did not diminish the weight of the employer’s decision to use a single location to house the employees.	Not Mandatory. Employer allowed to maintain policy.	Fraternal Order of Police Conference of Pennsylvania, 36 PPER ¶3 (Pa. LRB ALJ 2005).

There are three categories of bargaining topics.

Mandatory. Mandatory subjects must be negotiated if either side raises them during the negotiations process. If a past practice concerns a mandatory subject of bargaining, an employer may not make a change in the practice without first bargaining with the labor organization unless the labor organization has waived its right to negotiate over the subject.

Permissive. Permissive subjects need not be negotiated by either party, but can be negotiated if both sides voluntarily choose to do so. An employer is free to make changes in past practices affecting permissive subjects of bargaining without first bargaining with a labor organization.

Prohibited. Prohibited subjects are excluded from bargaining. A subject is often prohibited if it is “preempted” by another law covering the subject (e.g., a state law might preempt bargaining over the entire subject of pension benefits).