# Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board v. State College Area School District

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · April 17, 1975 · 461 Pa. 494

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9695798

## Case

- **Full name:** PENNSYLVANIA LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Appellant, v. STATE COLLEGE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT, and the Board of School Directors. Appeal of STATE COLLEGE AREA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. Appeal of AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY & MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** April 17, 1975
- **Citations:** 461 Pa. 494; 337 A.2d 262; 90 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2081; 1975 Pa. LEXIS 802
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Pomeroy
- **Judges:** Jones, Eagen, O'Brien, Roberts, Pomeroy, Nix, Manderino
- **Cited by:** 167 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9695798

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- explaining that the pre-PERA circumstances — in which public employees were prohibited from striking and lacked the right to bargain collectively — fostered a “chaotic climate that resulted from this obviously intolerable situation” and heralded the creation of a government co…
- holding that even if a matter “does affect wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment,” if “the matter is one of inherent managerial policy,” it is not subject to mandatory bargaining as a “working condition[]”
- discussing whether impact of issue on interest of employee in wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment outweighs its probable effect on basic policy of school system
- discussing relationship between duty to bargain and accommodation provision in that State’s public employee bargaining law

## Opinion text

*512 POMEROY, Justice
(concurring).
I agree in general with the opinion of the Court, but write this separate statement in an attempt to place in perspective certain aspects of the problems presented as they appear to me.
John Chipman Gray well said that interpretation of statutes is “one of the most difficult of a judge’s duties.” Gray, Nature and Sources of Law, Section 370. Many other legal scholars have, of course, made similar observations. This case is a striking illustration of the truth of that statement. The problem, of course, is that courts are called upon to ascertain the “intention of the legislature.” Where the legislature has had a real intention, one way or another, on a point, it usually expresses it clearly and there is no doubt about it. But when the legislature has had no specific meaning on a point, or when the question presented never occurred to it, the difficulties arise. See op. cit. supra; J. Landis, A Note on “Statutory Interpretation,” 43 Harv.L.Rev. 886 (1930).
In this case the legislature, through its declaration of policy, did make clear its general intent, namely, to provide for the orderly and peaceful settlement of labor disputes in the so-called “public sector” by means of collective bargaining, mediation and arbitration, and by establishing the right of employees to strike when all else fails. The specific intent, however, as to what subjects are within the scope of collective bargaining, is, to say the least, elusive. While the title of the PERA refers to “defining the scope of collective bargaining,” see 43 P.S. 1101.101, note, the text of the Act on this subject seems to speak with two voices. Whereas Sec. 701 grants the right to bargain with respect to “wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment,” the following section, Sec. 702, stipulates that the right does not extend to “matters of inherent managerial policy.” This, of course, is the troublesome phrase. These matters are de *513 fined to include, but are not limited to, “such areas of discretion or policy as the functions and programs of the public employer, standards of services, its [the employer’s] overall budget, utilization of technology, the organizational structure and selection and direction of personnel.” 43 P.S. § 1101.702. The section goes on, however, to require employers to “meet and discuss” (as distinguished from bargaining about) policy matters which affect wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment and “the impact thereon.” Ibid. The precise question presented by these appeals is the scope of Sec. 702, which in turn, of course, affects the scope of Sec. 701. 1
Given the vagueness of the terms with which we must deal, there is no room, as I see it, for dogmatism; the courts can but strive as best they can to reach a result which comes closest to giving effect to what they find to be the legislative intent. 2 This the courts below sought *514 to do, and I cannot subscribe to the majority’s characterization of the painstaking opinion of the Commonwealth Court as one which “emasculates” the legislative intent. See Opinion of the Court, ante, at 267. 3
As to the main thrust of the Court’s opinion, that Act No. 195 should be so construed as to afford a viable framework for meaningful collective bargaining in the public sector, I am in complete agreement, for this is necessary to accomplishment of the public policy announced by the legislature. I also agree that this requires a balancing approach, and that in striking the balances undue emphasis must not be placed on either Sec. 702 or Sec. 703 of the Act, lest the innovative provision of Sec. 701 be lost in the shuffle. Thus, as the Court’s opinion states, an item of dispute must not be removed from the orbit of bargaining under Sec. 701 “simply because it may touch upon basic policy.” I have difficulty, however, with the Court’s statement that the Board is to “determine whether the impact of the issue on the interest of the employe in wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment outweighs its probable effect on the basic policy of the system as a whole.” Opinion of the Court, ante at 268, for I fear that in application this directive may prove no more lucid than the words of the Act of which we strive to give meaning. I am not sure how one identifies the “interest” of the employe in *515 wages, hours and conditions of employment, determines the “impact” of a particular issue upon such an interest, or weighs that impact against “probable effect on the basic policy of the system as a whole.” I venture to suggest that the governing test might preferably be formulated as follows:
As to each item of potential dispute, (i. e., the items put forward in a request for bargaining) the factors to be balanced in determining the susceptibility of an item to collective bargaining are the probable effects of the granting or refusal of the item upon (a) the individual performance by the teachers of their duties as such, and upon (b) the school board’s overall operation of an educational system within its district. If the effect of the granting or denial of a request would be more direct, immediate and substantial upon the teachers’ individual performance of their duties than it would be upon the school board’s overall operation of an educational system, the item should be considered negotiable. On the other hand, if the effect would bear more directly, immediately and substantially upon the school board’s overall operation of an educational system, the opposite result should obtain — i. e., the item should be considered non-negotiable. Such balancing, of course, should be made with due regard for those areas of discretion or policy which by the terms of Sec. 702 are expressly included within the phrase “inherent managerial policy.”
Reading the Board’s “nisi decision” and its “final order,” in this case, I am not at all certain that its approach differed in any material way from that which the Court now directs. However that may be, the Court’s opinion does not undertake to consider the specific issues involved in this litigation. (The items about which the teachers seek to bargain are merely listed in footnote 11 at the end of the opinion). The Court’s mandate is thus much like granting a “new trial” without telling the tri *516 bunal which must conduct it and the courts which, if called upon, must review the new result whether and wherein they erred as to any particular issue at the first “trial.” There is a risk, therefore, that to remand rather than decide the specific items of dispute which were addressed by the courts and Board below may prove to be a waste both of manpower and of time, and be but a postponement of the day when this Court will have to make the ultimate resolution. While normally such a course is to be avoided, I agree that the risk is worth taking in this case. The Pennsylvania Public Relations Board has more familiarity with the problems of school administration as they concern labor relations than does this Court. It is possible that no further recourse to the courts in this case will be necessary, and that in any event the issues requiring judicial attention may be substantially narrowed by a reconsideration in the light of the Court’s opinion.
JONES, C. J., joins in this opinion.
. Sec. 703, in my view, while a limitation on the scope of Sec. 701, is not unclear. Quite simply, an agreement between the collective bargaining parties is forbidden to contain a provision the implementation of which “would be in violation of, or inconsistent with, or in conflict with any statute” or home rule charter. 43 P.S. § 1101.703. While in a particular case there may be disagreement as to whether such violation, inconsistency or conflict would be present, the legislative intent is clear enough. Thus I cannot agree with the majority opinion statement that items are excluded from Sec. 701 bargaining by Sec. 703 only where another statute “explicitly and definitively prohibit[s] the public employer from making an agreement” as to that item. There is no warrant for this rewriting of that section.
. Judge Campbell, in speaking for the Court of Common Pleas of Center County, indicated the difficulties of the task of judicial interpretation presented by this case as follows:
“What, then, is the scope of bargaining under Act 195? Depending upon one’s personal point of view and with strict construction, all specific items could be classified either as bargainable or as subjects requiring only the duty to meet and discuss. No one specific item is all black or white and each contains substantial gray areas. This is recognized in the last sentence of Section 702 which provides that policy matters affecting wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon are in that category which requires the parties to meet and discuss. We must, therefore, carefully *514 determine the basic purpose and philosophy of the legislation in order to do justice to the parties involved and to carry out the intent and purpose of the act.” R. 542a.
. The majority also, in my view, exaggerates the differences between the Commonwealth Court majority and the dissenters. Of the 21 items proposed for bargaining, the Board had held 5 to be proper subjects, and 16 not. The Court of Common Pleas held none of the 21 items to be negotiable, and the Commonwealth Court agreed. The dissenters there concurred “in the legal analysis and rationale” of the majority, but found that this analysis, properly applied, required collective bargaining as to two of the 21 items (Nos. 3 and 22). (One of these, No. 3, had been found by the Board to be negotiable, while No. 22 had been found non-negotiable).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9695798. Public record. Not legal advice.