New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 19 - OTHER AGENCIES › PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION › Chapter 16 - NEGOTIATIONS, IMPASSE PROCEDURES, AND COMPULSORY INTEREST ARBITRATION OF LABOR DISPUTES IN PUBLIC FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS › Subchapter 5 - COMPULSORY INTEREST ARBITRATION › Section 19:16-5.7 - Conduct of the arbitration proceeding

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) The conduct of
				  the arbitration proceeding shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction and
				  control of the arbitrator.
(b) The
				  filing of an interest arbitration petition shall terminate formal mediation or
				  fact-finding proceedings.
(c) The
				  appointed arbitrator shall conduct an initial meeting as a mediation session to
				  effect a voluntary resolution of the impasse. In addition, the appointed
				  arbitrator, throughout formal arbitration proceedings, may mediate or assist
				  the parties in reaching a mutually agreeable settlement.
(d) Information disclosed by a party to an
				  arbitrator while functioning in a mediatory capacity shall not be divulged by
				  the arbitrator voluntarily or by compulsion. All files, records, reports,
				  documents or other papers received or prepared by an arbitrator while serving
				  in a mediatory capacity shall be classified as confidential. The arbitrator
				  shall not produce any confidential records of, or testify in regard to, any
				  mediation conducted by the arbitrator, on behalf of any party in any type of
				  proceeding under the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act, as amended,
				  including, but not limited to, unfair practice proceedings under N.J.A.C.
				  19:14.
(e) The arbitrator may
				  administer oaths, conduct hearings, and require the attendance of such
				  witnesses and the production of such books, papers, contracts, agreements, and
				  documents as the arbitrator may deem material to a just determination of the
				  issues in dispute, and for such purpose may issue subpoenas and shall entertain
				  any motions to quash such subpoenas. Any hearings conducted shall not be public
				  unless all parties agree to have them public.
(f) The procedure to provide finality for the
				  resolution of unsettled issues shall be conventional arbitration. The
				  arbitrator shall separately determine whether the total net annual economic
				  changes for each year of the agreement are reasonable under the statutory
				  criteria set forth in
N.J.S.A.
				  34:13A-16
.g.
(g) The arbitrator, after appointment, shall
				  communicate with the parties to arrange for a date, time, and place for a
				  hearing. In the absence of an agreement, the arbitrator shall have the
				  authority to set the date, time, and place for a hearing. The arbitrator shall
				  submit a written notice containing arrangements for a hearing within a
				  reasonable time period before hearing.
1.
				  Such notice shall also set forth the dates, both of which shall precede the
				  hearing, by which the public employer shall provide the arbitrator and the
				  employee representative with the following information and the format in which
				  it shall be provided and by which the employee representative shall respond to
				  the information:
i. A list of all unit
				  members during the final year of the expired agreement, their salary guide
				  step(s) during the final year of the expired agreement, and their anniversary
				  date of hire (that is, the date or dates on which unit members advance on the
				  guide);
ii. Costs of increments and
				  the specific date(s) on which they are paid;
iii. Costs of any other base salary items
				  (for example, longevity) and the specific date(s) on which they are
				  paid;
iv. The total cost of all
				  base salary items for the 12 months immediately preceding the first year of the
				  new agreement; and
v. A list of all
				  unit members as of the last day of the year immediately preceding the new
				  agreement, their step, and their rate of salary as of that same day.