Opinion ID: 2223990
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Matter of Patrolmen's Benevolent Assn. of City of N.Y., Inc. v New York State Pub. Empl. Relations Bd.

Text: The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York (NYCPBA) seeks to annul a decision by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) that the City need not bargain with the NYCPBA over five subjects, even though those subjects had been dealt with in an expired collective bargaining agreement. The expired agreement had provided: (1) that police officers being questioned in a departmental investigation would have up to four hours to confer with counsel; (2) that certain guidelines for interrogation of police officers would remain unchanged; (3) that a joint subcommittee would develop procedures to assure the timely resolution of disciplinary charges; (4) that a pilot program would be established to refer disciplinary matters to an agency outside the police department; and (5) that employees charged but not found guilty could petition to have the records of disciplinary proceedings expunged. PERB found that all these provisions concerned prohibited subjects of bargaining. Supreme Court upheld PERB's decision on the ground that the New York City Charter and Administrative Code, as interpreted in Matter of City of New York v MacDonald (201 AD2d 258, 259 [1st Dept 1994]), required that the discipline of New York City police officers be left to the discretion of the Police Commissioner. The Appellate Division affirmed, as do we.