Opinion ID: 2102261
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Liverpool's First Step

Text: The first (may-they-do-so) step calls for an examination, by the court, of the subject matter of the dispute. Drawing on earlier decisions that discussed the lawfully permissible scope of arbitrability (see, Matter of Cohoes City School Dist. v Cohoes Teachers Assn., 40 NY2d 774; Matter of Susquehanna Val. Cent. School Dist. [Susquehanna Val. Teachers' Assn.], 37 NY2d 614, 616-617), the Court in Liverpool pointed out that owing to public policy or to statutory or constitutional restrictions there are certain matters that are off-limits for arbitration. Although this inquiry deals with whether the parties may arbitrate, it typically involves an assertion by the public employer that it may not or should not lawfully submit itself to a particular grievance arbitration. The inquiry is less concerned with the wording of the parties' intent to arbitrate than with the lawfulness of that intent. Commentators have described this concern as having been born of a number of factors, including a reluctance to deprive the government of what has been its ultimate decision-making prerogatives (see, Abrams, Symposium: Governance of Public Enterprises: The Power Issue in Public Sector Grievance Arbitration, 67 Minn L Rev 261, 271 [1982]) or to otherwise allow sovereign authority to be delegated away (see generally, Craver, The Judicial Enforcement of Public Sector Grievance Arbitration, 58 Tex L Rev 329, 338 [1980]; Hodges, Symposium on Labor Arbitration Thirty Years After the Steelworkers Trilogy: The Steelworkers Trilogy in the Public Sector, 66 Chi-Kent L Rev 631, 640 [1990]; Comment: Developments in the Law Public Employment, 97 Harv L Rev 1611, 1718-1726 [1984]; Annotation, Bargainable or Negotiable Issues in State Public Employment Labor Relations, 84 ALR3d 242; Annotation, Validity and Construction of Statutes or Ordinances Providing For Arbitration of Labor Disputes Involving Public Employees, 68 ALR3d 885, 928). In the 22 years following Liverpool, however, this Court has overwhelmingly rejected contentions by public employers that particular issues fall outside the scope of permissible grievance arbitration ( e.g., Matter of Committee of Interns & Residents [Dinkins], 86 NY2d 478, 483-484 [City's malpractice insurance coverage obligation]; Matter of Board of Educ. [Connetquot Teachers Assn.], 60 NY2d 840 [right of teachers' association to use of office space in school building]; Board of Educ. v Glaubman, 53 NY2d 781 [employee's right to be rehired on basis of seniority]; Matter of United Liverpool Faculty Assn. v Board of Educ., 52 NY2d 1038 [evaluation of teacher]; Matter of Franklin Cent. School [Franklin Teachers Assn.], 51 NY2d 348 [grievance of nonteaching employee under teachers' collective bargaining agreement]; Board of Educ. v Barni, 49 NY2d 311 [violation of disciplinary provisions as to probationary teacher]; Board of Educ. v Patchogue-Medford Congress of Teachers, 48 NY2d 812 [denial of sabbatical leave or summer study grants]; Matter of Wyandanch Union Free School Dist. v Wyandanch Teachers Assn., 48 NY2d 669 [School Board's failure to submit change in educational policy to advisory professional council; and whether certain duties were properly imposed upon teachers]; Matter of Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Auth. [Bridge & Tunnel Officers Benevolent Assn.], 44 NY2d 676 [compensation for peace officer relating to off-duty arrest]; Matter of South Colonie Cent. School Dist. v Longo, 43 NY2d 136 [dispute involving no-reprisal clause in agreement]). This is not to say that the concept of public policy (or statutory or constitutional) restrictions on public sector arbitration are extinct. To be sure, there are instances in which arbitration has been prohibited ( e.g., Matter of Blackburne [Governor's Off. of Empl. Relations], 87 NY2d 660 [termination of State agency employee for violation of Hatch Act]; Honeoye Falls-Lima Cent. School Dist. v Honeoye Falls-Lima Educ. Assn., 49 NY2d 732 [seniority dispute involving adequate academic standards]; Board of Educ. v Areman, 41 NY2d 527 [Board accessibility to teachers' personnel files]; Matter of Cohoes City School Dist. v Cohoes Teachers Assn., 40 NY2d 774 [tenure decisions], supra; see also, Matter of Sprinzen [Nomberg], 46 NY2d 623, 630 [cataloging nonarbitrable issues as a matter of public policy, including punitive damage awards, claims concerning insolvent insurance companies, usury determinations, and antitrust issues]). Moreover, our courts have vacated arbitral awards or portions thereof as having been against public policy (see, Matter of Cohoes City School Dist. v Cohoes Teachers Assn., 40 NY2d 774 [tenure decision], supra). In all, however, the decisional law reflects the reality of greatly increased public sector arbitration, and its acceptance, compatible with the government's public policy concerns ( see generally, Matter of Professional, Clerical, Tech. Empls. Assn. [Buffalo Bd. of Educ.], 90 NY2d 364; Coleman, Grievance Arbitration in the Public Sector: Status, Issues and Problems, 17 J Collective Negotiations 89 [1988]).