Opinion ID: 1118958
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: hep board's award of attorney fees to wfse

Text: [7] The HEP Board ordered the college to pay WFSE's attorney fees and costs. At the time that order was made, the HEP Board's authority to award litigation expenses under RCW 41.56.160 was not yet settled. Since then, we have held that it is appropriate to authorize awards of attorney fees to best effectuate the policies behind collective bargaining, and we articulated the test as follows:  [A]n allowance [of attorney fees] is not automatic, but should be reserved for cases in which a defense to the unfair labor practice charge can be characterized as frivolous or meritless. The term meritless has been defined as meaning groundless or without foundation. State ex rel. Wash. Fed'n of State Employees v. Board of Trustees, 93 Wn.2d 60, 69, 605 P.2d 1252 (1980). In Board of Trustees, we emphasized two factors in making this determination: (1) the entire course of dealing between the parties, and (2) the good faith and honest belief of the college's administration in the advice of the college's assigned Attorney General, and the college's reasonable reliance on that advice. Board of Trustees involved two consolidated mandamus actions brought against the boards of trustees of Central Washington University and Spokane Community College. The HEP Board ruled in both cases that the colleges had committed unfair labor practices, and routinely awarded attorney fees to the prevailing parties. The award of attorney fees against Central was sustained. We noted that the college had consistently engaged in arbitrary conduct throughout its course of dealings with WFSE. We did overturn the award of attorney fees against Spokane College. There, WFSE and the college had reached an apparent agreement on a contract proposal, including a provision to allow time off for attending contract administration training sessions (article 4). When contract negotiations had been substantially concluded, there was a change in key administrative personnel at the college, including the president. The new president objected to article 4 and consulted the Assistant Attorney General assigned to the college. Based on the Assistant Attorney General's advice, the board of trustees removed the provision for paid leave time from article 4 and ratified the remainder of the contract. The asserted reason for modifying article 4 was a potential violation of Const. art. 8, § 5 (prohibition against gifts of state funds). In the course of the unfair labor practice adjudication subsequently filed by WFSE, the HEP Board  found the college had breached its obligation to bargain in good faith by its actions. It ordered the college to ratify article 4 and awarded attorney fees and costs to WFSE. The college appealed the imposition of fees and costs, although it did not contest the unfair labor practice finding, and we overturned the HEP Board's award of attorney fees, reasoning that Spokane's defense to the unfair labor practice charge, though unsuccessful, was not totally without merit. The parties had substantially completed negotiation over a proposed contract, under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement already in place. The college was already aware of the concessions WFSE was prepared to make in exchange for a release time provision. With that knowledge, a new college president, who had not participated in the negotiations, entertained reasonable doubts as to the validity of the release time provision under Const. art. 8, § 5. In the case at bar, the parties were unable to come to agreement concerning the initial terms of bargaining itself. The parties went before the HEP Board on two occasions regarding the same issue: the refusal of the college to include the option of release time as a bargainable issue. Although the college was twice directed by the HEP Board, and admitted in its briefs that release time was a bargainable issue, they did not include the option of release time in any negotiating session. In Board of Trustees, the issue had already been negotiated, and the new Spokane College president was therefore aware of the concessions WFSE was prepared to make in exchange for a release time provision. In the instant case, WFSE was never given the opportunity to bargain the issue. To support their position before the HEP Board that an employer was not required to include release time as a bagainable item, the college cited an Attorney General opinion for the proposition that granting of release time by a state institution may be unconstitutional. That opinion, however, makes it clear that an unreciprocated, gratuitous grant of release time so that employees may engage in general  union activities would be of doubtful validity (AGLO 27 (1977)) under Const. art. 8, § 5. HEP Board noted this argument in its finding 11. By refusing to include even the possibility of release time at the prenegotiation stage, the college effectively precluded WFSE from offering any benefit acceptable to the employer, in conformance with AGLO 27 (1977). The HEP Board thereby noted that the college's reasoning was contradicted by the very authority it had cited to support its contention. Although the HEP Board could not have anticipated the language this court would require to uphold an award of attorney fees under RCW 41.56.160, its disposition of the college's arguments before it indicates that they did, in fact, find the college's arguments frivolous and meritless. The HEP Board found that a representative of the college had met with employee members of the bargaining team to discuss the negotiations in the absence of the employees' exclusive bargaining representative. Finding 6, at 3. The HEP Board concluded that the college's arguments as to unconstitutionality were not supported by its own authority (conclusion 3, at 6), and that the college had acted unilaterally and arbitrarily by rejecting any consideration of [WFSE's] interpretation of what is reasonable, contrary to systemwide practices. Conclusion 6, at 7-8. The HEP Board's description of the college's course of dealings with WFSE neither comports with good faith bargaining nor serves as a basis for a meritorious defense to an unfair labor practice charge. Board of Trustees, at 70. Neither can it be said that the college reasonably relied in good faith on the advice of its assigned Attorney General, where the arguments advanced by counsel were contradicted by the very authority cited to support them. This is in contrast to the case involving the Spokane College president in Board of Trustees, at page 71, where we said: There is no indication that the president or the board [of trustees] had reason to question the advice given. Board of Trustees does not afford state institutions of higher education the opportunity to shield their disregard  for the statutory mandate to engage in good faith negotiations behind an assigned Attorney General's advice. Community colleges are required to remain faithful to their statutory obligation to bargain in good faith. This duty must be reflected in the college's course of conduct. In the case at bar, the underlying course of conduct and the lack of merit of the legal arguments raised in defense of the unfair labor practice charge provide sufficient grounds for the award of $2,918.39 in legal expenses, which represents an appropriate remedial order authorized by RCW 41.56.160 and Board of Trustees. The imposition of fees by the HEP Board was not automatic, Board of Trustees, at 69, but represented a well reasoned and restrained use of agency remedial powers. The fee award was imposed only after prior attempts to reconcile the college to its bargaining duty proved futile. The remedy is proper to curtail the college's arbitrary behavior and to prevent its reoccurrence, and is necessary to make the order to negotiate in good faith at reasonable times effective. Board of Trustees, at 69. We cannot say the HEP Board abused its discretion in ordering payment of attorney fees and litigation expenses.