Opinion ID: 2555590
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Review of Section 805 Awards

Text: Section 701 of PERA gives public employees the right to bargain collectively with their employers regarding the wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. 43 P.S. § 1101.701; see also id. § 1101.1201(a)(5), (b)(3) (requiring both the union and the public employer to bargain collectively in good faith). Furthermore, as discussed, any impasse in collective bargaining involving the H-1 bargaining unit that cannot be resolved through mediation is submitted to a panel of arbitrators whose decision is final and binding upon the parties. See 43 P.S. § 1101.805. The Commonwealth Court has applied narrow certiorari in reviewing Section 805 awards, see FOP, Lodge No. 5 ex rel. Costello v. City of Phila., 725 A.2d 206, 210 (Pa.Cmwlth.1999), and the parties presently agree that this is an appropriate standard. See Brief for Union at 4; Brief for Commonwealth at 1, 5, 7. As the Costello court pointed out, Section 805's terminology is similar to the language employed by Act 111, [13] which addresses collective bargaining between police and fire personnel and their public employers. Although awards issued pursuant to Act 111 are also final and binding on the parties, with no appeal permitted to any court, see 43 P.S. § 217.7, by longstanding precedent they are nonetheless subject to judicial review in the nature of narrow certiorari. See Washington Arbitration Case, 436 Pa. 168, 174, 259 A.2d 437, 441 (1969); Upper Providence Police, 514 Pa. at 507, 526 A.2d at 318 (quoting Moon Twp. v. Police Officers of Moon Twp., 508 Pa. 495, 500 n. 4, 498 A.2d 1305, 1307 n. 4 (1985)). Such review embodies a balancing of the legislative policy objective of shielding arbitration awards from judicial modification, with the residual need to avoid giving arbitrators unlimited powers. See City of Phila. v. FOP, Lodge No. 5, 564 Pa. 290, 299, 768 A.2d 291, 296 (2001). [14] These competing policy concerns are likewise in tension with regard to interest arbitration undertaken pursuant to Section 805 of PERA. Like Act 111 employees, Section 805 employees are prohibited, for policy reasons, from striking as a means of exerting pressure on their employers, see 43 P.S. § 1101.805; Franklin County Prison Bd. v. PLRB, 491 Pa. 50, 59, 417 A.2d 1138, 1142 (1980), as the Union concedes, see Brief for Union at 19, 44. Instead, they must rely on interest arbitration to settle bargaining disputes. See 43 P.S. § 1101.805; cf. Pa. State Police v. Pa. State Troopers Ass'n (Smith), 559 Pa. 586, 591-92, 741 A.2d 1248, 1251 (1999) (stating that Act 111 employees' inability to strike is offset by their right to bargain collectively and have arbitration awards remain generally insulated from judicial review). Thus, to properly resolve this tension, one can reasonably argue that judicial scrutiny of the outcome of such arbitration in the present context should be as tightly constrained as it is relative to arbitration awards within the Act 111 framework. We are aware that this would raise interpretive difficulties, including the question of whether Act 111's express prohibition on appellate review is thereby rendered surplusage, contrary to accepted canons of statutory construction. See 1 Pa.C.S. §§ 1921(a), 1922(2); Richards v. UCBR, 564 Pa. 375, 381, 768 A.2d 852, 856 (2001). Still, the General Assembly has not supplied any guidance or, indeed, specifically permitted any manner of judicial examination of Section 805 arbitration proceedings. See generally Costello, 725 A.2d at 209-10. In view of all of these factors, then, we will review Paragraph 18 pursuant to the narrow certiorari precept, as requested by both parties. As explained, narrow certiorari only allows courts to consider questions relating to the arbitrators' jurisdiction, the regularity of the proceedings, an excess of the arbitrators' powers, and constitutional deprivations. See City of Pittsburgh v. FOP, 595 Pa. 47, 53, 938 A.2d 225, 229 (2007). As the parties have not challenged the regularity of the proceedings, and as no constitutional or jurisdictional question has been raised, our inquiry is limited to a determination of whether the arbitration panel exceeded its powers. This limitation is consistent with the question on which review was granted, because an arbitration board exceeds its power when it mandates that the public employer carry out an illegal act, see Chirico v. Bd. of Supervisors for Newton Twp., 504 Pa. 71, 74, 470 A.2d 470, 472 (1983)that is, one that it could not have performed voluntarily, see Upper Providence Police, 514 Pa. at 514, 526 A.2d at 321or perform an action unrelated to a bargainable term or condition of employment, see Washington Arbitration, 436 Pa. at 176-77, 259 A.2d at 442; Upper Providence Police, 514 Pa. at 514-15, 526 A.2d at 321-22. [15] However, a mere error of law by an arbitration panel will not support a finding that it exceeded its powers. FOP, Lodge No. 5, 564 Pa. at 299, 768 A.2d at 297; accord Upper Providence Police, 514 Pa. at 515, 526 A.2d at 322. We must now apply these precepts to Paragraph 18 of the Award.