Opinion ID: 2325323
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: workweek provisions

Text: The workweek provision in dispute in State Supervisory Employees Association states: [13] Where practicable: the normal workweek shall consist of five (5) consecutive workdays. [Article VIII, A.3.] We find that this provision intimately and directly affects the work and welfare of public employees. We further find that the clause is not preempted by statute. The disputed provision does not constrain the right of the State to determine the number or classification of employees on duty at any time. It merely governs negotiations concerning which employees within a given classification will work at any particular time. No statutes set the workweek for individual employees. N.J.S.A. 52:14-17.13 and -17.14 merely provide that the basic workweek shall be 40 hours, where practicable, and that any employee working longer than this shall receive overtime. Like N.J.A.C. 4:1-18.1 and -18.2, these provisions leave considerable discretion to the public employer in deciding who shall work when. Likewise, N.J.S.A. 11:14-1 empowers certain administrative officials of the Civil Service to prepare regulations concerning work hours, holidays, attendance and leaves of absence. This statute again leaves considerable discretion to public authorities. We have previously held that, while the establishment of a school calendar, In re Burlington Cty. College Faculty Ass'n v. Bd. of Trustees, 64 N.J. 10 (1973), or the hours of instruction in a school day, Woodstown-Pilesgrove, supra, are non-negotiable subjects, the days and hours worked by individual employees are negotiable. The contract provision in this case concerns the negotiable subject of individual work schedules rather than the formation of an overall calendar. The provision does not interfere with the State's power to determine the number of classification of employees working at any given time. Nor does it interfere with the determination of the hours or days during which a service will be operated. The Association wishes only to negotiate the hours of employment of individual employees within the system established by the State. Negotiation on this issue will not significantly interfere with the determination of governmental policy, particularly since the term applies only [w]here practicable. It is true that negotiation on the issue of practicability would impinge on the State's power to deviate from the provision. Nonetheless, the interests of the employees predominate and negotiation on the subject would not significantly interfere with determination of governmental policy. [14] We therefore conclude that the workweek provision in dispute is a negotiable term and condition of employment.