Court Opinion

ID: 9753570
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:18:44.245631+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:38.210232
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING AND DISSENTING OPINION BY
Senior Judge FRIEDMAN.
I agree with the majority that the arbitrator in this case had jurisdiction over police officer David Lively’s (the Officer) grievance and that the arbitration award does not mandate that the Borough of Shippensburg (Borough) violate the Police Pension Fund Act (Act 600).1 However, I disagree that the arbitration award compels the Borough to modify its pension plan in violation of section 305 of the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act (Act 205).2
In this case, when the Officer retired, the Borough gave the Officer a check for unused vacation along with his last payroll check. The Borough did not include the unused vacation payment in calculating the Officer’s pension benefits, as the Officer requested. The Officer then filed a grievance, and the matter proceeded to arbitration.
Under the Borough of Shippensburg Police Pension Plan (Pension Plan), a police officer’s pension benefits are based, in part, on “Average Compensation.” (R.R. at 75a.) The Pension Plan defines “Average Compensation” as the average of an officer’s monthly “compensation” for the latest thirty-six months of employment. (R.R. at 67a.) “Compensation” means the total “earnings” paid during a specified period, and “earnings” includes salary and other remuneration. (R.R. at 68a.)
The arbitrator determined that the unused vacation payment was part of the Officer’s “compensation” because it was “earnings” paid to the Officer during the final period of his employment. Thus, the arbitrator ruled that the Borough was required to include the payment in its calculation of the Officer’s pension benefits. The Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County (trial court) affirmed because the trial court could not review the arbitrator’s determination that the Borough’s unused vacation payment was part of the Officer’s “compensation.”3
The Borough argues before this court that the arbitrator exceeded his powers because the arbitration award compels the *253Borough to modify the Pension Plan in violation of Act 205.4 However, because the arbitrator determined that the unused vacation payment to the Officer was part of his “compensation” and because the Pension Plan requires that the Borough include “compensation” in the calculation of pension benefits, the arbitration award does not compel the Borough to modify the Pension Plan.
The majority states that the Borough must modify the Pension Plan by including unused vacation pay in the calculation of pension benefits. (Majority op. at 8-9.) However, the majority ignores the arbitrator’s determination that the Officer’s unused vacation payment was “compensation.” The Pension Plan always required, and still requires, inclusion of “compensation” in the calculation of pension benefits. The arbitration award does not require that the Borough modify that requirement. Indeed, the majority does not identify any provision of the Pension Plan that the Borough must modify as a result of the arbitration award.
Accordingly, unlike the majority, I would affirm.

. Act of May 29, 1956, P.L. (1955) 1804, as amended, 53 P.S. §§ 767-778.

. Act of December 18, 1984, P.L. 1005, 53 P.S. § 895.305. Section 305(a) of Act 205 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
(a) Presentation of cost estimate. — Prior to the adoption of any benefit plan modification by the governing body of the municipality, the chief administrative officer of each pension plan shall provide to the governing body of the municipality a cost estimate of the effect of the proposed benefit plan modification.
53 P.S. § 895.305(a).

.Grievance arbitration rulings in Act 111 cases are subject to a narrow certiorari scope of review, which allows inquiry into only four aspects of an award: (1) the jurisdiction of the arbitrator; (2) the regularity of the proceedings; (3) whether the arbitrator exceeded his powers; and (4) whether there has been a deprivation of constitutional rights. Town of McCandless v. McCandless Police Officers Association, 587 Pa. 525, 901 A.2d 991 (2006).

. An arbitrator exceeds his powers if he orders an illegal act. City of Pittsburgh v. Fraternal Order of Police, 595 Pa. 47, 938 A.2d 225 (2007).