Court Opinion

ID: 9703506
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:59:00.457656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:49.831293
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MYERSCOUGH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. I agree that the ALJ and the State Panel correctly found that parking and parking fees are terms or conditions of the police officers’ employment. I believe, however, the ALJ and the State Panel also correctly concluded that the FOP’s parking proposal does not concern matters within the University’s inherent managerial authority. Therefore, I would affirm the agency’s determination that the University was required to bargain with the FOE As the majority correctly points out, this court reviews an agency’s mixed-law-and-fact determination under the “clearly erroneous” standard of review. As a result, this court is required to give great deference to the State Panel’s decision and reverse only where we are “ ‘left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.’ ” AFM Messenger, 198 Ill. 2d at 395, 763 N.E.2d at 282, quoting United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. at 395, 92 L. Ed. at 766, 68 S. Ct. at 542. In the instant case, the record clearly demonstrated that the State Panel’s inherent-managerial-authority determination was reasonably based on the relevant testimony. Such a determination was not “clearly erroneous” and should be affirmed. The Act states that matters of inherent managerial policy “shall include such areas of discretion or policy as the functions of the employer, standards of services, its overall budget, [and] the organizational structure and selection of new employees.” 5 ILCS 315/4 (West 2000). Although the above sentence does not contain an exhaustive list of matters of inherent managerial policy, it provides guidance on the interpretation of the term in question and indicates that matters of inherent managerial policy denote something that affects the employer on a large scale and relates to the employer’s essential operation. Such a reading is consistent with the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Ford Motor Co., which states matters of inherent managerial authority are those that “ ‘lie at the core of the entrepreneurial control.’ ” Ford Motor Co., 441 U.S. at 498, 60 L. Ed. 2d at 429, 99 S. Ct. at 1850, quoting Fibreboard Paper Products, 379 U.S. at 223, 13 L. Ed. 2d at 246, 85 S. Ct. at 409 (Stewart, J., concurring, joined by Douglas and Harlan, JJ.). In that case, the Court concluded that the determination of company food prices and services was not a managerial decision that lies in the core of entrepreneurial control because “the company is not in the business of selling food to its employees.” Ford Motor Co., 441 U.S. at 498, 60 L. Ed. 2d at 429, 99 S. Ct. at 1850. In the instant case, the University is in the business of higher education and not in the business of selling parking spaces to its employees. Therefore, similar to company food prices, parking arrangements for the police officers is also not a managerial decision that lies at the core of University’s entrepreneurial control. The record shows that Terry Ruprecht, the associate provost and academic facilities officer, testified that the mission of the University of Illinois is teaching, researching, public service, and economic development. This testimony is consistent with the University’s mission, which states that the University “strives constantly to sustain and enhance its quality in teaching, research!,] and public service.” The University’s witnesses further acknowledged that parking facilities, unlike academic buildings, are considered auxiliary units and do not receive state funding. None of these testimonies shows that University employees’ parking arrangements affect the University’s mission. In finding the State Panel’s decision was “clearly erroneous,” the majority links parking arrangements for police offices to the University’s master plan and overall budget and claims that the parking is integral to the University’s mission. In so concluding, the majority finds that “[t]he control of an income stream from parking; the control of land use; the equal treatment of employees, faculty, and staff; and the need to consider the impact of bargaining with 16 other represented employee units clearly lie at the core of entrepreneurial control.” 361 Ill. App. 3d at 268. The majority fails to recognize, however, negotiating over any subject matter with any employee unit impacts the equal treatment of the employees and has an impact on the negotiation with other bargaining units. Therefore, the fact that the University would be required to negotiate with other employee representative units regarding respective parking arrangements does not automatically make the parking arrangement a subject that is integral to the University’s mission. Moreover, the Supreme Court of the United States in Ford Motor Co., 441 U.S. at 498, 60 L. Ed. 2d at 429, 99 S. Ct. at 1849-50, found that the establishment of a cafeteria and the determination of company food prices were not managerial decisions that lie at the core of entrepreneurial control despite the fact that such a matter concerns the control of the income stream from the food sales and use of land for the cafeteria. Here, the relevant testimony at the hearings established that parking arrangements were not part of the University’s essential operation and were subordinate to the University’s mission. As a result, the State Panel correctly concluded that the parking arrangement for the police officers does not “lie at the core of the [University’s] entrepreneurial control.” For these reasons, I would affirm the State Panel’s findings entirely.