Court Opinion

ID: 9687011
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:13:50.38328+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:23.721614
License: Public Domain

Bashara, J.
(concurring). I concur in the result reached by the majority, but would limit the holding strictly to the facts of this particular case.
*152It is beyond question, as the majority recognizes, that the sheriff is the employer of his deputies. Further, the sheriff has the constitutionally based responsibility of administering the entire operation of his law enforcement departments, save for the budgetary matters mandated by the county board of commissioners. To facilitate the discharge of that responsibility, the sheriff’s input into the collective bargaining process with his deputies is essential.
I am reluctant to establish as precedent that a sheriff can be estopped to deny the binding effect of a collective bargaining agreement derived from negotiations in which he did not participate. Such a result is attained by the majority on the basis that the sheriff did not take affirmative steps to enter into negotiations with the deputies’ bargaining representative. Yet, the employees’ representative has a statutory remedy to compel the sheriff-employer to enter into the collective bargaining process. MCLA 423.215; MSA 17.455(15).
The objective of PEEA is stability and harmony in public employer-employee relations and the avoidance of interruption of vital public services. I believe that the attainment of that objective will be impeded if we bind an employer to a contract to which he in fact did not agree; especially where the statutory provisions to compel his participation in the negotiation process have not been utilized by the employees.
However, the practicalities of this case mandate the majority’s conclusion. This dispute has continued for four years awaiting resolution. Nothing could be achieved by denying the binding effect of the collective bargaining agreement on the facts of this case except to create the disharmony in the employment relations of the sheriff’s department that the PERA sought to obviate.
I concur in the result.