Court Opinion

ID: 9538406
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:36:08.558877+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:51.266447
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION OF
KIDWELL, J.
I do not agree with part II of the majority opinion and therefore must respectfully dissent from the conclusion of the court in this case. I would reverse upon the ground that treatment of the striking teachers as inferior in seniority status to that of teachers who remained at work during the strike constitutes discrimination in violation of the strike settlement agreement.
The issue between the parties is phrased as a question of entitlement to seniority credit. In real terms, the question is whether, upon a reduction of staff, striking teachers shall be selected for dismissal as against teachers who did not participate in the strike or participated less extensively. By reason of their participation in the strike, and for only that reason, certain teachers have been or will be deprived of employment in favor of teachers who did not strike. A clearer case of discrimination against the striking teachers is hard to imagine.
*371Such discrimination would not constitute a prohibited practice were it not for the strike settlement agreement. This conclusion follows from the unlawfulness of the strike. However, the unlawfulness of the strike is not a relevant factor in considering whether discrimination against striking teachers is in violation of the strike settlement agreement. When the parties agreed that there should be “no discrimination of any kind . . . against any participants or nonparticipants in the strike”, they invalidated the unlawfulness of the strike as justification for such discrimination. I read the strike settlement agreement as an unambiguous expression of intent that the employment status and job security of the strikers is to be not inferior to that of nonstrikers. No evidence that the parties intended otherwise has been pointed out. The lack of extrinsic evidence of the existence of the intent so clearly expressed in the agreement seems to me to be a meaningless circumstance.
The majority is troubled by what it sees as unfair treatment of nonstriking teachers who were absent on leave. The simple answer to this concern, I believe, is that the choices made by the BOE in its dealings with such teachers cannot provide a foundation for discriminatory treatment of striking teachers in violation of the strike settlement agreement. Having bound itself by the strike settlement agreement to give equal job security to the teachers who remained at work and those who went on strike, the BOE may have rendered it unfair to apply different standards in dealing with teachers who were on leave during the strike. If so, the status of these teachers may require adjustment. That question is not before us, and I am unable to perceive why its existence should lead to denial of the rights for which the striking teachers bargained.
I would hold that HPERB erroneously denied effect to the strike settlement agreement and would reverse the judgment of the circuit court.