Court Opinion

ID: 9819589
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:28:17.42348+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:28:43.948648
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MYERSCOUGH, specially concurring in part and dissenting in part: I respectfully specially concur in part and dissent in part. I agree parking fees concern a “term and condition of employment.” I further conclude parking fees are not a matter of “inherent managerial authority.” See Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois v. Labor Relations Board State Panel, No. 4—04—0484, slip op. at 21 (September 26, 2005), (Myerscough, J., dissenting). However, the Union did not appeal the Board’s decision that parking fees were a matter of inherent managerial authority, so that issue is not before this court. I disagree with the majority that the Board’s decision balancing the benefits to the burdens was clearly erroneous. As the majority notes, this balancing “is a fact-specific undertaking, for which the Board is ‘eminently qualified.’ ” 359 Ill. App. 3d 1123, quoting Central City, 149 Ill. 2d at 523, 599 N.E.2d at 905. As also noted in the majority, “[u]nder the clearly-erroneous standard of review, we will affirm the Board’s decision unless, after considering the record, we are left with the definite and firm conviction the agency was mistaken. AFM Messenger Service, 198 Ill. 2d at 395, 763 N.E.2d at 282.” 359 Ill. App. 3d at 1121. The Board balanced the benefits and burdens, and its decision cannot be said to be clearly erroneous simply because we disagree or prefer another outcome because of the enormity of the lack of parking at the University and its impact on the University’s financial condition. This court is not the trier of fact but merely a reviewing court of limited scope. The Board should, therefore, be affirmed. I recognize that my positions in this case and Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, No. 4—04—0484, would result in different outcomes in these two cases were I the majority. However, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board’s and Illinois Labor Relations Board’s respective decisions are not binding on each other. In fact, the Board has contradicted itself in SIU-E, 15 Pub. Employee Rep. (Ill.) par. 1063, finding parking fees not a matter of inherent managerial authority and, to the contrary, here finding them a matter of inherent managerial authority. Nonetheless, our job is not to substitute our fact-finding for that of the Boards. For these reasons, I would affirm the Board.