47 Conn. Supp. 624 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 2001
The plaintiff, the housing authority of the city of New London (housing authority), appeals from the decision of the defendant state board of labor relations (labor board), ordering the housing authority to comply with a collective bargaining agreement provision governing unused sick leave. For the following reasons, the court dismisses the appeal.
Among the provisions of the proposed agreement reached by the negotiators on February 17, 1994, was § 9.2, which states: "Effective upon retirement, an employee shall be paid sixty percent (60%) of his/her accumulated unused sick leave." Section 9.2, however, was omitted from a copy of the draft agreement mailed on February 23, 1994, by the union's representative, Mickey Busca, to the housing authority's executive director and chief negotiator, Dorislee Carpenter. The board of commissioners discussed the negotiations in executive session on February 28, 1994. At some time prior to March 25, 1994, Carpenter polled four commissioners by telephone and received ratification of the proposed contracts by them. It is unknown whether the commissioners had actually seen the draft contracts or whether Carpenter had discussed § 9.2 with the four commissioners who she polled. Carpenter executed the agreements, without § 9.2, on or about March 25, 1994.
The members of the union ratified the collective bargaining agreements on March 17, 1994. Upon discovering the omission of § 9.2, the union prepared a memorandum of agreement (memorandum) providing that the agreement inadvertently had omitted § 9.2 and that the agreement was amended to include that section. The memorandum was discussed at the June 20, 1994 meeting of the board of commissioners, but no action was taken. On June 27, 1994, Carpenter, on behalf of the housing authority, executed the memorandum with Local 171.
On November 27, 1995, the housing authority denied the claim of a retiring Local 287 member for payment of 60 percent of her unused sick leave on the ground that § 9.2 did not appear in the collective bargaining agreement. Local 287 filed a complaint with the labor board on April 11, 1996, alleging that the housing authority had violated the Municipal Employee Relations Act, General Statutes §
The labor board concluded on August 6, 1999, that the memorandum represented a valid agreement between the housing authority and Local 171, and that the housing authority had repudiated the agreement by not honoring § 9.2. A two member majority of the labor board ruled that Carpenter had apparent authority to act on behalf of the housing authority. The majority found that "the housing authority held out Carpenter as their designated representative for purposes of bargaining and . . . the union had good reason to rely on Carpenter's actions as being valid actions on behalf of the housing authority." A third member concurred with the result on the ground that Carpenter had actual authority to sign the memorandum. The labor board also concluded that the housing authority and Local 287 did not have a valid agreement concerning § 9.2 because that section was not included in the collective bargaining agreement between the parties and there was no evidence that Carpenter had signed a memorandum with Local 287.
On August 18, 1999, the union filed a motion for reconsideration, asserting that it had located a copy of the memorandum between Local 287 and the housing authority. The labor board granted the motion for reconsideration. After another hearing, the labor board found the following additional facts. A union official had received the original memorandum in 1995, but had been unable to find either an original or a copy in preparation for the 1998 hearings. After the labor board rendered its initial decision on August 6, 1999, the union official asked representatives of Local 287 for the first time whether they had a copy. The copy produced by that request served as the basis for the motion for reconsideration. The copy of the Local 287 memorandum is *628 virtually identical to the copy of the memorandum with Local 171 that the labor board had relied on in rendering its initial decision. The Local 287 memorandum copy bears a signature that appears to be that of Carpenter, whose whereabouts were unknown at the time of the renewed hearing.
On the basis of those facts, the labor board concluded that the housing authority had entered into a memorandum concerning § 9.2 not only with Local 171, but also with Local 287. The labor board found that other than the "timing of the discovery of the copy of the agreement," there was "simply no evidence or indication that the document produced at th[e] hearing is not what it purports to be." The labor board added that the document "constitutes newly discovered evidence, and the union has adequately explained its reasons for not producing the document during the initial hearing in this matter." Accordingly, the labor board concluded that the housing authority had repudiated its agreement with Local 287 and imposed sanctions.
The housing authority appealed to this court from both the initial and the modified decisions. The court, Martin, J., dismissed the appeal concerning Local 171's agreement as untimely. This appeal accordingly concerns only the validity of the agreement with Local 287.
There can be no dispute that the union's production of the copy of the memorandum was "new evidence [that] has been discovered which materially affect[ed] the merits of the case . . . ." General Statutes §
The closer question is whether the copy "for good reasons was not presented in the agency proceeding. . . ." General Statutes §
This section reflects the law that administrative agencies are not strictly bound by technical rules of evidence. Hickey v. Commissioner ofMotor Vehicles,
The plain language of §
The plaintiff also relies on the second part of §
The second part of the statute does not specifically address this situation. To apply a per se rule of exclusion, as the plaintiff advocates, would run counter to the notion that administrative agencies may relax the rules of evidence and consider any materials that are reliable and probative. Instead of a strict exclusionary rule, the court relies on the general rule that the plaintiff bears the burden of proving that the hearing officer's evidentiary ruling was arbitrary, illegal or an abuse of discretion. The labor board's admission of the copy of the memorandum did not mean that the labor board automatically credited the document. The labor board expressed concern about the late discovery of the copy, but ultimately concluded that there was "simply no evidence or indication that the document produced at th[e] hearing is not what it purports to be." In view of the fact that the copy of the Local 287 memorandum was virtually identical to the copy of the Local 171 memorandum, that neither party could produce any of the originals and that there was no evidence that the union had intended to conceal or destroy the original, the housing authority cannot prove that the labor board's admission of the copy of the Local 287 memorandum was arbitrary, illegal or an abuse of discretion. See O'Sullivan v. DelPonte, supra,
Even if this court credited the expansive interpretation of §
The main issue on the merits is whether Carpenter had actual or apparent authority to sign the memorandum with Local 287. It is not clear whether Carpenter, as executive director, had actual authority to bind the housing authority. It is true that §
The labor board majority's finding that Carpenter had apparent authority represents a mixed conclusion of law and fact. Such a conclusion requires application of the legal standards governing apparent authority, which involve questions of law, to the historical facts of the case, which are questions of fact. See Monterose v. Cross,
Apparent authority is "that semblance of authority which a principal, through his own acts or inadvertences, causes or allows third persons to believe his agent possesses." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)Hall-Brooke Foundation, Inc. v. Norwalk, supra,
The labor board explicitly applied these principles in a detailed opinion. As the labor board noted, Carpenter was the only negotiator for the housing authority at the bargaining table and, as executive director, was the highest ranking housing authority staff member. *636 Although the parties had historically submitted tentative collective bargaining agreements to their respective parties for review and ratification, in this case the housing authority commissioners submitted to a telephone poll without a formal ratification vote at a duly called meeting. Carpenter then signed the collective bargaining agreement as the sole signatory for the housing authority. There is no evidence that thereafter, the housing authority took any action to rescind or to negate Carpenter's approval of the agreement.
With knowledge of Carpenter's lead role in the process leading to the collective bargaining agreement fresh in their minds, the commissioners discussed the proposed memorandum on June 20, 1994. They took no action to prevent Carpenter from signing it. Carpenter did so seven days later.
In view of these facts, the labor board's conclusion that Carpenter had apparent authority to sign the memorandum is a reasonable one. The facts do not paint a picture of Carpenter as a rogue employee acting completely on her own. Rather, the facts reveal that the housing authority knowingly sent Carpenter to the bargaining table as their exclusive representative, informally approved her actions in signing the collective bargaining agreement on her own and at least acquiesced in her signature of the memorandum. It is fair to conclude, under those circumstances, that the housing authority held Carpenter out as having authority to act on their behalf.
These same facts also make it appropriate to conclude that the union had a good faith belief in Carpenter's authority. The only possible point to the contrary is the fact that the housing authority's bylaws repose authority to sign contracts in the chairman. This authority is not without exception, however, but rather exists only if not "otherwise authorized by resolution of the *637 Authority." In any case, given that the bylaws were not even part of the evidence before the labor board, the bylaws seem too obscure to charge the union with notice of them. On the whole, the conclusion that the union had a good faith belief in Carpenter's authority to represent the housing authority is a reasonable one.
This case differs from Norwalk v. Board of Labor Relations, supra,