200 Conn. 376 | Conn. | 1986
This is an appeal from a decision of the trial court enjoining the defendants, the New Haven board of education (board) and John Dow, Jr., the superintendent of schools for New Haven, from terminating the employment contracts of ten school administrators and eliminating nine administrative positions. The plaintiffs, the school administrators association of New Haven (union) and nineteen indi
The facts as found by the trial court are undisputed. Dow, although not certified for the position, became the superintendent of schools for the city of New Haven on January 15, 1984. Approximately six months later he held a series of meetings with the school system’s assistant superintendents and directors to reevaluate
The plaintiffs instituted this action on July 10,1984, and hearings regarding their request for a permanent injunction were held on July 31 and August 1, 1984. No administrative hearings under General Statutes § 10-151 (d) have been conducted and the board has
The threshold issue on this appeal is whether the trial court had jurisdiction to hear the plaintiffs’ request for relief. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the trial court lacked jurisdiction, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust the contractual remedies available to them under their collective bargaining agreement and that they failed to pursue the administrative remedies provided in General Statutes § 10-151 (d).
The bargaining agreement between the board and the union in effect between July 1,1983, and June 30, 1985, provided that an individual administrator may file a grievance when “(1) he has been treated unfairly or inequitably, or (2) there has been a violation, misinterpretation or misapplication of a specific provision(s) of [the] Agreement or of established policy or practice.” The agreement delineates a formal three step procedure for filing a grievance: the matter is first brought to the superintendent for decision, then to the board as a whole, and finally to an arbitrator for a binding decision. By statute, the agreement is enforceable; General Statutes § 52-408; and one party may compel the other to proceed with arbitration by petitioning the
Under federal law, “it is settled that the employee must at least attempt to exhaust exclusive grievance and arbitration procedures established by the bargaining agreement” before resorting to the courts. Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 184, 87 S. Ct. 903, 17 L. Ed. 2d 842 (1967); Republic Steel Corporation v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 652, 85 S. Ct. 614, 13 L. Ed. 2d 580 (1965). The United States Supreme Court, in establishing this rule, reasoned that Congress had “expressly approved contract grievance procedures as a preferred method for settling disputes . . . . ” Republic Steel Corporation v. Maddox, supra, 653. Although federal precedent in this area is not controlling, we find it persuasive and adopt a similar standard for cases brought under our state’s labor laws. See Board of Education v. Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations, 190 Conn. 235, 241, 460 A.2d 1255 (1983). Like Congress in passing the Labor Management Relations Act, the General Assembly in enacting the state Labor Relations Act, General Statutes §§ 31-101 through 31-lllb, the Teacher Negotiation Act, General Statutes §§ 10-153a through 10-153n, and the arbitration statutes, General Statutes §§ 52-408 through 52-424, clearly intended that it is “not only permissible but desirable” for grievances between employees, including school administrators, and the employer, including the board of education, to be settled through contract grievance-arbitration procedures. Norwalk Teachers’Assn. v. Board of Education, 138 Conn. 269, 280, 83 A.2d 482 (1951); see also Board of Education v. Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations, supra (involving an unfair labor practice com
We conclude then that, as a matter of state law, parties to a collective bargaining agreement must attempt to exhaust the exclusive grievance and arbitration procedures established in their agreement before resorting to court. See Cahill v. Board of Education, 187 Conn. 94, 103-104, 444 A.2d 907 (1982); Corey v. Avco-Lycoming Division, 163 Conn. 309, 328, 307 A.2d 155 (1972) (Loiselle, J., concurring), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1116, 93 S. Ct. 903, 34 L. Ed. 2d 699 (1973); D’Agostino v. New Britain, 7 Conn. App. 105, 109-10, 507 A.2d 1042 (1986); Cislo v. Shelton, 35 Conn. Sup. 645, 653, 405 A.2d 84 (1978). In this case the individual plaintiffs and their union brought suit seeking to enjoin the board from eliminating certain administrative positions and from dismissing ten individuals. The complaint alleged that the defendants acted unfairly, violated the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, violated state statutory procedures, and violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to due process and equal protection. Despite the multiple allegations made, the complaint is not unlike those usually brought for employee grievances and essentially seeks relief for
The plaintiffs raise claims attacking the constitutionality of the procedure used by the board in considering the termination of the contracts and the elimination of the positions in question. We have recognized that in special circumstances, plaintiffs who challenge the constitutionality of an administrative procedure may be permitted to bring a collateral action without first exhausting their administrative remedies. Id., 79; Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Norwalk, 179 Conn. 111, 117, 425 A.2d 576 (1979). “[D]irect judicial adjudication even of constitutional claims [however,] is not warranted when the relief sought by a litigant ‘might conceivably have been obtained through an alternative [statutory] procedure . . . which [the litigant] has chosen to ignore.’ Sullivan v. State, [189 Conn. 550, 559, 457 A.2d 304 (1983)].” LaCroix v. Board of Education, supra, 87. Since the plaintiffs here could have obtained the relief sought by resorting either to the grievance procedures established by the collective bargaining agreement or to the administrative procedure of General Statutes § 10-151 (d), the trial court therefore did not have jurisdiction to consider even the plaintiffs’ constitutional challenge.
There is error, the judgment is set aside and the case is remanded with direction to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
The alternate grounds offered by the plaintiffs to sustain the trial court’s action are: (1) the defendants acted in excess of statutory authorization and in violation of the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights; (2) the defendants acted without authority and to the detriment of the public interest; and (3) equitable relief was necessary to protect the plaintiffs from the bad faith and negligence of the defendants. The “fourth alternate ground” was phrased more like an issue for a cross appeal. It contests the trial court’s refusal to order a hearing on damages. Because of our disposition of the case on jurisdictional grounds, we do not reach these four issues. For the same reason, we also do not reach the first and second claims raised by the defendants.
General Statutes § 10-151 (d) provides: “The contract of employment of a teacher who has attained tenure shall be continued from school year to school year, except that it may be terminated at any time for one or more of the following reasons: (1) Inefficiency or incompetence; (2) insubordination against reasonable rules of the board of education; (3) moral misconduct; (4) disability, as shown by competent medical evidence; (5) elimination of the position to which the teacher was appointed or loss of a position to another teacher, if no other position exists to which such teacher may be appointed if qualified, provided such teacher, if qualified, shall be appointed to a position held by a teacher who has not attained tenure, and provided further that determination of the individual contract or contracts of employment to be terminated shall be made in accordance with either (A) a provision for a layoff procedure agreed upon by the board of education and the exclusive employees’ representative organization or (B) in the absence of such agreement, a written policy of the board of education; or (6) other due and sufficient cause. Nothing in this section or in any other section of the general statutes or of any special act shall preclude a board of education from making an agreement with an exclusive bargaining representative which contains a recall provision. Prior to terminating a contract, a board of education shall vote to give the teacher concerned a written notice that termination of such teacher’s contract is under consideration and, upon written request filed by such teacher with such board within seven days
The defendants challenged the complaint on a motion to dismiss. Although the claim that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies goes to subject matter jurisdiction and is properly raised by such a motion under Practice Book § 143, the claim that the plaintiffs failed to pursue their contractual remedies is not purely a question of subject matter jurisdiction and may have been more properly challenged by a motion to strike under Practice Book § 152.
The plaintiffs claim that under the collective bargaining agreement in effect, the arbitrator is vested only with the power to construe specific provisions of the agreement and has no power to apply legal standards. They argue from this premise that arbitration would be an inadequate remedy. We cannot agree with the plaintiffs, however, that the arbitrator is so limited under the collective bargaining agreement. The only limitation on the arbitrator’s authority is found in section nine of the grievance procedures which provides that “any arbitrator acting pursuant to this Agreement shall have power only to construe specific provisions of this Agreement and shall have no authority to add to, delete from or modify in any way any provision of this Agreement. ” This language can reasonably be read to limit just the arbitrator’s powers to construe the agreement and does not necessarily mean that the arbitrator is powerless to apply legal principles. It is “presumed that the parties intended to grant to the arbitrators such powers as are reasonably necessary to settle the dispute fully.” 5 Am. Jur. 2d, Arbitration and Award § 25. Thus, absent explicit language in the contract to the contrary or limiting language in the submission, it is presumed that the arbitrator in this case has the power fully to decide disputes involving “grievances” as defined by the agreement. See Board of Police Commissioners v. Maher, 171 Conn. 613, 628, 370 A.2d 1076 (1976); Straw v. North Hollywood Hospital, Inc., 150 Cal. App. 2d 306, 310-11, 309 P.2d 541 (1957).
The plaintiffs’ action could be maintained if the agreement did not make the grievance-arbitration process the exclusive remedy for the parties. Republic Steel Corporation v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 657-58, 85 S. Ct. 614,
The administrative remedy provided in General Statutes § 10-151 (d) does not apply to the remaining nine individual plaintiffs whose positions were being eliminated but whose employment with the board continued. Candelori v. Board of Education, 180 Conn. 66, 69, 428 A.2d 331 (1980); Delagorges v. Board of Education, 176 Conn. 630, 636-37, 410 A.2d 461 (1979).