VAN BUREN COUNTY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION and DECATUR EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT PERSONNEL ASSOCIATION, MEA/NEA v. DECATUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Docket No. 320272
309 MICH APP 630
Submitted March 4, 2015, at Detroit. Decided March 17, 2015, at 9:15 a.m.
Van Buren County Education Association (VBCEA), a bargaining unit for teachers, and Decatur Educational Support Personnel Association, MEA/NEA (DESPA), a bargaining unit for support personnel, charged respondent Decatur Public Schools with engaging in unfair labor practices. At issue was respondent‘s unilateral choice between two options under the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act, 2011 PA 152 (PA 152), that imposed limits on the maximum contributions respondent could make to its employees’ health care costs. The charging parties claimed that respondent‘s unilateral choice between the two limiting options in PA 152—the hard-caps option and the 80/20 plan—conflicted with a public employer‘s duty under the Public Employee Relations Act (PERA) to negotiate health insurance benefits. According to VBCEA and DESPA, respondent‘s choice between the two options was a matter subject to bargaining during negotiation of their respective collective bargaining agreements. The administrative law judge (ALJ) concluded that PERA required respondent to bargain with the collective bargaining units over respondent‘s choice between the two options, but recommended dismissal of the charges because DESPA had failed to request bargaining on the issue and the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between VBCEA and the Decatur Public Schools created an impasse which permitted unilateral action. The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) reviewed the ALJ‘s findings and concluded that there was no conflict between the mandate in PA 152 requiring a public employer to implement one of the two options and PERA‘s mandate that health insurance benefits be negotiated. MERC dismissed both unfair labor practice charges. The charging parties appealed.
The Court of Appeals held:
1. MERC properly dismissed the unfair labor practice charges against respondent because respondent‘s choice between the two limiting health care contribution plans was not subject to bargaining between respondent and VBCEA or DESPA during negotiations for the parties’ respective collective bargaining agreements. PA 152 placed limits on the maximum amount that a public employer may contribute to medical benefit plans for its employees or elected public officials and required a public employer to choose between the hard-caps option and the 80/20 plan. MERC properly held that the choice between the hard-caps option and the 80/20 plan was not a mandatory issue to be negotiated by the parties to a collective bargaining agreement. PERA requires that public employers bargain collectively with representatives of its employees in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, but that requirement and the mandate of PA 152 could be reconciled and were not in conflict. Even though a public employer‘s choice between contribution limits was not subject to negotiation, the parties were free to negotiate the precise health care contribution, up to the maximum contribution defined in the hard-caps option or the 80/20 plan.
2. MERC properly concluded that DESPA was not entitled to relief, regardless whether PA 152 required a public employer to negotiate a public employer‘s choice of health care contribution limits, because DESPA had made no request to begin negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.
3. MERC properly rejected the charge by VBCEA and DESPA that respondent was not required to implement either of the two health care contribution limits immediately after expiration of their respective collective bargaining agreements. According to the plain language of PA 152, the limiting option chosen by a public employer did not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement in place at the time PA 152 was enacted. However, PA 152 clearly states that any collective bargaining agreement made after the effective date of PA 152 must be consistent with the terms in
Affirmed.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT — COLLECTIVE BARGAINING — LIMITS ON HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS.
The mandate in 2011 PA 152 that a public employer implement one of two options—the hard-caps option or the 80/20 plan—limiting the maximum amount the employer may contribute to its employees’ health care benefits does not conflict with the mandate under the Public Employee Relations Act that a public employer bargain in good faith with its employees’ representatives with regard to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment; the public employer‘s choice of options implementing the limits on health care contributions is not one of the matters about which the employer has a duty to bargain with its employees’ representatives when negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.
Thrun Law Firm, PC (by Roy H. Henley), for Decatur Public Schools.
Before: JANSEN, P.J., and METER and BECKERING, JJ.
PER CURIAM. Charging parties, Van Buren County Education Association and Decatur Educational Support Personnel Association, MEA/NEA, appeal as of right the January 21, 2014 decision of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) dismissing two unfair labor practice charges against respondent, Decatur Public Schools. We affirm.
I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
A. PA 152
The facts in this case are largely undisputed and involve Van Buren County Education Association (VBCEA), a bargaining unit for teachers in Van Buren County, Decatur Educational Support Personnel Association (DESPA), a bargaining unit for support personnel, and the Decatur Public Schools. This case involves a public employer‘s contributions to its employees’ health insurance costs, and whether the employer has a duty to bargain with its employees’ representatives with regard to the method of calculating the limits imposed on its contributions to employees’ health care costs under 2011 PA 152 (PA 152), the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act,
Except as otherwise provided in this act, a public employer that offers or contributes to a medical benefit plan for its employees or elected public officials shall pay no more of the annual costs or illustrative rate and any payments for reimbursement of co-pays, deductibles, or payments into health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, or similar accounts used for health care costs, than a total amount equal to $5,500.00 times the number of employees and elected public officials with single-person coverage, $11,000.00 times the number of employees and elected public officials with individual-and-spouse coverage or individual-plus-1-nonspouse-dependent coverage, plus $15,000.00 times the number of employees and elected public officials with family coverage, for a medical benefit plan coverage year beginning on or after January 1, 2012. [
MCL 15.563(1) .]
In addition to the hard-caps option set forth in Section 3, a public employer, excluding the state, could elect to comply, “[b]y majority vote of its governing body,” with Section 4 of PA 152.
In enacting PA 152, the Legislature recognized that medical benefit plans may have been subject to existing collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), and it grandfathered in a public employer‘s contributions to medical benefit plans under existing CBAs. Nonetheless, PA 152 mandated compliance with the act for any CBAs negotiated on or after September 27, 2011, the effective date of PA 152. Collective bargaining agreements in effect on September 27, 2011, remained in effect until their expiration. In this regard, Section 5 of PA 152 provides:
(1) If a collective bargaining agreement or other contract that is inconsistent with sections 3 and 4 is in effect for 1 or more employees of a public employer on September 27, 2011, the requirements of section 3 or 4 do not apply to an employee covered by that contract until the contract expires. A public employer‘s expenditures for medical benefit plans under a collective bargaining agreement or other contract described in this subsection shall be excluded from calculation of the public employer‘s maximum payment under section 4. The requirements of sections 3 and 4 apply to any extension or renewal of the contract.
(2) A collective bargaining agreement or other contract that is executed on or after September 27, 2011 shall not include terms that are inconsistent with the requirements of sections 3 and 4. [
MCL 15.565 (emphasis added).]
If a public employer fails to comply with this act, the public employer shall permit the state treasurer to reduce by 10% each economic vitality incentive program payment received under 2011 PA 63 and the department of education shall assess the public employer a penalty equal to 10% of each payment of any funds for which the public employer qualifies under the state school aid act of 1979, 1979 PA 94,
MCL 388.1601 to [MCL] 388.1772, during the period that the public employer fails to comply with this act. Any reduction setoff or penalty amounts recovered shall be returned to the fund from which the reduction is assessed or upon which the penalty is determined. The department of education may also refer the penalty collection to the department of treasury for collection consistent with section 13 of 1941 PA 122,MCL 205.13 . [MCL 15.569 .]
B. UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CHARGE BY VBCEA
Charging party VBCEA and respondent were parties to a CBA that became effective on July 1, 2011, and expired on June 30, 2012. On or about May 14, 2012, before the first bargaining session on the new CBA, superintendent Elizabeth Godwin sent a memorandum to VBCEA members regarding their insurance premiums for the upcoming school year. The memorandum indicated that effective July 1, 2012, the day after the then-current CBA expired, respondent intended to implement a hard cap3 on its contributions as set forth in PA 152. Godwin also sent letters to VBCEA members regarding the deductions that would be taken from their last paychecks in June 2012 that would be necessary to cover those members’ increased health care contributions.
On or about May 22, 2012, respondent and VBCEA held their first bargaining session for the new CBA. According to Godwin‘s affidavit, which the charging parties did not refute, respondent and VBCEA began to negotiate at this session, among other matters, the hard-cap option chosen by respondent. Although the parties met and bargained, they did not reach an agreement, and respondent proceeded with implementing the hard caps on health care costs.
On June 29, 2012, VBCEA filed an unfair labor practice charge against respondent, alleging that health insurance benefits were a mandatory subject of collective bargaining under the Public Employee Relations Act (PERA). See
VBCEA contended that respondent implemented the hard-cap limits with no meaningful bargaining, in violation of PERA. VBCEA requested that respondent be found in violation of PERA for refusing to bargain and that insurance coverage contribution amounts be returned to the amounts that existed under the expired CBA until the parties reached either a successor agreement or an impasse.
C. UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CHARGE BY DESPA
Respondent and charging party DESPA were parties to a collective bargaining agreement that took effect on November 14, 2011, and expired on June 30, 2012. In May 2012, respondent, just as it had done
In response to the memorandum indicating respondent‘s choice of the hard-cap limits and the increased deductions associated with the hard-cap limits, DESPA filed an unfair labor practice charge against respondent that was virtually identical to the charge filed by VBCEA.
D. AGENCY PROCEEDINGS
On December 20, 2012, the parties presented arguments to an administrative law judge (ALJ), who issued a decision and recommended order dismissing the unfair labor practice charges. Recognizing that there is a mandatory duty to bargain over health insurance benefits under PERA, the ALJ agreed with the charging parties’ contentions that there was a duty to bargain over the employer‘s choice of implementing the hard caps in
The charging parties and respondent filed exceptions to the ALJ‘s findings, and the matter was reviewed by MERC. On January 21, 2014, MERC issued a decision and order in which it dismissed the charges filed by the charging parties. Turning first to the charge filed by DESPA, MERC found that, regardless whether there was a duty to bargain over the implementation of hard caps or the 80/20 plan, the charge was without merit. In so finding, MERC noted that DESPA did not assert that it demanded bargaining, nor did the record contain any such demand. Even assuming a duty to bargain, there was, reasoned MERC, no requirement for the employer to initiate bargaining. Instead, an employer‘s duty to bargain under PERA is conditioned on a demand for bargaining by the union.
Next, turning to the charge filed by VBCEA, MERC found that there was no conflict between PA 152 and PERA‘s bargaining mandates, and it further concluded that respondent had no duty to bargain on its choice between the hard-caps option and the 80/20 plan. MERC also rejected the charging parties’ contention that respondent was not required to implement the mandates of PA 152 immediately after the expiration of an existing CBA. The charging parties appealed as of right MERC‘s decision and order.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
“The MERC is the sole state agency charged with the interpretation and enforcement of [the] highly specialized and politically sensitive field” of public sector labor law. Kent Co Deputy Sheriffs’ Ass‘n v Kent Co Sheriff, 238 Mich App 310, 313; 605 NW2d 363 (1999), aff‘d 463 Mich 353 (2000).
We review MERC decisions pursuant to
Resolution of the issues raised in this case involve statutory interpretation, which this Court ordinarily reviews de novo. Krohn v Home-Owners Ins Co, 490 Mich 145, 155; 802 NW2d 281 (2011); Detroit Pub Sch v Conn, 308 Mich App 234, 242; 863 NW2d 373 (2014). While review is de novo, appellate courts give respectful consideration to MERC‘s interpretation of a statute. In re Complaint of Rovas Against SBC Michigan, 482 Mich 90, 97, 103; 754 NW2d 259 (2008). However, the agency‘s interpretation is not binding on this Court, and the agency‘s interpretation “cannot conflict with the Legislature‘s intent as expressed in the language of the statute at issue.” In re Complaint of Rovas, 482 Mich at 103.
III. ANALYSIS
We are first asked to consider whether PERA and PA 152 conflict and whether an employer has a duty to bargain over the decision to implement the hard-caps option or the 80/20 plan. In making this determination, we recognize that “an appellate court‘s first duty is to harmonize, if possible, apparently conflicting legisla-tive enactments in order to carry out the Legislature‘s intent to the fullest extent possible.” St Clair Co Ed Ass‘n v St Clair Co Intermediate Sch Dist, 245 Mich App 498, 518; 630 NW2d 909 (2001).
A. PERA
“The PERA governs the relationship between public employees and governmental agencies.” Macomb Co v AFSCME Council 25, 494 Mich 65, 77-78; 833 NW2d 225 (2013). “PERA drastically altered public employee labor relations in Michigan. It represents the Legislature‘s intent to assure[] public employees of protection against unfair labor practices, and of remedial access to a state-level administrative agency with special expertise in statutory unfair labor practice matters.” Id. at 78 (citations and quotation marks omitted; alteration in original). In the past, this Court and our Supreme Court have held that the provisions of PERA “take precedence over other conflicting laws to ensure uniformity, consistency, and predictability in the critically important and complex field of public sector labor law.” Kent Co Deputy Sheriffs’ Ass‘n, 238 Mich App at 313. See also Rockwell v Crestwood Sch Dist Bd of Ed, 393 Mich 616, 630; 227 NW2d 736 (1975) (“The supremacy of the provisions of the PERA is predicated on the Constitution ... and the apparent legislative intent that the PERA be the governing law for public employee labor relations.“).
Pertinent to the case at bar, PERA imposes on public employers a duty to bargain collectively with the representatives of its employees “in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment....”
B. CLAIM OF DESPA
As an initial matter, because the duty to bargain is expressly conditioned on a request for bargaining from the employees, we find that, even assuming a duty to bargain over the choice between the hard-cap limits and the 80/20 plan, DESPA‘s claim is meritless as it is undisputed that DESPA never requested bargaining in this case. See Local 586, SEIU, 135 Mich App at 557. The charging parties do not even challenge this portion of MERC‘s decision.
C. PA 152
Next, in order to evaluate the issue briefed by the charging parties as it relates to VBCEA, we turn to PA 152. PA 152 exclusively concerns health insurance benefits and provides, for purposes of this case, two different means of capping an employer‘s contributions to its employees’ health insurance benefits. The first, set forth in
(1) By a majority vote of its governing body, a public employer, excluding this state, may elect to comply with this section for a medical benefit plan coverage year instead of the requirements in section 3. The designated state official may elect to comply with this section instead of section 3 as to medical benefit plans for state employees and state officers.
(2) For medical benefit plan coverage years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, a public employer shall pay not more than 80% of the total annual costs of all of the medical benefit plans it offers or contributes to for its employees and elected public officials. For purposes of this subsection, total annual costs includes the premium or illustrative rate of the medical benefit plan and all employer payments for reimbursement of co-pays, deductibles, and payments into health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, or similar accounts used for health care but does not include beneficiary-paid copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, other out-of-pocket expenses, other service-related fees that are assessed to the coverage beneficiary, or beneficiary payments into health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, or similar accounts used for health care. Each elected public official who participates in a medical benefit plan offered by a public employer shall be required to pay 20% or more of the total annual costs of that plan. The public employer may allocate the employees’ share of total annual costs of the medical benefit plans among the employees of the public
employer as it sees fit. [ MCL 15.564 .]
With a nod toward existing CBAs that were not in compliance with the limitations imposed in Sections 3 and 4,
(1) If a collective bargaining agreement or other contract that is inconsistent with sections 3 and 4 is in effect for 1 or more employees of a public employer on September 27, 2011, the requirements of section 3 or 4 do not apply to an employee covered by that contract until the contract expires. A public employer‘s expenditures for medical benefit plans under a collective bargaining agreement or other contract described in this subsection shall be excluded from calculation of the public employer‘s maximum payment under section 4. The requirements of sections 3 and 4 apply to any extension or renewal of the contract.
(2) A collective bargaining agreement or other contract that is executed on or after September 27, 2011 shall not include terms that are inconsistent with the requirements of sections 3 and 4.
D. DOES PA 152 CONFLICT WITH PERA, AND IS THERE A DUTY TO BARGAIN?
“The primary goal of statutory interpretation is to ascertain the legislative intent that may reasonably be inferred from the statutory language. The first step in that determination is to review the language of the statute itself.” Krohn, 490 Mich at 156 (citations and quotation marks omitted). Here, both PA 152 and PERA concern, at least to some degree, the subject of health insurance benefits for public employees. This Court must attempt to construe the statutes so as to avoid a conflict. See St Clair Co Ed Ass‘n, 245 Mich App at 518. As noted, in the past, our Supreme Court has held that when PERA conflicts with another statute, PERA, as the predominant law in the field of public employee relations, prevails. See, e.g., Rockwell, 393 Mich at 629.
We find that PA 152 and PERA do not conflict and that there is no duty to bargain over the employer‘s choice between the hard-cap limits and the 80/20 plan. Initially, the plain language of PA 152 does not give rise to an obligation to bargain with regard to this choice. Notably,
Moreover, this result is not in conflict with the collective bargaining mandates of PERA, nor does it remove health insurance benefits from the realm of mandatory bargaining. PERA requires bargaining on certain subjects, including health insurance benefits. PA 152 does not foreclose bargaining on health insurance benefits. Rather, as MERC recognized, PA 152 sets limits on the amount of health insurance benefits a public employer may pay. Nothing in the statute prevents bargaining up to the statutorily imposed limits. Indeed, PA 152 expressly recognized the right of collective bargaining, as it mandated that the limits not take effect until after the expiration of a CBA if the existing CBA contained terms that were inconsistent with the limits prescribed in
Examination of the 80/20 plan yields the same result. The 80/20 plan provides that a public employer “shall pay not more than 80% of the total annual costs of all of the medical benefit plans it offers or contributes to for its employees and elected public officials.”
Furthermore, finding a conflict between the statutes on the issue of a public employer‘s choice between the hard-caps option and the 80/20 plan would effectively read into PA 152 language that the Legislature did not include.
Our conclusion that there is no conflict between PA 152 and PERA is strengthened by comparing the interaction of PA 152 and PERA in the instant case with cases in which courts have found conflicts between PA 152 and other statutes. Notably, in Rockwell, 393 Mich 616, one of the seminal cases on the su-premacy of PERA, there existed a conflict between PERA and the Teachers’ Tenure Act (TTA) that was much more direct and apparent than any alleged conflict in the case at bar. In Rockwell, a school board and teachers’ union became embattled in a labor dispute that involved teachers’ strikes. Id. at 626. After two strikes, the school board ordered teachers to return to work or submit a letter of resignation; otherwise, their employment would be terminated. Id. at 626-627. More than three-fourths of the teachers neither returned to work nor submitted a letter of resignation, and the school board terminated their positions. Id. at 627. Pertinent to that case, PERA enabled public employers to discipline employees for striking, and if the employer disciplined the employee, the employee was entitled to request a determination whether he violated the provisions of PERA; thus, the determination came after the discipline. Id. at 624.
In contrast, the TTA required a hearing before discharge, and directed that discharge could only occur for reasonable and just cause, and only after notice and a hearing. Id. at 625. The dispute in that case concerned whether the procedures in PERA—determination after discipline—or the procedures in the TTA—determination before discipline—controlled. Id. at 628-629. In resolving this issue, our Supreme Court found that the TTA, which was enacted before PERA, could not have been intended to consider labor disputes between school boards and their employees,4 and that PERA was intended to be the predominant law governing public employee labor relations. Id. at 630. There-
fore, the Court found that the disciplinary procedures set forth in PERA with regard to teachers who participated in a “concerted” strike should apply rather than those set forth in the TTA, as the disciplinary procedures under the TTA primarily concerned the actions of individual teachers. Id. at 631-632.
Similarly, in Detroit Bd of Ed v Parks, 417 Mich 268, 281; 335 NW2d 641 (1983), our Supreme Court found a conflict between the TTA and PERA and refused to read into CBAs entered into under PERA requirements from the TTA concerning the standard for discharge. As a result, the teacher in Parks was precluded from invoking the substantive or procedural provisions of the TTA because PERA controlled in that situation. Id. at 282-283.
The instant case is distinguishable from Rockwell and Parks. PA 152 and PERA do not contain conflicting provisions as to collective bargaining rights. Rather, the
E. IMPOSITION OF HARD CAPS IMMEDIATELY AFTER EXPIRATION OF CBAS
Lastly, we address the charging parties’ contention that respondent was not required to implement its choice of the hard-caps option immediately after expiration of the parties’ existing CBAs. The charging parties argue that respondent could have waited until after bargaining to make its choice, and that it had enough time to ensure that the benefits paid were within either the hard-cap limits or the 80/20 plan. The importance of this issue is largely dependent on whether respondent had a duty to bargain with regard to the choice between the hard-cap limits and the 80/20 plan. With no duty to bargain over the implementation of the hard-caps option or the 80/20 plan, nothing prevented respondent from unilaterally implementing the plan on the date the existing CBAs expired. See Grand Rapids Community College Faculty Ass‘n v Grand Rapids Community College, 239 Mich App 650, 656-657; 609 NW2d 835 (2000).
Moreover, PA 152 is clear that, when an existing CBA expired, a public employer was to comply with the statute. Indeed, the limits imposed by either the hard-caps option or the 80/20 plan came into play at the time the previous CBA expired. See
Affirmed.
JANSEN, P.J., and METER and BECKERING, JJ., concurred.
Notes
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, after the expiration date of a collective bargaining agreement and until a successor collective bargaining agreement is in place, a public employer shall pay and provide wages and benefits at levels and amounts that are no greater than those in effect on the expiration date of the collective bargaining agreement. The prohibition in this subsection includes increases that would result from wage step increases. Employees who receive health, dental, vision, prescription, or other insurance benefits under a collective bargaining agreement shall bear any increased costs of maintaining those benefits that occur after the expiration date. The public employer may make payroll deductions necessary to pay the increased costs of maintaining those benefits. [Emphasis added.]