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D.R. No. 84-4

Synopsis:

The Director of Representation adopts the recommendations of a Hearing Officer and concludes that Clerk 2 to the Personnel Manager is a confidential employee within the meaning of the Act based upon the titles's: (1) access and exposure to grievance and negotiations files: (2) preparation of grievance reports and grievance correspondence; (3) preparation of reports and other documents for the Board negotiating team; and (4) typing of negotiations recommendations and proposals. The Director further adopts the Hearing Officer's recommendation that neither the Head Payroll Clerk nor the Clerk to the Board Secretary/Business Administrator is a confidential employee within the meaning of the Act. The Head Payroll Clerk's functions principally concern the maintenance of payroll records, absence records and insurance records, and the calculation of employee provisions. The duties of the Clerk to the Board Secretary/Business Administrator are primarily to type, proofread and distribute minutes of public Board meetings. Accordingly, effective with the issuance of this decision, Clerk 2 to the Personnel Manager is excluded from the Association's unit.

PERC Citation:

D.R. No. 84-4, 9 NJPER 527 (¶14215 1983)

Appellate History:



Additional:



Miscellaneous:



NJPER Index:

16.22 33.43

Issues:

    DecisionsWordPerfectPDF
    NJ PERC:.DR 84-004.wpdDR 84-004.pdf - DR 84-004.pdf

    Appellate Division:

    Supreme Court:



    D.R. NO. 84-4 1.
    D.R. NO. 84-4
    STATE OF NEW JERSEY
    PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
    BEFORE THE DIRECTOR OF REPRESENTATION

    In the Matter of

    BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE
    TOWNSHIP OF WILLINGBORO,

    Public Employer-Petitioner,

    -and- Docket No. CU-80-39

    WILLINGBORO EDUCATIONAL
    SECRETARIES ASSOCIATION,

    Employee Representative.

    Appearances:

    For the Public Employer-Petitioner
    Barbour & Costa, attorneys
    (John T. Barbour of counsel)

    For the Employee Representative
    Selikoff & Cohen, attorneys
    (Joel S. Selikoff of counsel)
    DECISION

    On December 10, 1979, the Board of Education of the Township of Willingboro ( A Board @ ) filed a Petition for Clarification of Unit with the Public Employment Relations Commission ( A Commission @ ) seeking a determination as to whether certain employees are appropriately included within a collective negotiations unit comprised of secretarial and clerical employees represented by Willingboro Educational Secretaries Association ( A Association @ ).1/ The Board seeks the exclusion of the titles enumerated below, n.1, based on their purported confidential status within the meaning of the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act, N.J.S.A. 34:13A-1 et seq. ( A Act @ ). The Association argues that none of the disputed personnel are confidential employees within the meaning of the Act.
    Pursuant to a Notice of Hearing, a hearing was held before Commission Hearing Officer Charles A. Tadduni, on December 10, 11, 17 and 18, 1980, February 9 and April 23, 1981, in Trenton, New Jersey, at which time all parties were afforded the opportunity to examine and cross-examine witnesses, to present evidence and to argue orally. Thereafter, the Board filed a letter memorandum in lieu of a formal brief on June 12, 1981. The Association also filed a brief on June 12, 1981. The Board filed a reply letter memorandum in lieu of a formal reply brief on June 17, 1981. The Association filed a reply letter memorandum in lieu of a formal reply brief on June 22, 1981. Finally, on June 25, 1981, the Board filed a reply letter memorandum in lieu of a formal reply brief in response to the Association = s reply letter memorandum.
    The Hearing Officer submitted his Report and Recommendations on May 5, 1983, a copy of which is attached hereto and made a part hereof. Neither party has filed exceptions to the Hearing Officer = s Report and Recommendations.
    The undersigned has considered the entire record herein, including the Hearing Officer = s Report and Recommendations, the transcript and exhibits, and on the basis thereof, finds and determines as follows:
    1. The Board of Education of the Township of Willingboro is a public employer within the meaning of the Act, is the employer of the employees who are the subject of this Petition, and is subject to the provisions of the Act.
    2. The Willingboro Educational Secretaries Association is an employee representative within the meaning of the Act and is subject to its provisions.
    3. The Association represents a unit consisting of administrative secretaries (other than the Secretary to the Superintendent), school secretaries, other secretaries, administrative clerk-typist, clerk typist, half-time clerk- typist, learning resource center aides, PBS operators, accounts payable clerks, accounts receivable clerks, head payroll clerks and assistant payroll clerks.
    4. The Hearing Officer recommended that the Clerk 2 to the Personnel Manager was a confidential employee and not properly included in the unit. He further recommended that the Head Payroll Clerk and the Clerk to the Board Secretary/Business Administrator were not confidential employees and were appropriately included in the unit.2/
    With respect to the Clerk 2 to the Personnel Manager, the record reveals the following: The Personnel Office files contain (1) all employee personnel files (general personnel files), (2) grievance files and (3) negotiations files. All three clericals in the Personnel Office have access and exposure to the files.
    The Personnel Office clerical staff assists the Personnel Manager in preparing for negotiations. The clerical staff gathers information and prepared reports and other documents for use by the Board negotiations team. Such documents are typed by any of the clerical personnel in the Personnel Office.
    The Personnel Office receives negotiations recommendations from various central staff administrators. Various proposals on issues are typed in the Personnel Office for submission to the Board.
    The Personnel Manager is involved in grievance preparation and administration. He receives and sends correspondence to other Board personnel concerning grievances. He is sometimes asked for advice by building administrators or the Board administrator on how to handle a grievance or other similar personnel problem. He often replies by letter, typed by any of the three personnel office clericals. Additionally, many grievance reports are prepared and typed in the Personnel Office.
    Generally, there is no division of the secretarial responsibilities in the Personnel Office. Each of three clericals may be called on to do any work of the office, as needed. All three of the clericals have handled and may be expected to handle labor relations materials in the course of performing their normal functions.
    Accordingly, the undersigned finds sufficient evidence in the record to support the Hearing Officer = s conclusion that Clerk 2 is a confidential employee within the meaning of the Act.
    With respect to the Head Payroll Clerk, Accountant = s Office, the record reveals the following evidence. The Accountant is involved in the Board = s budget processing and various other financial dealings with the Board; however, even in financial matters, the Accountant and his staff act more as resource personnel than as direct participants in financial decision making, at least with respect to the collective negotiations process.
    Significantly, the Assistant Payroll Clerk, whom the parties agree is a confidential employee, functions as the Accountant = s secretary. Materials which are prepared by the Accountant to assist the Board in contract negotiations are typed by the Assistant Payroll Clerk -- not the Head Payroll Clerk. The various materials which are supplied by the Accountant to the Personnel Office are also typed by the Assistant Payroll Clerk.
    The Head Payroll Clerk testified that she does not work on materials for use by the Board in collective negotiations. She testified that she does not work on budget materials or have access to confidential budget data. Moreover, she stated that she has never been told by the Accountant to exercise any restraint in talking about or letting anyone see the material on which she works.
    The Head Payroll Clerk = s functions principally concern the maintenance of payroll records, absence records and insurance records, and the calculations of employee pensions.
    Accordingly, the undersigned determines that the Head Payroll Clerk is not a confidential employee within the meaning of the Act and is appropriately included in the Association = s unit.
    With respect to the title Clerk, Board Secretary/Business Administrator, the record reveals the following. The complete and full extent of the Clerk = s duty and responsibility is to type public board meeting minutes from tape recordings made at the Board meetings, to proofread her typed copy and to distribute those typed, corrected copies to all Board members and the Administrators designated to receive them. The Clerk further testified that she does not type or otherwise handle executive session minutes.3/
    The undersigned observes that the Clerk = s access to file keys, and an occasional, and superficial exposure to possibly confidential material does not, under the circumstances described in this record, give rise to confidential status within the meaning of the Act. The undersigned is satisfied that the duties of the Clerk to the Board Secretary/Business Administrator are primarily to type, proofread and distribute minutes of public Board meetings. On the basis of this record, the undersigned is satisfied that management = s right to confidentiality in matters affecting the collective negotiations process is not compromised by the performance of the clerk = s normal assigned functions.
    Accordingly, the undersigned concludes that the Clerk to the Board Secretary/Business Administrator is not a confidential employee within the meaning of the Act.
    Having reviewed the entire record, the Hearing Officer = s Report and Recommendations, and noting the absence of any exceptions to the Report, the undersigned finds that there is ample record evidence to support the Hearing Officer = s factual findings, and conclusions concerning the status of the employees in dispute. Furthermore, the Hearing Officer = s conclusions are fully consistent and in accord with prior decisions involving confidential employees.4/
    Accordingly, effective with the issuance of this decision, Clerk 2 to the Personnel Manager is excluded from the Association = s unit. The Head Payroll Clerk and the Clerk to the Board Secretary/Business Administrator are appropriately included in the Association = s unit.
    BY ORDER OF THE DIRECTOR
    OF REPRESENTATION

    Carl Kurtzman, Director
    DATED: August 8, 1983
    Trenton, New Jersey
    1/ The Board = s original Petition sought clarification with respect to 15 titles. On the fifth day of hearing in this matter, the parties agreed to exclude from the unit the Secretary to the Personnel Manager, Clerk I to the Personnel Manager, the Secretary to the Assistant Superintendent, the Secretary to the Business Administrator/Board Secretary and the Assistant Payroll Clerk, Accountants Office.

    The parties agreed to include in the unit the Secretary to the Administrative Assistant, the Clerk to the administrative Assistant, the Secretary to the Director of Pupil Services, the Clerk to the Director of Pupil Services, the Secretary to the Director of Continuing Education, the Secretary to the Director of Elementary Education and the Secretary to the Director of Secondary Education.

    A dispute still exists, and the parties seek a determination, with respect to the Clerk 2 to the Personnel Manager, the Clerk to the Business Administrator/Board Secretary and the Head Payroll Clerk, Accountant = s Office.
      2/ Confidential employees are not eligible for inclusion in a collective negotiations unit with other public employees. See N.J.S.A. 34:13A-3(g). This statutory provision defines confidential employees as:

    ... employees whose functional responsibilities or knowledge in connection with the issues involved in the collective negotiations process would make their membership in any appropriate negotiating unit incompatible with their official duties.
          3/ The undersigned specifically adopts the Hearing Officer = s resolution of all factual disputes relating to the typing of executive session minutes.
      4/ See In re River Dell Reg. B/E, D.R. No. 83-21, 9 NJPER 180 ( & 14084 1983); In re Western Monmouth Utilities Auth., D.R. No. 82-38, 8 NJPER 140 ( & 13061 1982); Linden Free Public Library, D.R. No. 82-32, 8 NJPER 76 ( & 13031 1981); Old Bridge Tp. B/E, D.R. No. 82-17, 7 NJPER 639 ( & 12287 1981); East Windsor Reg. School Dist., D.R. 82-9, 7 NJPER 524 ( & 12231 1981); Little Ferry B/E, D.R. No. 80-19, 6 NJPER 59 ( & 11033 1980); and Rahway B/E, D.R. No. 80-12, 5 NJPER 506 (10261 1979).
    ***** End of DR 84-4 *****