D.R. NO. 77-10

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION

BEFORE THE DIRECTOR OF REPRESENTATION

In the Matter of

CITY OF TRENTON,

Public Employer,

-and-	Docket No. CU-111

P.B.A. LOCAL 11,

Employee Representative.

Appearances:

For the Public Employer,

George T. Dougherty, Esq.

Assistant City Attorney

For the Employee Representative,

Zazzali and Zazzali, Esqs.

By: Lawrence A. Whipple, Jr., Esq.

DECISION

Pursuant to a Notice of Hearing to resolve a question concerning the representation of certain employees of the City of Trenton, a hearing was held before Leo M. Rose on January 8, 1976, and June 27, 1976 in Newark, New Jersey. At the hearing all parties were given an opportunity to examine witnesses, present evidence, and argue orally. Neither party filed a brief, and the Hearing Officer issued his Report and Recommendations on August 30, 1976. A copy is annexed hereto and made a part hereof. No exceptions to the Hearing Officer's Report have been filed. The undersigned has considered the entire record and the Hearing Officer's Report and Recommendations and, on the facts in this case, finds:

1.	The City of Trenton is a Public Employer within the meaning of the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act (the "Act"), as amended, and is subject to its provisions.

2.	The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, Local 11 is an employee representative within the meaning of the Act and is subject to its provisions.

3.	The Public Employer seeking the clarification of a unit of its employees for which the Employee Representative is the majority representative, a question concerning the composition of unit of public employees exists and the matter is appropriately before the undersigned for determination.

4.	P.B.A. Local 11 is the majority representative of a unit consisting of all uniformed and non-uniformed officers, patrolmen and patrolmen detectives, in the Police Division, Department of Public Safety of the City of Trenton. The Public Employer seeks severance of all superior officers (captains, lieutenants, sergeants) and deputy chiefs from this unit.

The Hearing Officer found that neither superior officers nor deputy chiefs are supervisors within the meaning of the Act; however, he found that a conflict of interest exists between patrolmen and both superior officers and deputy chiefs, thus banning their inclusion in the same negotiating unit. He further found that deputy chiefs are managerial executives within the meaning of the Act and thus barred from inclusion in any negotiations unit. He therefore recommended that superior officers and deputy chiefs be severed from the existing unit, and the deputy chiefs be barred from any negotiating unit.

After review of the entire record, the undersigned adopts that portion of the Hearing Officer's Report and Recommendations which finds that a conflict of interest exists between patrolmen and both superior officers and deputy chiefs. This conflict of interest is of such substantial nature to warrant that superior officers and deputy chiefs not be included in the same negotiating unit with employees in the patrolmen ranks.

However, the undersigned does not adopt the Hearing Officer's finding that deputy chiefs are managerial executives. The Hearing Officer based his finding solely on the fact that deputy chiefs substitute for the chief in his absence. An independent review of the record reveals no additional evidence in support of that conclusion. The undersigned is not inclined to make a finding as to the status of deputy chiefs based upon such a limited evidentiary record. Moreover, in clarifying the composition of the negotiating unit to include only the patrolmen ranks, the issue as to the status of deputy chiefs, as well as the issue of the appropriate composition of any proposed unit consisting superior officers, is not properly placed before the undersigned.1/

5.	Accordingly, the undersigned for the aforementioned reasons clarifies the negotiating unit represented by P.B.A. Local 11 as including all patrolmen and patrolmen detectives employed by the City of Trenton and excluding sergeants, lieutenants, captains and deputy chiefs.

BY ORDER OF THE DIRECTOR OF

REPRESENTATION PROCEEDINGS

/s/Carl Kurtzman, Director

Representation Proceedings

DATED:	January 28, 1977

Trenton, New Jersey