D.U.P. NO. 77-4

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION

BEFORE THE DIRECTOR OF REPRESENTATION

In the Matter of

BERGEN COUNTY BOARD OF FREEHOLDERS,

Respondent,

-and-	Docket No. CI-77-15

PASQUALE SALIMONE,1/

Charging Party.

Appearances:

For the Bergen County Board of Freeholders

Leon B. Savetsky, Esq.

For Pasquale Salimone

Joseph Ferriero, Vice-President

F.O.P. Lodge No. 33

REFUSAL TO ISSUE COMPLAINT

An Unfair Practice Charge was filed with the Public Employment Relations Commission (the "Commission") on January 28, 1977, by Pasquale Salimone against the Bergen County Board of Freeholders (the "County") alleging that the County was in violation of the unfair practice provisions of the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act (the "Act"), N.J.S.A. 34:13A-1.1 et seq., by not compensating the Charging Party in accordance with a collective negotiations agreement for work performed pursuant to a change in a tour of duty schedule.2/

Mr. Salimone's charge states in part: "As per contract we have exhausted our grievance procedure, therefore request a hearing officer be assigned to hear our appeal." Attached to the Charge and made a part thereof is a letter addressed from Mr. Salimone to Sheriff Joseph F. Job which sets forth the dates upon which Mr. Salimone claims he worked without pay commensurate with the time and a half provisions of the Agreement claimed to be applicable to the circumstances in which Mr. Salimone performed his duties.

N.J.S.A. 34:13A-5.4(c) provides as follows:

c. The commission shall have exclusive power as hereinafter provided to prevent anyone from engaging in any unfair practice listed in subsections a. and b. above. Whenever it is charged that anyone has engaged or is engaging in any such unfair practice, the commission, or any designated agent thereof, shall have authority to issue and cause to be served upon such party a complaint stating the specific unfair practice charge and including a notice of hearing containing the date and place of hearing before the commission or any designated agent thereof; provided that no complaint shall issue based upon any unfair practice charge occurring more than 6 months prior to the filing of the charge unless the person aggrieved thereby was prevented from filing such charge in which event the 6 months period shall be computed from the date he was no longer so prevented. (emphasis added)

In a previous decision issued by the Commission, In re State of New Jersey and Council of New Jersey State College Locals, NJSFT/AFT/AFL-CIO, P.E.R.C. No. 77-14, 2 NJPER 308 (1976), Appeal Pending, App. Div. Docket No. A-57576, the Commission determined that in the absence of any allegation that the charging party has been prevented from filing an unfair practice charge the running of the 6 month period commences with the occurrence of the unfair practice charge. The Commission also stated that the time period for the filing of a Charge is not tolled during the period in which the charging party seeks redress under a grievance procedure contained in a collective negotiations agreement.

In the instant matter the acts alleged to have constituted an unfair practice refer to 15 separate occasions during the period commencing April 17, 1974 and terminating November 21, 1975. All these acts occurred over a year prior to the filing of the instant unfair practice charge. Pursuant to the aforecited provision of the Act, the Commission is precluded from issuing a Complaint even if it were assumed that the allegations of the charge would support the issuance of a Complaint.3/ Consequently, the undersigned shall refuse to issue a Complaint herein.

Accordingly, the undersigned refuses to issue a Complaint and the instant case is hereby closed.

BY ORDER OF THE DIRECTOR OF

UNFAIR PRACTICE PROCEEDINGS

/s/Carl Kurtzman, Director

DATED:	March 23, 1977

Trenton, New Jersey