D.U.P. NO. 82-35

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION

BEFORE THE DIRECTOR OF REPRESENTATION

In the Matter of

PARKER, McCAY & CRISCUOLO, P.C.,

STEPHEN J. MUSHINSKI, ESQ.,

FERG & MORTON, ESQS.,

Respondents,

-and-	Docket No. CI-82-51

MARY A. O'HARA,

Charging Party.

REFUSAL TO ISSUE COMPLAINT

On April 30, 1982, Mary Alice O'Hara (the "Charging Party") filed an Unfair Practice Charge with the Public Employment Relations Commission (the "Commission") against two law firms, Ferg & Morton and Parker, McCay & Criscuolo (the "Respondents"). The Charging Party alleges that these two firms were negligent and failed to observe appropriate standards of professional conduct in handling earlier unfair practice charges which she had initiated. The Charge does not allege that any public employer or employee organization has engaged in unfair practices within the meaning of the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act, N.J.S.A. 34:13A-1 et seq. (the "Act").

Pursuant to the Act, the Commission has the power to prevent a public employer or employee organization from engaging in any unfair practices and has the authority to issue a complaint stating the unfair practice charge.1/ The Commission has delegated its authority to the undersigned to issue complaints and has established a standard upon which an unfair practice complaint may be issued.2/ The undersigned shall issue a complaint if it appears that the allegations of the Charging Party, if true, may constitute an unfair practice within the meaning of the Act.3/ The Commission rules also provide that the undersigned may decline to issue a complaint.4/

For the reasons stated below, the undersigned has determined that the Commission's jurisdiction is not implicated in this matter and that no cause of action arises under the Act.

Under the Act's prohibitions at §5.4(a) and (b), unfair practices may be actionable only against public employers or employee organizations, and their representatives or agents. The Charging Party herein is presenting an action against her own attorneys and attorneys whom she claims should not be representing her.

The fact that the Charging Party is currently litigating certain unfair practices against a public employer and her majority representative does not establish the Commission as a forum to air complaints against her attorneys. The traditional avenues of relief available to the charging party are still applicable.

Accordingly, the undersigned declines to issue a complaint as the charge is deficient.

BY ORDER OF THE DIRECTOR

OF UNFAIR PRACTICES

/s/Carl Kurtzman, Director

DATED:	May 27, 1982

Trenton, New Jersey