Collins v. City of Manchester

797 A.2d 132, 147 N.H. 701, 2002 N.H. LEXIS 69
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedMay 13, 2002
DocketNo. 2000-509
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 797 A.2d 132 (Collins v. City of Manchester) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. City of Manchester, 797 A.2d 132, 147 N.H. 701, 2002 N.H. LEXIS 69 (N.H. 2002).

Opinion

DALIANXS, J.

The plaintiffs, thirty-nine police officers employed by the defendant, the City of Manchester, appeal from the order of the Superior Court {Lynn, J.) granting summary judgment to the defendant on the plaintiffs’ breach of contract claims. We affirm.

The relevant undisputed facts are as follows. Each plaintiff was hired by the defendant between July 1992 and March 1996 pursuant to an individual “Three-Year Training Agreement.” See Collins v. City of Manchester, 143 N.H. 708, 709 (1999) (Collins I). Each training agreement provided that the defendant would pay the plaintiff “a wage during and subsequent to training as specified in Salary III of the City of Manchester Compensation Plan.” See id. Salary III of the City of Manchester Compensation Plan [702]*702included annual step increases, and was identical to the pay schedule incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the defendant and the police union. Although the plaintiffs were not bargaining unit members when they were hired, they automatically became bargaining unit members covered by the CBA upon completion of their one-year probationary periods. All of the plaintiffs are or were bargaining unit members when they brought this action.

The defendant and the police union had a CBA, which expired on June 30,1994. Id. The defendant and the police union functioned without a CBA until they executed a new CBA in May 1997. From July 1994 through May 1997, the defendant did not pay step increases to any bargaining unit employee, including the plaintiffs.

The new CBA was made retroactive to July 1994. It provided that from July 1994 until May 1997, bargaining unit employees were not entitled to step increases and that there would be no retroactive adjustments or payments. Upon ratification of the new CBA in May 1997, however, step increases would be reinstated and “the Salary Schedules under Schedule III [would] be increased by three and one-half percent.” The agreement also provided that in July 1997, the salary schedules would be increased by an additional three and one-half percent and that in July 1998, they would be increased again by three percent. Once the new CBA went into effect, the plaintiffs received the pay increases to which they were entitled under it, but did not receive the step increases to which they claim they were entitled under their individual training agreements. See id.

In 1996, while negotiations for the new CBA were on-going, the plaintiffs brought a breach of contract action. The defendant moved to dismiss the action on jurisdictional grounds, which the trial court granted. Id. This court reversed, holding that because the plaintiffs’ claims were based upon their individual training agreements and not the CBA, the superior court, and not the New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB), had jurisdiction to hear the controversy. Id. at 710.

On remand, the trial court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment upon the plaintiffs’ breach of contract claim. The court ruled that once the plaintiffs completed their one-year probationary periods and became members of the bargaining unit, their individual training agreements were superseded either by the CBA, or, once it expired and before it was replaced, by the status quo doctrine. See Appeal of Milton School Dist., 137 N.H. 240, 247 (1993) (after CBA lacking automatic renewal clause-has expired and while employer and union are negotiating new CBA, status quo doctrine requires that employment terms and conditions remain the same). This appeal followed.

[703]*703In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we will affirm the judgment if the evidence reveals no genuine issue as to any material fact and if the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See RSA 491:8-a, III (1997).

On appeal, the plaintiffs first argue that the superior court’s ruling contravenes our decision in Collins I. They assert that in Collins I, we held mb silentio that the training agreements were enforceable, despite the existence of the CBA, and thus the trial court erroneously concluded that the CBA superseded them. The plaintiffs misinterpret Collins I. In Collins

I, we made no ruling with respect to whether the plaintiffs’ training agreements were valid or enforceable. We merely ruled that the trial court had jurisdiction to decide this issue in the first instance. See Collins I, 143 N.H. at 710.

The plaintiffs next argue that the superior court erroneously ruled that their individual training agreements were unenforceable with respect to step increases after the 1991-1994 CBA expired. We disagree.

This is an issue of first impression for us. For guidance, we look to cases developed under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 151 eb seq. See University System v. State, 117 N.H. 96, 99 (1977).

The United States Supreme Court first addressed the validity and enforceability of individual employment contracts in a similar context in J. I. Case Co. v. Labor Board, 321 U.S. 332 (1944). The employees in J.I. Case Co., like the plaintiffs, entered into individual employment contracts before they became union members. In J.I. Case Co., unlike this case, the contracts were entered into before the union was certified as the employees’ exclusive bargaining representative. See id. at 333. The company then refused to bargain with the union “in any manner affecting rights and obligations under the individual contracts while they remained in effect.” Id. at 334. The National Labor Relations Board ruled that, by refusing to bargain with the union, the company violated the NLRA. Id. The United States Supreme Court agreed, holding that employers could not use individual employment contracts to defeat or delay collective bargaining, to exclude a contracting employee from a bargaining unit, or to limit or condition the terms of the CBA. Id. at 337.

The court did not rule that individual contracts were impermissible in all circumstances. For instance, it stated that “individual contracts may embody matters that are not necessarily included within the statutory scope of collective bargaining,” provided that these contracts are “not inconsistent with a collective agreement or [do] not amount to or result from or [are] not part of an unfair labor practice.” Id. at 339.

It also left open the possibility that individual contracts might provide more advantageous terms than a CBA. The court noted that while [704]*704individual contracts could not subtract from the CBA, they could possibly enhance benefits offered by the CBA. Id. The court cautioned, however, that

the mere possibility that such agreements might be made [is] no ground for holding generally that individual contracts may survive or surmount collective ones. The practice and philosophy of collective bargaining looks with suspicion on such individual advantages____ [Advantages to individuals may prove as disruptive of industrial peace as disadvantages. They are a fruitful way of interfering with organization and choice of representatives.

Id.

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Bluebook (online)
797 A.2d 132, 147 N.H. 701, 2002 N.H. LEXIS 69, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-city-of-manchester-nh-2002.