Garzella v. Borough of Dunmore

62 A.3d 486, 2013 WL 324026, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 33
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 29, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 62 A.3d 486 (Garzella v. Borough of Dunmore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garzella v. Borough of Dunmore, 62 A.3d 486, 2013 WL 324026, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 33 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION BY

Senior Judge COLINS.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment granted by the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County (trial court) in an action brought by Jody Sibio, a former Active Reserve Police Officer of the Borough of Dunmore (Borough), against the Borough and his union, Dunmore Police Association (Union). Sibio and two other Active Reserve Officers who settled their claims prior to this appeal, Anthony Cali and Tony Garzella, brought an action against the Borough for breach of a labor contract (the Act 111 Contract) imposed by an interest arbitration award under Act 111,1 the statute governing the collective bargaining rights of policemen and firemen, and against the Union for breach of the duty of fair representation. The trial court granted summary judgment on the ground that our Supreme Court’s decisions in Martino v. Transport Workers’ Union of Philadelphia, Local 234-, 505 Pa. 391, 480 A.2d 242 (1984), and Ziccardi v. Commonwealth, 500 Pa. 326, 456 A.2d 979 (1982), bar a public employee from suing his employer for breach of a labor contract and limit his remedy against his union to nunc pro tunc grievance arbitration, absent proof of conspiracy or collusion between the employer and the union or active participation by the employer in the union’s breach of its duty of fair representation. Because there is no evidence that the Borough and Union conspired or colluded to deny Sibio’s rights under the Act 111 Contract or that the Borough participated in the Union’s breach of its duty of fair representation, we affirm.

Sibio was hired as a police officer by the Borough in 1994 and was an Active Reserve Officer. (Deposition of Plaintiff Jody Sibio, R.R. at 724a; Amended Complaint ¶ 3, R.R. at 45a; Borough Answer ¶ 3, R.R. at 106a.) The Collective Bargaining Agreement entered into by the Borough and the Union in 2001 (the 2001 CBA) classified police officers employed by the Borough as Full-Time Officers and Active Reserve Officers and provided that Full-Time Officers received a higher salary and additional benefits not provided to Active Reserve Officers. (2001 CBA, R.R. at 74a-83a.) The 2001 CBA provided that “Full-time Police Officers shall have seniority over active reserve Police Officers.” (2001 CBA Article 6, R.R. at 78a.) The 2001 CBA also included a mandatory grievance arbitration procedure. (2001 CBA Article 18, R.R. at 84a.)2

[490]*490Over half of the Borough’s police officers, including the Union leadership, were Active Reserve Officers. (January 2003 Seniority List, R.R. at 517; Deposition of Union Officer William Springer, R.R. at 582a.) In the negotiations for a new contract after the 2001 CBA, the Union sought Full-Time Officer status for the Active Reserve Officers, including participation in the pension program. (Deposition of Plaintiff Anthony Cali, R.R. at 659a; Deposition of Plaintiff Tony Garzella, R.R. at 681a.) Because civil service status was required for participation in the pension program, whether the Active Reserve Officers would have to take a civil service examination to become Full-Time Officers was an issue in the negotiations. (Cali Dep., R.R. at 625a-626a, 659a; Garzella Dep., R.R. at 679a, 696a.) The Union opposed requiring the Active Reserve Officers to take a civil service examination. (Springer Dep., R.R. at 580a; Cali Dep., R.R. at 658a-659a.)

Contract negotiations were unsuccessful and the Union and Borough submitted the dispute over the new terms and conditions of their collective bargaining agreement to Act 111 arbitration. (Act 111 Contract, R.R. at 62a; Springer Dep., R.R. at 580a; Cali Dep., R.R. at 624a-625a.) In February 2005, the arbitrators issued their award, the Act 111 Contract. (Act 111 Contract, R.R. at 61a-66a.) The Act 111 Contract set new, higher salaries for both Full-Time and Active Reserve Officers and provided for Active Reserve Officers to become Full-Time Officers if they passed a civil service examination. (Act 111 Contract 12(A), (C), R.R. at 62a-63a.) The Act 111 Contract provided:

The Panel orders the Borough Civil Service Commission to offer an Examination to all current Active Reserve Offi-eer[s] no later than June 30, 2005. The examination shall be offered to fairly and reasonably ascertain whether the Active Reserve Officers meet the minimum requirements to serve as a Dun-more police officer.
Active Reserve Officers who receive a passing grade in the Civil Service Examination shall thereafter be considered to be Full-Time Police Officers for the purpose of this agreement and shall [be] compensated at the following annual wage rate retroactive to the effective date of they [sic] year each has qualified through the civil service.

(Act 111 Contract ¶ 2(C), R.R. at 63a.) Active Reserve Officers who failed the civil service examination would remain as Active Reserve Officers at a salary that was higher than under the 2001 CBA, but lower than the salary of Full-Time Officers. (Act 111 Contract ¶ 2(C), R.R. at 63a.) The Act 111 Contract did not contain any provisions changing the 2001 CBA’s seniority and grievance articles and provided that “all other terms and conditions” of the 2001 CBA “not modified by this Award shall remain ‘as is.’ ” (Act 111 Contract ¶ 11, R.R. at 65a.)

The Borough contracted with the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and the testing company with which they work for that outside testing company to provide and score a written civil service examination for the Active Reserve Officers. (Affidavit of Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association Testing Coordinator Angela Jones, R.R. at 68a-69a; Cali Dep., R.R. at [491]*491637a; Deposition of Borough Manager Loftus, R.R. at 851a-852a, 335a-336a; Deposition of Borough Civil Service Commissioner Ralph Marino, R.R. at 878a, 880a-882a.) The test was given on May 21, 2005 and consisted of four separate sections on the subjects of Math, Reading, Grammar and Writing. (Test Results Report, R.R. at 892a.) The test was scored by the outside testing company, and the Union had no involvement in the selection of the testing company, administration of the test or scoring of the test. (Jones Affidavit, R.R. at 69a; Springer Dep., R.R. at 581a, 593a; Cali Dep., R.R. at 662a; Garzella Dep., R.R. at 700a; Sibio Dep., R.R. at 931a-932a; Marino Dep., R.R. at 879a, 881a.)

The testing company reported the scores as the percentage for each separate section of the test and an overall percentage, and required a 70% score on each section of the test for a passing grade. (Test Results Report, R.R. at 892a.) Ten of the thirteen Active Reserve Officers scored 70% or higher on all sections of the test and were reported by the testing company as having passed. (Test Results Report, R.R. at 892a.) Sibio received an overall score of 76%, but scored only 50% on the Grammar section. (Test Results Report, R.R. at 892a.) Cali and Garzella received overall scores above 70%, but scored 40% and 60%, respectively, on the Math section. (Test Results Report, R.R. at 892a.) The testing company reported these three Active Reserve Officers as having failed the test. (Test Results Report, R.R. at 892a.) On May 31, 2005, counsel for the Borough’s Civil Service Commission sent letters to Cali, Garzella and Sibio notifying them of their scores and that they had failed the civil service examination. (May 31, 2005 Letters to Garzella and Cali, R.R. at 889a-890a; Si-bio Dep., R.R.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 A.3d 486, 2013 WL 324026, 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 33, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garzella-v-borough-of-dunmore-pacommwct-2013.