Group Insurance Commission v. Labor Relations Commission

397 N.E.2d 335, 8 Mass. App. Ct. 753, 104 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2220, 1979 Mass. App. LEXIS 1013
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedNovember 29, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 397 N.E.2d 335 (Group Insurance Commission v. Labor Relations Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Group Insurance Commission v. Labor Relations Commission, 397 N.E.2d 335, 8 Mass. App. Ct. 753, 104 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2220, 1979 Mass. App. LEXIS 1013 (Mass. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

Kass, J.

The question in dispute between two State agencies, the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) and the Labor Relations Commission, is whether matters relating to the administration of the group insurance program for employees of the Commonwealth are within the scope of public employee bargaining.

[754]*754In anticipation of the passage of legislation which would increase the Commonwealth’s share of premium costs for group insurance, the GIC directed all payroll reporting locations to reduce the amounts withheld from employees’ paychecks beginning October 1, 1977, to reflect the higher ratio of contribution by the Commonwealth. The GIC accompanied this instruction with a proviso that if the legislation authorizing the higher Commonwealth contribution were not enacted, the adjustments would have to be recouped. A notice issued to all State employees that if the requisite legislation failed to pass, “we shall revoke all adjustments to restore the State’s share as most recently authorized by Chapter 300 of the Acts of 1977.”

In fact, the authorizing legislation, to which a controversial rider had been appended, did fail to pass, and the GIC notified all payroll stations that what it had given, it now had to take away in a deduction from February paychecks. For this it was not blessed. Several unions representing State employees filed complaints of prohibited practice with the Labor Relations Commission. Following a hearing, the Labor Relations Commission issued a decision to the effect that the February recoupment of group insurance deductions provisionally not made from October through December of the previous year constituted unilateral action by an employer who failed to bargain collectively about a mandatory subject in violation of G. L. c. 150E, §§ 10(a)(1) and 10(a)(5). Recognizing the futility of nullifying the February payroll deductions,1 the Labor Relations Commission contented itself with a cease and desist order directed to the Commissioner of Administration requiring the Common[755]*755wealth to bargain in the future over the method of recovery of underpayment by employees of group insurance premiums.

From that order the GIC petitioned for review under G. L. c. 30A, § 14, and for a declaratory judgment as to the jurisdiction of the Labor Relations Commission over the subject matter. The Commissioner of Administration intervened. A judge of the Superior Court dismissed the action pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(b), 365 Mass. 755 (1974), and from that judgment the GIC appealed. The judge’s order does not state the ground for dismissal and we, therefore, deal first with a preliminary issue of standing raised before him. Since we decide that issue in favor of the GIC, we then shall consider the central question of the jurisdiction of the Labor Relations Commission over the GIC’s action.

1. The standing of the Group Insurance Commission to complain. After it investigated the complaints of the unions, in accordance with G. L. c. 150E, § 11, the Labor Relations Commission issued its own complaint of prohibited practice and held a formal hearing. At that proceeding the hearing officer allowed the GIC to intervene, although the complaint had been directed against the Commonwealth, represented for purposes of collective bargaining by the Commissioner of Administration. It is the position of the Labor Relations Commission that it allowed the GIC to intervene for the limited purpose of supporting its position that the labor relations proceeding constituted an impermissible interference with the statutory authority of the GIC. In its decision, which necessarily came to grips with the very issue the GIC had raised, the Labor Relations Commission said, “In our decision in this matter, we make no finding of liability against the GIC and issue no order running against that organization. We consequently deny the Motion to Intervene, insofar as it would make the GIC a party to this case.”

On this metaphysical platform, the Labor Relations Commission constructs its argument that the GIC is not [756]*756an aggrieved person and is, therefore, without standing to seek judicial review of the Labor Relations Commission’s order. Any interest in the outcome of a proceeding, to be sure, does not assure the right to intervene. For example, the United States Supreme Court has held that the customer of a bank lacks standing to protest a subpoena of records of his bank transactions because they are the bank’s papers, not his. United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435, 440-441 (1976). And the protection of an existing business from competition does not afford a basis to challenge a zoning determination by a board of appeals. Circle Lounge & Grille, Inc. v. Board of Appeal of Boston, 324 Mass. 427, 429-430 (1949). Waltham Motor Inn, Inc. v. LaCava, 3 Mass. App. Ct. 210, 213-215 (1975). Common to such cases is that the interest of the person desiring entry into the proceedings is solely derivative.2 In the instant case, by contrast, the core of the dispute is the degree of statutory independence of the GIC. Not surprisingly, the record reflects that the Labor Relations Commission obtained a large measure of its evidence from testimony of the Executive Secretary of the GIC, and the decision of the Labor Relations Commission is heavily larded with discussion of the functions of the GIC under G. L. c. 32A. Indeed, it is the Commissioner of Administration whose role is secondary and indirect, since he acted on instructions from the GIC. The determination whether a party is “aggrieved” does not turn on whether that party is directly commanded by the order of an administrative agency. American Can Co. v. Milk Control Bd., 313 Mass. 156, 160 (1943). We hold that a State agency is an “aggrieved person” for purposes of judicial review of State adminis[757]*757trative proceedings, G. L. c. 30A, § 14, where those proceedings require interpretation of the statutory power and authority of that agency. See School Comm. of Hanover v. Curry, 3 Mass. App. Ct. 151,156 (1975), S.C., 369 Mass. 683 (1976).

As an alternative to a petition for judicial review of administrative action, the GIC asked for declaratory relief under G. L. c. 231 A. The claim of authority by the Labor Relations Commission to act in connection with directives of the GIC created an actual controversy “caused by the assertion by one party of a legal relation, status or right in which he has a definite interest, and the denial of such assertion by another party also having a definite interest in the subject matter.” School Comm. of Cambridge v. Superintendent of Schools, 320 Mass. 516, 518 (1946). South Shore Natl. Bank v. Board of Bank Incorporation, 351 Mass. 363, 368 (1966). In such circumstances, a motion to dismiss should be denied, and the judge should make an adjudication of rights, even if the judge disagrees with the proposition for which the plaintiff contends. Franklin Fair Assn. v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, 347 Mass. 110, 113 (1964). Jewel Companies v. Burlington, 365 Mass. 274, 277 (1974).

2. Mootness. Because its order did not actually require any diminution in group insurance funds, the Labor Relations Commission argues that the GIC’s complaint is moot.

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Bluebook (online)
397 N.E.2d 335, 8 Mass. App. Ct. 753, 104 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2220, 1979 Mass. App. LEXIS 1013, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/group-insurance-commission-v-labor-relations-commission-massappct-1979.