Minersville Area School District v. Minersville Area School Service Personnel Ass'n

518 A.2d 874, 102 Pa. Commw. 409, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2733
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 10, 1986
DocketAppeal, 2195 C.D. 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 518 A.2d 874 (Minersville Area School District v. Minersville Area School Service Personnel Ass'n) 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
Minersville Area School District v. Minersville Area School Service Personnel Ass'n, 518 A.2d 874, 102 Pa. Commw. 409, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2733 (Pa. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge Colins,

In September of 1982, the Minersville Area School District (School District) awarded Stanley Adams (Adams) the position of full-time custodian, a transfer from that of part-time custodian. Pursuant to School District policy, Adams was required to undergo a physical examination to determine whether he could perform the duties of a full-time custodian.

The examining physician found Adams to be physically incapable of performing his duties as a full-time custodian because of pre-existing back ailments.1 Adams was subsequently discharged for allegedly misrepresenting his physical condition to the School District. Acting on behalf of member Adams, the Miners-ville Area School Service Personnel Association (Associ[411]*411ation) filed a grievance, and a hearing was held before an arbitrator. On May 12, 1983, the arbitrator rendered a decision reinstating Adams to his position and penalizing the School District for their breach of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The School District filed a Petition to Vacate or Alternatively Modify the Arbitration Award with the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County. The trial court partially vacated and partially affirmed the award. The School District now appeals to this Court, asserting that the entire award should have been set aside by the trial court. It also has submitted an Application for Relief in the Form of a Request for Remand for Additional Testimony to this Court.

This Courts scope of review of an arbitrators award is circumscribed. An award based on an interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement must be accepted by the courts if the interpretation can in any rational way be derived from the agreement, viewed in light of its language and context and any other indicia of the parties’ intent. International Brotherhood of Firemen & Oilers, Local 1201, AFL-CIO v. Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia, 500 Pa. 474, 457 A.2d 1269 (1983); Ringgold Area School District v. Ringgold Education Association, PSEA/NEA, 489 Pa. 380, 414 A.2d 118 (1980). The School District argues before this Court that the arbitrator’s award constitutes such an abuse of discretion that it should be deemed irrational as a matter of law. We do not agree.

In examining the arbitration award, we must first note that the School District concedes that Award Item 1, finding that the grievance was arbitrable, is correct. In Neshaminy Federation of Teachers v. Neshaminy School District, 501 Pa. 34, 462 A.2d 625 (1983), our Supreme Court held that if the collective bargaining agreement did not encompass the question of an employee’s dismissal, then such dismissal actions would not [412]*412be arbitrable and the arbitrator would have no authority to address such question. In that case the collective bargaining agreement specifically dealt only with an employees “discipline, reprimand, reduction in rank, contractual compensation or contractual advantage.”

This Court held in Division 85, Amalgamated Transit Union v. Port Authority of Allegheny County, 62 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 528, 437 A.2d 105 (1981), that where the collective bargaining agreement specifically provides only for actions in matters of unjust suspension or discharge, a matter of “disqualification” is not arbitrable because it does not fell within the terms of the agreement.

In the instant matter, the collective bargaining agreement specifically provides: “No member of the bargaining unit shall be disciplined, reprimanded, reduced in the rank of compensation, or deprived of any advantage unless provided for in the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” There is no mention made in the agreement for matters of dismissal. However, because the parties have agreed that the grievance is arbitrable, and such is an interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement itself, Neshaminy and Division 85 are not controlling, and this Court will not address this issue.

We shall discuss each of the remaining Award Items seriatim, which read as follows:

2. The record does not support the discharge of Stanley Adams under Article IV, Section 7 of the agreement.
3. Stanley Adams shall be reinstated with full seniority and back pay as computed in accordance with this decision.
4. Stanley Adams shall be made whole for any expenses incurred during his suspension which would have been covered under the Districts benefit package.
[413]*4135. The District, at its expense, shall send Stanley Adams to Dr. Eugene Mikus at the Clymer Clinic, Quakertown, Pennsylvania for such observation as Dr. Mikus may determine advisable in light of this decision.
6. The District violated Article II, Section 1 of the agreement when it refused to provide the Association with the report of its doctor and other relevant documents.
7. The District violated Article V of the contract when it foiled to participate in making arrangements for the arbitration hearing.
8. The District shall pay the Association one thousand dollars for these contract violations.

In considering Award Item 2, we note that the School District asserted before the arbitrator that Adams could be dismissed under the agreement because he misrepresented his physical condition to the School District. Thus, the specific issue before the arbitrator was whether Adams was properly dismissed by the District for significantly misrepresenting his physical condition to the District at the time that he was hired, and not whether Adams was properly dismissed for his alleged inability to perform his job duties.

The arbitrator specifically found that Adams had worked for the District for several years and performed heavy work without any ill effects, and had spoken freely about his medical history. Therefore, finding that Adams had not misrepresented his physical condition to the District, the arbitrator concluded that the District, upon its realization that it might incur some workmens compensation liability, dismissed an employee who was performing his duties on some spurious and fabricated excuse. The District bargained for the expertise of the arbitrator, and we cannot say that his crucial finding that the School District could not dismiss an employee [414]*414who never misrepresented his physical condition to it was not rationally derived from the essence of the agreement.

Award Items 3 and 4 are merely the solution to the infraction chronicled in Award Item 2, and are likewise derivative of the essence of the agreement.

Award Item 5 was vacated by the trial court as being without the arbitrators scope of power as delineated in the agreement. Neither party contests the trial courts action in this regard; therefore, we need not address its resolution of such.

Award Items 6 and 7 chronicle contract violations for which the arbitrator imposed the penalty outlined in Award Item 8.

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Bluebook (online)
518 A.2d 874, 102 Pa. Commw. 409, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/minersville-area-school-district-v-minersville-area-school-service-pacommwct-1986.