State Management Ass'n of Connecticut, Inc. v. O'Neill

529 A.2d 1276, 204 Conn. 746, 1987 Conn. LEXIS 972
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedAugust 11, 1987
Docket12978
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 529 A.2d 1276 (State Management Ass'n of Connecticut, Inc. v. O'Neill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Management Ass'n of Connecticut, Inc. v. O'Neill, 529 A.2d 1276, 204 Conn. 746, 1987 Conn. LEXIS 972 (Colo. 1987).

Opinion

Callahan, J.

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether General Statutes § 5-270 (b) and (g) are unconstitutional because they deny to those state employees who are designated as “managerial employees” or “managers” the right to union representation and the right to bargain collectively with the state concerning the terms and conditions of their employment. The plaintiffs, state management association of Connecticut (SMAC), and four members of the association who work for the state, appeal from a decision of the trial court denying their request for a declaratory judgment that § 5-270 (b) and (g) are unconstitutional and for related relief. We find no error.

A brief summary of the legislative action leading to the exclusion of these employees from the protections of General Statutes § 5-270 et seq. is necessary to our discussion of the plaintiffs’ claims. In 1975, the Gen[748]*748eral Assembly adopted the State Employees’ Relations Act (SERA), which, for the first time, granted state employees the right to bargain collectively. Public Acts 1975, No. 75-566 (now codified in General Statutes § 5-270 et seq,). Thereafter, in 1979, SMAC petitioned the Connecticut state board of labor relations (SLRB) for a certification permitting it to represent a unit of state managerial employees. The state objected to this petition on the ground that SERA did not extend to managerial employees, but the board overruled the state’s objection, ordered an election and, in 1981, certified SMAC as the representative for managerial employees. In that same year, however, the General Assembly passed Public Acts 1981, No. 81-457, § 12 (b) and (g) (now codified in General Statutes § 5-270 [b] and [g]), which explicitly excluded managerial employees from SERA’s coverage. The plaintiffs then filed a declaratory judgment action seeking to have the managerial exclusion declared unconstitutional. The trial court rendered judgment for the defendants and the plaintiffs filed this appeal claiming that the trial court erred in finding General Statutes § 5-270 (b) and (g) constitutional. Specifically, they argue that these provisions (1) deprive them of equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, §§ 1 and 20, of the state constitution, and (2) are unconstitutionally vague and ambiguous in violation of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment.1 We disagree with these contentions.

[749]*749I

The plaintiffs first claim that General Statutes § 5-270 (b) and (g)2 deny them equal protection under the law because these provisions deny “managers” or “managerial employees” the right to bargain collectively with the state while § 5-270 (b) and (f)3 grant such [750]*750rights to those employees designated as “supervisors.” They also claim that § 5-270 (b) and (g) infringe upon their “fundamental right” to bargain collectively. We are unpersuaded.

It is established that the equal protection provisions of the federal and state constitutions have the same meaning and limitations. Gunther v. Dubno, 195 Conn. 284, 290 n.6, 487 A.2d 1080 (1985); Keogh v. Bridgeport, 187 Conn. 53, 66, 444 A.2d 225 (1982); United Illuminating Co. v. New Haven, 179 Conn. 627, 635, 427 A.2d 830, appeal dismissed, 449 U.S. 801, 101 S. Ct. 45, 66 L. Ed. 2d 5 (1980); Miller v. Heffernan, 173 Conn. 506, 509, 378 A.2d 572 (1977), appeal dismissed, 434 U.S. 1057, 98 S. Ct. 1226, 55 L. Ed. 2d 758 (1978). “When a statutory classification impinges upon an inherently suspect class or affects a fundamental personal right, the statute is subject to strict scrutiny and is justified only by a compelling state interest. E.g., Eielson v. Parker, [179 Conn. 552, 563, 427 A.2d 814 (1980)]; Frazier v. Manson, 176 Conn. 638, 645, 410 A.2d 475 (1979). Otherwise, a statute will stand if the classification bears a reasonable relation to a legitimate state interest. E.g., G. D. Searle & Co. v. Cohn, 455 U.S. 404, 408, 102 S. Ct. 1137, 71 L. Ed. 2d 250 (1982); United Illuminating Co. v. New Haven, [supra, 636]; Eielson v. Parker, supra, 563; Frazier v. Manson, supra, 645.” Keogh v. Bridgeport, supra, 66-67.

In this case, the plaintiffs do not claim that the classification of “managerial employees” is a suspect classification; rather they contend that the right to bargain collectively is a fundamental constitutional right. They argue, therefore, that the disparity of treatment [751]*751between managers and supervisors under § 5-270 (g) and (f) should be subject to the “strict scrutiny” test and not the “rational basis” test, the latter of which the trial court applied in assessing the constitutionality of the statute. This argument is without merit.

“The key to discovering whether a right is fundamental is in assessing whether the right is explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution. San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 34, 93 S. Ct. 1278, 1297, 36 L. Ed. 2d 16 (1973).” Cardo v. Lakeland Central School District, 592 F. Sup. 765, 770 (S.D.N.Y. 1984). Such rights include “first amendment rights, which are explicitly provided for by the Constitution, see e.g., Mt. Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 284-85, 97 S. Ct. 568, 574-575, 50 L. Ed. 2d 471 (1972); Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 598, 92 S. Ct. 2694, 2698, 33 L. Ed. 2d 570 (1983); the right to travel interstate, which has been found to be implicit in the Constitution, see, e.g., Martinez v. Bynum, 461 U.S. 321, 103 S. Ct. 1838, 1842-43, 75 L. Ed. 2d 879 (1983); Shapiro [v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 629-31, 89 S. Ct. 1322, 22 L. Ed. 2d 600 (1969)]; and the right to vote, which is the guardian of all other rights. Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663, 667, 86 S. Ct. 1079, 1081, 16 L. Ed. 2d 169 (1966).” Cardo v. Lakeland Central School District, supra.

The plaintiffs do not claim, nor could they, that the right to bargain collectively is explicitly guaranteed by the constitution. Rather, they argue that the United States Supreme Court in NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, 301 U.S. 1, 57 S. Ct. 615, 81 L. Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
529 A.2d 1276, 204 Conn. 746, 1987 Conn. LEXIS 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-management-assn-of-connecticut-inc-v-oneill-conn-1987.