Washington Public Employees Ass'n v. Washington Personnel Resources Board

959 P.2d 143, 91 Wash. App. 640
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 10, 1998
DocketNo. 21384-2-II
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 959 P.2d 143 (Washington Public Employees Ass'n v. Washington Personnel Resources Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Washington Public Employees Ass'n v. Washington Personnel Resources Board, 959 P.2d 143, 91 Wash. App. 640 (Wash. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

Seinfeld, J.

— The Washington Public Employees Association (WPEA) petitioned the superior court for a statutory or constitutional writ of certiorari. It sought review of a Personnel Resources Board (PRB) decision regarding an alleged unfair labor practice. We agree that a statutory writ is the proper means to challenge an agency’s alleged misinterpretation of the substantive law made in a quasi-judicial [644]*644proceeding when there is no other adequate remedy at law. Thus, we reverse.

FACTS

In the fall of 1990, WPEA and the Office of Financial Management (OFM) participated in four negotiation sessions regarding state employee salaries, during which WPEA proposed an increase in “standby pay” for employees on a standby status.1 After OFM advised WPEA that the Governor’s legislative budget proposal would not include the requested increase, WPEA proposed it to the PRB.2 In January 1991, the PRB approved the increase by voting to amend WAC 356-15-080(3).3 The Legislature subsequently adopted a budget that did not provide funds for a standby pay increase and, in June 1991, OFM advised the Department of Personnel that it had disapproved of the [645]*645amended standby pay rates because of lack of available funds and legislative support.

The WPEA then filed ah unfair labor practice charge against OFM for unilaterally disapproving the standby pay increase without giving the WPEA advance notice and without providing WPEA the opportunity to meet and confer. Pursuant to WAC 356-42-083, the Department of Personnel issued an unfair labor practice complaint against OFM in October 1994.

The PRB conducted a hearing on the complaint at which witnesses provided sworn testimony and were subject to cross-examination. The PRB also received stipulated facts and exhibits. Following the hearing, the PRB dismissed the unfair labor practice complaint, concluding that the OFM director had not violated the relevant statutes.

The WPEA then petitioned the Thurston County Superior Court for statutory or constitutional certiorari, alleging that the PRB’s conclusions were erroneous as a matter of law and arbitrary and capricious in its holding. The trial court denied the petition, stating:

In determining whether other requirements of either a statutory writ or a constitutional writ of certiorari are met, the court must find allegations of more than an error of law. Here, the fundamental issue is one of whether the Personnel Resources Board erred, as a matter of law, in determining that no bargaining was needed. Allegations of error in interpreting the law are very different than allegations that an agency acts illegally. The present allegations are not sufficient to invoke the court’s review by writ of certiorari even though Petitioners will be without further remedies.

The WPEA appeals.

DISCUSSION

I. STATUTORY WRIT OF REVIEW

RCW 7.16.040 requires a writ of review under the following circumstances:

[646]*646A writ of review shall be granted by any court, except a municipal or district court, when an inferior tribunal, board or officer, exercising judicial functions, has exceeded the jurisdiction of such tribunal, board or officer, or one acting illegally, or to correct any erroneous or void proceeding, or a proceeding not according to the course of the common law, and there is no appeal, nor in the judgment of the court, any plain, speedy and adequate remedy at law.

Thus, to obtain a writ of review, the petitioner must show (1) that an inferior tribunal (2) exercising judicial functions (3) exceeded its jurisdiction or acted illegally, and (4) there is no adequate remedy at law. Raynes v. City of Leavenworth, 118 Wn.2d 237, 244, 821 P.2d 1204 (1992) (statutory writ must be granted only when all four criteria are present) (citing Bridle Trails Community Club v. City of Bellevue, 45 Wn. App. 248, 250, 724 P.2d 1110 (1986)); see also Foster v. King County, 83 Wn. App. 339, 921 P.2d 552 (1996). Here, there is no dispute that the PRB is an inferior board and that the WPEA has no other adequate remedy at law.4 But the parties do dispute whether the PRB was exercising a judicial function when it heard the unfair labor practice complaint and whether it acted “illegally.”

A. Exercising a Judicial Function

Although judicial actions have no single essential attribute, the following factors are relevant in determining whether an administrative action is quasi-judicial: (1) whether a court has been charged with making the agency’s decision; (2) whether the action was a type which courts historically have performed; (3) whether the action involved the application of existing law to past or present facts for the purpose of declaring or enforcing liability; and (4) whether the action resembled the ordinary business of courts as opposed to that of legislators or administrators. Raynes, 118 Wn.2d at 244-45; Williams v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1, 97 Wn.2d 215, 218, 643 P.2d 426 (1982). Courts [647]*647should give substantial consideration to the “functions being performed by the decision-making body,” Raynes, 118 Wn.2d at 243, and to whether the action of the decision-making body is easily susceptible to judicial review. Williams, 97 Wn.2d at 220.

Factor (1): Has the court been charged with making the agency’s decision?

The WPEA contends that it could have invoked the superior court’s concurrent jurisdiction to decide whether OFM had a duty under the Public Employees’ Collective Bargaining Act to engage in collective bargaining with regard to a wage issue. The WPEA relies on State ex rel. Graham v. Northshore Sch. Dist. No. 417, 99 Wn.2d 232, 662 P.2d 38 (1983).

Graham, a declaratory judgment action brought in the name of the state auditor, challenged, inter alia, whether a “release time” provision in teacher contracts constituted a proscribed “contribution” to an education association under the unfair labor practice statute. Id. at 234. The Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) intervened, challenging the court’s authority to decide the unfair labor practice aspect of the State’s challenge.

The Graham court held that the trial court properly exercised its jurisdiction. Id. at 235. The Educational Employment Relations Act, like the Public Employees’ Collective Bargaining Act here, contains no language directly removing superior court jurisdiction from cases involving unfair labor practices. Id. at 240. The Graham court stated:

It is a quantum leap in logic, however, to jump from the fact that PERC is empowered to prevent unfair labor practices to the conclusion that PERC is the exclusive decider of public labor law questions.

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Bluebook (online)
959 P.2d 143, 91 Wash. App. 640, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-public-employees-assn-v-washington-personnel-resources-board-washctapp-1998.