§ 7-474 — Negotiations and agreements between municipality and employee representatives. Federal approval. Elective binding arbitration; procedure; apportionment of costs.

Connecticut § 7-474

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 7: Municipalities
• Ch. 113: Municipal Employees

Text

(a) Except as hereinafter provided, when an employee organization has been designated, in accordance with the provisions of sections 7-467 to 7-477, inclusive, as the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate unit, the chief executive officer, whether elected or appointed, or his designated representative or representatives, shall represent the municipal employer in collective bargaining with such employee organization. (b) Any agreement reached by the negotiators shall be reduced to writing. Except where the legislative body is the town meeting, a request for funds necessary to implement such written agreement and for approval of any provisions of the agreement which are in conflict with any charter, special act, ordinance, rule or regulation adopted by the municipal employer or its agents, such as a personnel board or civil service commission, or any general statute directly regulating the hours of work of policemen or firemen or any general statute providing for the method or manner of covering or removing employees from coverage under the Connecticut municipal employees' retirement system or under the Policemen and Firemen Survivors' Benefit Fund shall be submitted by the bargaining representative of the municipality within fourteen days of the date on which such agreement is reached to the legislative body which may approve or reject such request as a whole by a majority vote of those present and voting on the matter; but, if rejected, the matter shall be returned to the parties for further bargaining. Failure by the bargaining representative of the municipality to submit such request to the legislative body within such fourteen-day period shall be considered to be a prohibited practice committed by the municipal employer. Such request shall be considered approved if the legislative body fails to vote to approve or reject such request within thirty days of the end of the fourteen-day period for submission to said body. Where the legislative body is the town meeting, approval of the agreement by a majority of the selectmen shall make the agreement valid and binding upon the town and the board of finance shall appropriate or provide whatever funds are necessary to comply with such collective bargaining agreement. (c) Notwithstanding any provision of any general statute, charter, special act or ordinance to the contrary, the budget-appropriating authority of any municipal employer shall appropriate whatever funds are required to comply with a collective bargaining agreement, provided the request called for in subsection (b) of this section has been approved by the legislative body of such municipal employer, or with a collective bargaining agreement approved as the result of an arbitration decision rendered in an impasse of contract negotiations under section 7-472 , or rendered in accordance with the provisions of section 7-473c . (d) If the municipal employer is a district, school board, housing authority or other authority established by law, or is a private nonprofit corporation which has a valid contract with any town, city, borough or district to extinguish fires and to protect its inhabitants from loss by fire, which by statute, charter, special act or ordinance has sole and exclusive control over the appointment of and the wages, hours and conditions of employment of its employees, such district, school board, housing authority, other authority or corporation, or its designated representatives, shall represent such municipal employer in collective bargaining and shall have the authority to enter into collective bargaining agreements with the employee organization which is the exclusive representative of such employees, and such agreements shall be binding on the parties thereto, provided, where any provisions of any such agreement require federal approval, such provisions shall be binding upon receipt of such approval, and no such agreement or any part thereof shall require approval of the legislative body of the municipality. (e) No provision of any general statute, charter, special act or ordinance shall prevent negotiations between a municipal employer and an employee organization, which has been designated or recognized as the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate unit, from continuing after the final date for making or setting the budget of such municipal employer. An agreement between a municipal employer and an employee organization shall be valid and in force under its terms when entered into in accordance with the provisions of sections 7-467 to 7-477 , inclusive, and signed by the chief executive officer or administrator as a ministerial act. Such terms may make any such agreement effective on a date prior to the date on which such agreement is entered. No publication thereof shall be required to make it effective. The procedure for the making of an agreement between the municipal employer and an employee organization provided by said sections shall be the exclusive method for making a valid agreement for municipal employees represented by an employee organization, and any provisions in any general statute, charter or special act to the contrary shall not apply to such an agreement. (f) Where there is a conflict between any agreement reached by a municipal employer and an employee organization and approved in accordance with the provisions of sections 7-467 to 7-477 , inclusive, on matters appropriate to collective bargaining, as defined in said sections, and any charter, special act, ordinance, rules or regulations adopted by the municipal employer or its agents such as a personnel board or civil service commission, or any general statute directly regulating the hours of work of policemen or firemen, or any general statute providing for the method or manner of covering or removing employees from coverage under the Connecticut municipal employees' retirement system or under the Policemen and Firemen Survivors' Benefit Fund, the terms of such agreement shall prevail; provided, if participation of any employees in said system or said fund is effected by such agreement, the effective date of participation in said system or said fund, notwithstanding any contrary provision in such agreement, shall be the first day of the third month following the month in which a certified copy of such agreement is received by the Retirement Commission, or such later date as may be specified in the agreement. (g) Nothing herein shall diminish the authority and power of any municipal civil service commission, personnel board, personnel agency or its agents established by statute, charter or special act to conduct and grade merit examinations and to rate candidates in the order of their relative excellence from which appointments or promotions may be made to positions in the competitive division of the classified service of the municipal employer served by such civil service commission or personnel board. The conduct and the grading of merit examinations, the rating of candidates and the establishment of lists from such examinations and the initial appointments from such lists and any provision of any municipal charter concerning political activity of municipal employees shall not be subject to collective bargaining, provided once the procedures for the promotional process have been established by the municipality, any changes to the process proposed by the municipality concerning the following issues shall be subject to collective bargaining: (1) The necessary qualifications for taking a promotional examination; (2) the relative weight to be attached to each method of examination; and (3) the use and determination of monitors for written, oral and performance examinations. In no event shall the content of any promotional examination be subject to collective bargaining.

Legislative History

(February, 1965, P.A. 159, S. 8; 1967, P.A. 491, S. 6–10; 708; 1969, P.A. 174; 1971, P.A. 532, S. 1, 2; P.A. 75-35; 75-173, S. 2; 75-570, S. 4, 6; P.A. 82-212, S. 1; P.A. 85-18, S. 2; 85-31, S. 2; P.A. 87-100, S. 2; P.A. 90-47, S. 2; P.A. 92-170, S. 19, 20, 26.) History: 1967 acts amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision re conflict between agreement and any general statute concerning covering or removing coverage under municipal employees retirement system, by requiring submission of request for funds or approval of conflicting provisions be made within 14 days of reaching agreement and by establishing failure to make submission within specified time as prohibited practice and setting forth terms re approval or rejection, amended Subsec. (d) by declaring binding nature of agreements made by districts, school boards, etc., amended Subsec. (e) by allowing bargaining to continue after budget deadline and by allowing retroactive effective dates for terms of agreement and amended Subsec. (f) to include conflicts with statutes concerning municipal employees retirement system and further amended Subsec. (b) to provide for cases where legislative body is town meeting; 1969 act amended Subsec. (f) to clarify effective date of provisions in agreements which affect participation of employees in municipal employees' retirement system; 1971 act amended Subsecs. (b) and (f) by adding provision re conflict between agreement and coverage or noncoverage under policemen and firemen survivors' benefit fund; P.A. 75-35 added to Subsec. (d) provision re agreement terms which require federal approval; P.A. 75-173 and 75-570 amended Subsec. (c) to include agreements approved as result of arbitration decision or as result of failure to reject fact finder's report; P.A. 75-570 also added Subsecs. (h) to (k) re arbitration proceedings after rejection of fact finder's report; P.A. 82-212 added proviso in Subsec. (g) specifying types of proposed changes to promotional process which shall be subject to collective bargaining and declared “initial” appointments and content of promotional examinations to be not subject to collective bargaining; P.A. 85-18 amended Subsec. (j)(2) to establish a more specific and extensive list of factors to be considered by the arbitration panel, including prior negotiations, public interest, employee interests, cost of living changes, existing conditions of employment of the employee group and prevailing conditions in the labor market; P.A. 85-31 amended Subsec. (j) to require each panel member to state the reasons and standards used in making his arbitration decision; P.A. 87-100 added Subsec. (l) which limited the presentation of new issues to binding arbitration; P.A. 90-47 amended Subsec. (d) to include nonprofit fire-fighting corporations as representatives for collective bargaining; P.A. 92-170 amended Subsec. (c) to remove references to fact-finding and removed Subsecs. (h) to (l), inclusive, concerning fact-finding, effective May 26, 1992, and applicable to arbitration proceedings commencing on or after that date (Revisor's note: An obsolete reference in Subsec. (c) to “or subsections (h) to (k), inclusive, of this section” was deleted editorially by the Revisors). Cited. 171 C. 347; Id., 553; 175 C. 349. Standing to test constitutionality of binding arbitration provisions of Municipal Employees Relations Act discussed. 181 C. 421. Cited. 185 C. 88; 196 C. 192; Id., 623; 200 C. 38; 201 C. 577; Id., 685; 204 C. 746; 205 C. 116; 210 C. 549; 212 C. 294; 215 C. 14; 217 C. 490; 221 C. 244; 225 C. 297; 234 C. 51; Id., 123; 239 C. 32. Cited. 3 CA 1; 16 CA 232. Cited. 28 CS 267. Subsecs. (f) and (g) not in conflict, since merit examination appointments not subject to collective bargaining agreements. 30 CS 259. A public announcement of plaintiff's intention to file a prohibited practice complaint against a union is protected by the Municipal Employees Relations Act when the complaint is actually filed at a later date. 31 CS 7. Subsecs. (f) and (g) provide that the provisions of a municipal charter concerning political activity shall override the substantive and procedural provisions of any collective bargaining agreement on that subject. 35 CS 645. Cited. 42 CS 227; 43 CS 470. Subsecs. (b) and (d) conflict because (b) requires submission of contract term requiring fiscal appropriation to municipal legislative body while (d) does not; the specific authority applicable to housing authorities in (d) prevails over the more general authority contained in (b). 47 CS 624. Subsec. (d): Right of a board under statute to act as exclusive negotiator in bargaining collectively with its employees is not impaired by subsequent subsections of this section. 182 C. 93. Subsec. (f): Subsec. determines the effect of a validly negotiated agreement and does not purport to prescribe the conditions of valid negotiation. 182 C. 93. Cited. 206 C. 563. An agreement made in a matter not appropriate for collective bargaining does not prevail over conflicting civil service rules and court's orders implementing such rules. 284 C. 237. Cited. 31 CS 125; 36 CS 637. Subsec. (g): Subsec. does not address other sources of limitation on powers of local civil service commissions. 182 C. 93. Cited. 206 C. 643. Collective bargaining is limited to changes in the promotional examination process; decision on application of preexisting qualifications is not subject to collective bargaining. 234 C. 35. In the absence of proposed change in promotional examination process, grievance settlement resulting in promotion may not be considered part of promotional examination process. 284 C. 237. Cited. 7 CA 105; 11 CA 37; 22 CA 402; 32 CA 280; Id., 289. Only three enumerated adjustments to municipal policy governing merit examinations must first be subject to collective bargaining; because a written examination was not mandated, its elimination did not constitute a change in the “relative weight” of examination methods. 210 CA 529. Appeal from dismissal of municipal employees for political activities proscribed by city charter properly brought to public employees appeal board; statute excludes such charter provisions from collective bargaining; dismissal cannot be construed as a grievance required to be subject to binding arbitration as prescribed in the collective bargaining agreement. 35 CS 645. Cited. 39 CS 1.