Erie teachers union loses appeal over public records
By ED PALATTELLA | The (Erie) Times-News
The teachers union for the Erie School District has again lost a test case over the public release of information on the discipline of educators.
The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, in a 3-0 decision, has upheld a ruling against the Erie Education Association over a fired guidance counselor, Denice Manus, who unsuccessfully ran for Erie School Board in the May 2009 primary.
The PLRB said the school district violated no labor laws when it honored a Right-to-Know Law request from the Erie Times-News and provided the newspaper with two labor arbitration decisions that affirmed the Erie School Board's dismissal of Manus in 2007.
The school district and the 1,000-member Erie Education Association, which filed a charge of unfair labor practices, said the case was the first of its kind statewide.
A victory for the union would have hindered the ability of school districts throughout Pennsylvania from releasing to the public similar information about the discipline of educators, said the lawyer for the Erie School District, Richard Perhacs. He said the case had drawn close interest from school boards statewide.
The PLRB found "that there is no privacy interest in this whatsoever," Perhacs said. "That is what we have been saying all along."
The PLRB said the kind of arbitration decisions at issue in the Manus case are already available to the public in other ways, such as through a subscription service with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. The PLRB said nothing in the labor contract between the Erie School District and the teachers union prohibited the district from releasing the information about Manus, as the teachers union claimed.
The Erie Education Association also unsuccessfully argued that the district's release of the arbitration decisions on Manus might unfairly coerce other union members from pursuing grievances that could result in arbitration decisions.
Because of "the availability of this information to newspapers from any number of sources," the district's release of the information to the Erie Times-News "does not, and would not, deter a reasonable (employee) from filing a grievance to challenge an adverse employment action," the PLRB said in a six-page final order it issued last week.
The panel upheld the findings of a PLRB hearing examiner, who ruled in favor of the school district in December. The Erie Education Association appealed to the PLRB, whose orders can be appealed to the state Commonwealth Court. The lawyer for the union, Richard McEwen, of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said he and his staff are considering whether to appeal.
McEwen said the PLRB did not determine that the public release of arbitration decisions is always appropriate. He said the board only saw nothing wrong with the release of the information in the case involving Manus.
"If you read it carefully, the board doesn't come out and say this could not be an unfair labor practice," McEwen said. "The board said we didn't prove our case."
The Erie Times-News used the arbitration decisions for an article on May 3, 2009, on Manus' dismissal from the school district. The decisions included claims that Manus mishandled an investigation into an allegation of child sexual abuse.
Manus, 59, a Democrat who had worked for the district for 33 years, blamed her loss in the School Board race in the May 19, 2009, primary on low voter turnout and the newspaper reports about her firing.
In filing its complaint before the PLRB, the Erie Education Association said it was not opposed to the Right-to-Know Law.
But the union said the law allows only for the release of whether a labor arbitrator denied or upheld claims in an arbitration decision.
The union said the Right-to-Know Law puts the full text of the arbitration decisions off-limits to the public -- an interpretation the Erie School District, and the PLRB, said was incorrect.
The teachers union for the Erie School District has again lost a test case over the public release of information on the discipline of educators.
The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, in a 3-0 decision, has upheld a ruling against the Erie Education Association over a fired guidance counselor, Denice Manus, who unsuccessfully ran for Erie School Board in the May 2009 primary.
The PLRB said the school district violated no labor laws when it honored a Right-to-Know Law request from the Erie Times-News and provided the newspaper with two labor arbitration decisions that affirmed the Erie School Board's dismissal of Manus in 2007.
The school district and the 1,000-member Erie Education Association, which filed a charge of unfair labor practices, said the case was the first of its kind statewide.
A victory for the union would have hindered the ability of school districts throughout Pennsylvania from releasing to the public similar information about the discipline of educators, said the lawyer for the Erie School District, Richard Perhacs. He said the case had drawn close interest from school boards statewide.
The PLRB found "that there is no privacy interest in this whatsoever," Perhacs said. "That is what we have been saying all along."
The PLRB said the kind of arbitration decisions at issue in the Manus case are already available to the public in other ways, such as through a subscription service with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. The PLRB said nothing in the labor contract between the Erie School District and the teachers union prohibited the district from releasing the information about Manus, as the teachers union claimed.
The Erie Education Association also unsuccessfully argued that the district's release of the arbitration decisions on Manus might unfairly coerce other union members from pursuing grievances that could result in arbitration decisions.
Because of "the availability of this information to newspapers from any number of sources," the district's release of the information to the Erie Times-News "does not, and would not, deter a reasonable (employee) from filing a grievance to challenge an adverse employment action," the PLRB said in a six-page final order it issued last week.
The panel upheld the findings of a PLRB hearing examiner, who ruled in favor of the school district in December. The Erie Education Association appealed to the PLRB, whose orders can be appealed to the state Commonwealth Court. The lawyer for the union, Richard McEwen, of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said he and his staff are considering whether to appeal.
McEwen said the PLRB did not determine that the public release of arbitration decisions is always appropriate. He said the board only saw nothing wrong with the release of the information in the case involving Manus.
"If you read it carefully, the board doesn't come out and say this could not be an unfair labor practice," McEwen said. "The board said we didn't prove our case."
The Erie Times-News used the arbitration decisions for an article on May 3, 2009, on Manus' dismissal from the school district. The decisions included claims that Manus mishandled an investigation into an allegation of child sexual abuse.
Manus, 59, a Democrat who had worked for the district for 33 years, blamed her loss in the School Board race in the May 19, 2009, primary on low voter turnout and the newspaper reports about her firing.
In filing its complaint before the PLRB, the Erie Education Association said it was not opposed to the Right-to-Know Law.
But the union said the law allows only for the release of whether a labor arbitrator denied or upheld claims in an arbitration decision.
The union said the Right-to-Know Law puts the full text of the arbitration decisions off-limits to the public -- an interpretation the Erie School District, and the PLRB, said was incorrect.
