Appeal of State Employees' Association/Service Employees' International Union, Local 1984

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court reviewed a Public Employee Labor Relations Board decision involving whether the Community College System of New Hampshire had to bargain over tutoring wages paid to adjunct faculty. The court held that the tutoring services were sufficiently related to adjunct faculty duties to constitute a mandatory subject of bargaining. It also held that the employer had to compensate an adjunct faculty member for tutoring income lost while participating in collective bargaining negotiations, and it reversed and remanded.

Holdings

1. Yes. Compensation for the tutoring services at issue constituted wages and was a mandatory subject of collective bargaining because the tutoring was at least as closely related to adjunct faculty members' normal duties as the extracurricular duties deemed within the scope of teachers' duties in Appeal of Berlin Education Association.
2. Yes. RSA 273-A:11, II requires CCSNH to compensate Watrous for the ACE tutoring hours he missed while participating in collective bargaining negotiations, without regard to whether the tutoring constituted bargaining-unit work.

Questions Presented

1. Whether CCSNH was required to bargain over compensation paid to adjunct-faculty bargaining-unit members for tutoring services at the Academic Center for Excellence.
2. Whether RSA 273-A:11, II required CCSNH to compensate an adjunct faculty bargaining-team member for tutoring income lost while attending collective bargaining negotiations during working hours.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded