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THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
___________________________
Public Employee Labor Relations Board
No. 95-821
APPEAL OF THE TIMBERLANE REGIONAL SCHOOL BOARD
(New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board)
May 29, 1998
Theodore E. Comstock, of Concord, N.H. School Boards Association Legal Assistance Fund, by brief and orally, for the petitioner.
Krasner Professional Association, of Farmington (Emmanuel Krasner on the brief and orally), for respondent Timberlane Teachers' Association.
JOHNSON, J. The petitioner, the Timberlane Regional School Board (board), appeals the decision of the New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB) that the board committed an unfair labor practice, see RSA 273-A:5 (I)(e), (g), (h) (1987), when it failed to pay teacher salaries as set forth in its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the respondent, the Timberlane Teachers' Association (association). We affirm.
This dispute centers upon salary terms included in a CBA covering the three school years between 1993-1996. After more than a year of negotiating, the parties reached a tentative agreement in December 1993 outlining the salary increases under the CBA. The tentative agreement stated that the allocations for salary increases would amount to $233,533 for the 1993-1994 school year, $404,985 for the 1994-1995 school year, and $520,015 for the 1995-1996 school year. Both parties agreed, however, that because the 1993-1994 school year had commenced, the 1993-1994 increase would be paid in one lump sum in July 1994, after the annual school district meeting scheduled for March 1994. Both parties subsequently ratified the tentative agreement. A warrant article, prepared by the board and approved by the voters in March 1994, authorized the appropriation of sums to fund increased costs associated with the CBA. The association prepared, and the board subsequently accepted, a CBA that included salary schedules for the 1993-1996 school years. These schedules reflected the association's understanding that the increases were to be cumulative, e.g., the July 1994 lump sum payment for school year 1993-1994 would be included in the teachers' base salary upon which the subsequent year's (1994-1995) increase would be added. Although the board agreed that the CBA is valid and that the board received the salary schedules referenced above, it asserted that the July 1994 lump sum payment was a one-time "bonus," and that the 1994-1995 raises were to be added to salaries paid during the 1992-1993 school year. The teachers' contracts for the 1994-1995 school year issued in June 1994 reflected the board's understanding of the CBA.
The association filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the PELRB. The complaint alleged, inter alia, that the board unlawfully refused to pay the 1994-95 salaries as called for in the CBA. In response, the board filed a cross-complaint alleging that the association committed an unfair labor practice "[b]y repudiating the salary levels which the parties negotiated and ratified, and which the voters approved." After four days of hearings, the PELRB ruled in favor of the association and dismissed the board's cross-complaint. The PELRB ordered the board to pay the teachers the equivalent of the July 1994 lump sum payment which, the PELRB ruled, should have been included in their 1994-1995 base salary. Notably, there was no dispute as to the appropriate 1995-1996 salary schedule, since the board agreed that teacher salaries to be paid that year included cumulative increases for all three years of the CBA. This appeal followed.
On appeal, the board contends that the PELRB erred in ruling that it was obligated to treat the July 1994 payment as a raise because there was no meeting of the minds as to the cumulative nature of the 1993-1994 increase, and that the increase, if cumulative, never received proper voter approval. The board also asserts that the PELRB erred in failing to make necessary rulings of law.
Our review of the PELRB's decision is governed by RSA 541:13 (1997). See Appeal of Alton School Dist., 140 N.H. 303, 308, 666 A.2d 937, 940 (1995). We defer to the PELRB's factual findings, which we deem to be prima facie lawful and reasonable. RSA 541:13; see Appeal of City of Nashua Bd. of Educ., 141 N.H. 768, 772, 695 A.2d 647, 650 (1997). "As the appealing party, the school district must show that the PELRB's decision is contrary to law or, by a clear preponderance of the evidence, unjust or unreasonable." Appeal of Londonderry School District, 142 N.H. , , 707 A.2d 137, 139 (1998); see RSA 541:13. "It is not the function of this court to engage in a de novo review of the evidence in PELRB determinations, but we have consistently required record support for its decisions." Appeal of Town of Newport, 140 N.H. 343, 345, 666 A.2d 954, 956-57 (1995) (quotation omitted).
The board first argues that the PELRB erred in finding that the July 1994 lump sum payment constituted a raise for the 1993-1994 school year and was not a non-recurring bonus. Although the board argues that there was no meeting of the minds relative to the July 1994 lump sum payment, arguably a material provision of the contract, cf. Appeal of Sanborn Regional School Bd., 133 N.H. 513, 518, 579 A.2d 282, 284 (1990) (for an enforceable CBA to be formed a meeting of the minds as to its terms is required), it nonetheless asks this court to enforce the agreement "legally in effect" between the parties. Furthermore, during the proceedings below, the board consistently stated that the agreement was binding on both parties. Accordingly, we interpret the board's argument to be that the PELRB erred in finding that the contract provided for a raise for 1993-1994, and not that the agreement itself is void. Cf. Simonds v. City of Manchester, 141 N.H. 742, 746, 693 A.2d 69, 72 (1997) (no employment contract existed where there was no meeting of the minds on its essential terms); 17A Am. Jur. 2d Contracts