Federal Law And Public Employee Relations

When constitutional rights and departmental policy have been violated this can be the cause of civil liability claim (AELE Monthly Law Journal, 2007).

In 1980, a precedent was set in a Michigan court case involving a man named Charles Toussaint who was suing his employer, BlueCross Blue Shield, for wrongful termination based on the guidelines set in the employee manual (Alfred and Bertsche 33). The manual stated that employees would only be terminated for just cause, and the court decided that Blue Cross had violated the agreements in the employee manual (34). The court also ruled that even with Blue Cross’s efforts to provide a document that “issued non-binding guidelines” the employee manual was a contract and Toussiant was wrongfully terminated (34). After the precedent set by this case many employers and employees for that matter were reviewing their employee manuals for the type of

According to Wayne County Community College District Board of Trustees Policy Manual (2015) it states, “Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) clearly acknowledges collective bargaining agreements and other Federal, State, and other legal documents which affect the operations, mission, and goals of the community” (p. n.d.). WCCCD downtown campus has offices for the Wayne County Community College Federation of Teachers (AFT) and Wayne County Community College Professional & Administrative Staff (PAS). The positive impact this has made on the governance at WCCCD, is during a district wide conference last year, the members of the WCCCD Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2000, and the Professional & Administrative Association, AFT Local 4467, rallied with students, parents and members of the community for a Solidarity Walk in Support of our Students (SOS), as they called on WCCCD to improve the educational state of affairs for the students (AFT Michigan, 2014, para. 1). This supports one of five of the Value Statements in the 2015- 2020 Strategic Plan, and it states “Being Accountable -We are accountable to the students who depend on us to provide them with a quality education, to the citizens who support us with their tax dollars, and to the businesses that depend on us to provide them with highly trained employees (Wayne County Community College Strategic Plan 2015-2020, 2015, p. 8).” Whereas, the Chancellor of the District and is responsible for implementing the

Colorado is one of nine states in which local school boards have latitude and discretion regarding whether to recognize unions or other organizations as exclusive representatives of employee groups. Of Colorado’s 178 school districts, currently 39 are known to have one or more collective bargaining agreements. The industrial labor model is used in these 39 districts to negotiate education employee pay, benefits, and working conditions, in addition to various union perks and

The essence of the public-policy exception is that an employee will have a cognizable claim for wrongful discharge if the discharge of the employee contravenes a clear mandate of public policy. Claims for wrongful discharge under the public-policy exception have included termination of employees for: (1) refusal to participate in illegal activity, (2) the employee's refusal to forsake the performance of an important public duty or obligation, (3) the employee's refusal to forego the exercise of a job-related legal right or privilege, (4) the employee's "whistleblowing" activity or other

This paper has gone over the lawsuit that was filed by the EEOC. It also went over who the EEOC is and what their role is in the lawsuit. It also went over how the EEOC’s press release and the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal articles different. I have learned that

Prior to the 1950s, American public sector workers could not join unions. Because of job security and reasonable benefits, it was considered unnecessary for public sector workers to unionize and collectively bargain with their government employers. However, in 1958, Robert F. Wagner, then mayor of New York City, signed an executive order granting city workers the right to unionize. Other local and state legislators followed suit, allowing public sector workers the right to join unions. In 1959, the state of Wisconsin passed the first state law granting the right to public sector collective bargaining after extensive campaigning in the state by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (Fraser & Freeman, 2011). And in 1962, President John F. Kennedy granted federal employees the right to unionize and collectively bargain. Since then, the expansion of union activity in American government has closely mirrored the decline of union influence and strength in the American private sector (Masters, Albright, & Gibney, 2010)

The Court held an employer could not be compelled by the Act to do so if other channels of communication are available that allows the union to reach the employees, provided that the employer does not discriminate against the union by allowing other distributions. The Supreme Court stated that so long as the circumstances of the employment do not "place the employees beyond the reach of reasonable union efforts to communicate with them," respect for the employer 's property rights allow it to prohibit nonemployee access to its property. In doing so, the Court specifically differentiated the access rights of employees from those of nonemployees. The distinction [between employees and nonemployees] is one of substance. No restriction may be placed on the employees ' right to discuss self-organization among themselves unless the employer can demonstrate that a restriction is necessary to maintain production or discipline. Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U.S. 793, 803. But no such obligation is owed nonemployee organizers.” Ted Scott and Sara B. Kalis, Littler Mendelson, P.C.1.

This paper will outline a complaint process and illustrate the civil litigation that could follow if the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, through mediation and arbitration cannot resolve a charge. The complaint is based on a scenario of an employee, named John. John works for a private sector business and he wishes to lodge a complaint of discrimination against the company he works for. This paper will explain the steps that are taken, from the beginning with the (EEOC), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The paper will continue explaining the process by illustrating the civil litigation steps from the state level to the highest level of the United States Supreme Courts.

The environment, defined by Duncan (1972) as “the totality of physical and social factors that are taken directly into consideration in the decision-making behavior of individuals in the organization” has changed for the Senate. Specifically, the collective bargaining agreement put in place has changed the social structure of the relationship between the faculty and the administration. The previously understood purview of the Senate has been altered by this significant environmental change.

There is a distinct contrast in the freedom of speech rights of an employee of a private corporation and the freedom of speech rights of an employee of the government. The Massachusetts Supreme Court opinion in the Korb case reminds us of the famous dictum of Oliver Wendell Holmes in an 1892 Massachusetts case that involved a policeman who was a member of a "political committee" and who solicited money for that committee. The policeman was then discharged from the police department. The ex-policeman petitioned the court for restoration of his employment. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the petitioner may have a constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman (Rbs2.com, 2000). There are few employments for hire in which the employee does not agree to suspend his constitutional rights of free speech as well as of idleness by the implied terms of his contract. The employee cannot complain, because he freely accepts the employment on the terms which are offered to him.

Currently, there are a few nondiscussables that are discussed with higher education professionals. I know for example in Kentucky many colleges and universities are dealing with campus buy-in. Does the leadership of institutions really care about the staff members? For us, this could’ve came at a worst time because we transitioning into the new FSLA law in October. I continue to encourage and let others know the FSLA is really a good thing for employees. I think it is important to be transparency, sometimes in higher education. Discussions are nondiscussable, I personally think that should change and dialogues and different issues on our campuses

The roll of ethics in public administration is based on the administration; administrators should be value-free when they implement public policy. I will discuss why ethics should be based on the administration and, why it should not be based on each individual worker in the administration. I will discuss Weber’s stance on values in bureaucratic organizations, what Macintyre suggests, and what Hummel and Goodsell would conclude about values in public administration. Most people do not understand what an administration deals with everyday on an individual basis. They might think that an administration is supposed to make the best ethical choices, but that is not the case. People who are outside the administration might think that administrators are supposed to use everyday values when implementing policy, but that is also not the case.

The following paper analyzes the evolution of the field of public administration based on the leadership style and the organizational structure. It has three parts; the first part will compare the organizational framework of popular theorists’ with special attention to the type of leadership and the environment of the organization. The second part will discuss a comprehensive definition of the field of public administration, and the third part is the predictions about the field of public administration, and the opportunities and threats faced by it.

The problem statement or reason for inquiry was the climate of the faculty accountability was jeopardized. It was dependent on research and accountability and they were rewarded via promotion and tenure. The improvement in the quality of teaching is a concern.