Legislative Update — House Bill 5485: Minimum Manning Bill Passes in the Illinois Senate

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Legislative Update — House Bill 5485: Minimum Manning Bill Passes in the Illinois Senate

November 20, 2014

On November 20, 2014, House Bill 5485 passed in the Senate (42 Yes, 11 No, 4 Present). House Bill 5485 will become law effective on the date signed by Governor Quinn. House Bill 5485 amends Section 14(i) of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (“Act”) and makes minimum manning a mandatory subject of bargaining in fire departments.

This new law will have a major impact on labor negotiations and municipal employment practices in fire departments across the State of Illinois. However, it is critically important for employers to understand that just because minimum manning is now a mandatory subject of bargaining, employers are not obligated to agree to a union’s proposal concerning minimum manning. “No thank you,” is still a complete sentence!

The bill merely requires bargaining in good faith and, if necessary, interest arbitration over minimum staffing issues in fire departments. Nothing in House Bill 5485 changes the traditional status quo analysis used by interest arbitrators, and the Bill does not change the requirement in Section 14 of the Act that an interest arbitrator must adopt the last offer of settlement on each economic issue which more closely complies with applicable factors listed in Subsection 14(h).

It is also important to remember that this bill does not change bargaining requirements for police departments, where minimum manning is still a permissive subject of bargaining.

Minimum Manning History

This legislation regrettably passed in the Senate despite the efforts and opposition voiced by countless municipal employers in Illinois and numerous employer organizations, including but not limited to IPELRA, the IML, and the NWMC. With the support of attorneys from Clark Baird Smith LLP, municipal employers voiced strong, unified opposition to House Bill 5485. As a result of that opposition, the bill was not called for a vote in the Senate during the Spring legislative session. Unfortunately, the bill was revived in the veto session, where proponents of the Bill had a strong interest in approving the bill before Governor-elect Rauner takes office on January 12, 2015.

Opposition to the bill culminated in a Senate Executive Committee hearing on November 19, during which Benjamin Gehrt, a partner in our firm, and Village of Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger testified in opposition to the bill.

House Bill 5485 was promulgated mainly in response to an argument over the interpretation of an Illinois Appellate Court decision in Village of Oak Lawn. The union community and their advocates argued that the Village of Oak Lawn decision held that minimum manning is a mandatory subject of bargaining. The employer community took the position that Village of Oak Lawn only held that the mandatory or permissive nature of a manning proposal needs to be decided by applying the Illinois Supreme Court’s fact-intensive Central City balancing test on a case-by-case basis.

Critically, this bill overturns a series of recent, favorable General Counsel Declaratory Rulings and Labor Board decisions. In City of Danville, the Board’s General Counsel in September of this year found that the Union’s minimum manning and staffing proposals were permissive subjects of bargaining. Most recently, in Village of Glenview, the Union objected to the Village’s unilateral decision to adjust its level of service by removing one ambulance from service during non-peak hours of operation. An Administrative Law Judge held that minimum staffing in this context is a permissive subject of bargaining, so the Village had no bargaining obligations and was entitled to implement its change unilaterally. On November 18, 2014, less than 48 hours before the Senate passed HB 5485, the Board unanimously decided there was no need to review the decision and allowed the ALJ’s decision to stand!

Unfortunately, House Bill 5485 overrides these victories. As a result, if you receive a minimum manning proposal in bargaining from a union, or if you need to change your department’s staffing levels, it is important to discuss that issue with a labor attorney skilled in fire department issues to develop a winning negotiation strategy.

 
The CBS LLP Legal Advisory is prepared for general information purposes only. The summaries of recent court opinions and other legal developments are not necessarily inclusive of all the recent legal authority of which you should be aware when making your legal decisions. Thus, while every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, you should not act on the information contained herein without seeking more specific legal advice on the application and interpretation of these developments to any particular situation.
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