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State v. Rhode Island Alliance of Social Services Employees3/17/2000
General Laws 1956 § 36-4-63 precludes paid-sick-leave time from being counted as hours worked for purposes of computing a state employee's entitlement to overtime compensation. It further provides that any collective bargaining agreement (CBA) or arbitration award to the contrary "shall be null and void." In the case at bar, a CBA between the Rhode Island Alliance of Social Services Employees, Local 580 (union) and the State of Rhode Island conformed to state law in this respect by providing that "hours which are paid for but not actually worked shall not be counted as hours worked in computing overtime compensation."
Notwithstanding these provisions, a former Department of Administration (DOA) official, Richard Wessels, prepared an interoffice memorandum in 1988 that interpreted § 36-4-63 to allow state employees to be paid overtime in such a manner that they would "not be penalized for the use of sick leave before or after working the required overtime during the same work week * * *." As a result, from November 1988 to February 1996, at least one department of state government, the Department of Human Services (DHS) -- and possibly others -- counted paid-sick-leave time as hours worked toward completing a state government employee's established-work-week schedule. Consequently, DHS paid overtime to DHS employees who used paid-sick-leave time to satisfy all or a portion of their established-work-week schedule of hours and who then worked additional hours during the same pay period. In 1996, however, DHS ceased doing so in response to an audit prepared by the state Auditor General's Office. The auditor's report concluded that DHS's payment of overtime in accordance with the 1988 Wessels memorandum violated applicable state law barring the use of paid-sick-leave hours in computing the employees' entitlement to overtime compensation.
The union grieved DHS's 1996 decision to follow state law in this regard. Eventually, notwithstanding the state's contention that this issue was not substantively arbitrable, an arbitrator upheld the union's grievance and the state petitioned the Superior Court to vacate the arbitrator's award. In response, the union sought to confirm the award. After a hearing, the Superior Court ultimately agreed with the state's position and vacated the award. The union now appeals from that Superior Court judgment.
Analysis
Though "judicial authority to review or to vacate an arbitration award is limited," the court "must * * * [vacate] the award * * * [when] the arbitrator or arbitrators exceed * * * their powers." Rhode Island Council 94, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v. State, 714 A.2d 584, 587-88 (R.I. 1998) (quoting G.L. 1956 § 28-9-18). One sure way for an arbitrator to exceed his or her powers is to arbitrate a dispute that is not arbitrable in the first place. See Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers v. State Department of Corrections, 707 A.2d 1229, 1234 (R.I. 1998) (RIBCO). And " hether an issue is arbitrable is a question of law to be reviewed by the court de novo." Rhode Island Council 94, 714 A.2d at 588 n.2.
We hold that, in this case, the Superior Court ruled correctly that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by deciding an issue that was not arbitrable ab initio. Here, the parties' dispute involved a non-delegable-non-modifiable-statutory mandate for DHS to exclude paid-sick-leave hours when computing whether its employees were entitled to overtime compensation during any given pay period. As we ruled in Town of West Warwick v. Local 2045, Council 94, 714 A.2d 611, 612 (R.I. 1998) (mem.), "a valid employment requirement prescribed by state law cannot be negotiated and is not a proper subject for arbitration." Se
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