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State6/9/1998
Argued February 17, 1998
On certification to the Superior Court, Appellate Division, whose opinion is reported at 296 N.J. Super. 223 (1997).
This appeal involves a dispute between the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO (CWA) and the State of New Jersey, Office of Employee Relations (OER or State) over the interpretation of Article 5, Section J of the parties' 1992-95 Collective Negotiations Agreement, which concerns the termination of employment of unclassified employees. The parties submitted their dispute to an arbitrator who decided, among other things, that when the State gave no reason for terminating certain unclassified employees, the employees could submit to arbitration the question whether they had been terminated for misconduct. Finding that the arbitrator's award "reflected a reasonably debatable interpretation of the contract," the Law Division upheld the award. The Appellate Division reversed. 296 N.J. Super. 223, 226 (1997). Although the Appellate Division did "not necessarily disagree" with the arbitrator's interpretation of the contract, id. at 225, the court decided on its own motion that disputes over the interpretation of Article 5, Section J were not arbitrable. Ibid. We granted the CWA's petition for certification, 150 N.J. 25 (1997), and now reverse.
I.
Traditionally, the CWA and the OER negotiate a new labor agreement every three years.
The 1989-92 labor agreement included a clause stating that employees with at least eight years of service could arbitrate disagreements over "major discipline." Major disciplinary penalties included discharges. In the 1992-95 labor agreement, the parties reduced the required number of years of service from eight to six.
Accordingly, the parties revised Article V, Section J of the previous labor agreement to include a new section 5. As revised, Section J read:
J. Unclassified, Provisional and Special Services Employee Discipline Procedures
1. The following shall constitute the disciplinary appeal procedure rights for unclassified and provisional employees who have been employed in such a capacity for a minimum of six (6) months . . . .
In all disciplinary matters, except dismissal from service, such employees shall be entitled to utilize the provisions of this Article through the departmental hearing level.
2. In the event an unclassified or provisional employee is dismissed from State employment without receiving specific written reasons and such dismissal is not related to fiscal problems or programmatic changes and in the judgment of the State such dismissal is not of a nature whereby the employee must be immediately removed from the work location, the State shall provide the employee with at least ten (10) calendar days notice in advance of the dismissal.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, when such employees are dismissed from State employment due to misconduct, management shall serve the employee with the specific reasons relating to the misconduct. The employee may request and shall be granted a hearing by the department or agency head or his designee, whose decision shall be final . . . . The burden of proof for unclassified employees shall be on the employee.
3. It is understood that nothing herein shall be construed as limiting the State from exercising its inherent discretion to terminate unclassified employees who serve at the pleasure of the department or agency head, without stating the reasons therefore. Dismissal related to job performance shall not fall within the purview of this article. Grievances concerning the interpretation of this article shall be process
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