City of Burbank v. Illinois State Labor Relations Bd.

Decision Date20 April 1989
Docket NumberNo. 67001,67001
Citation538 N.E.2d 1146,128 Ill.2d 335,131 Ill.Dec. 590
Parties, 131 Ill.Dec. 590 The CITY OF BURBANK, Appellant, v. The ILLINOIS STATE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD et al., Appellees.
CourtIllinois Supreme Court

Robert E. Mann, Gretchen A. Winter, Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson, Chicago, for appellant.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Springfield (Jacalyn J. Zimmerman, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, of counsel), for appellee Illinois State Labor Relations Board.

Jacqueline A. Kinnaman, Chicago, for appellee American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Justice CALVO delivered the opinion of the court:

The City of Burbank (the City) appeals from a decision of the appellate court (168 Ill.App.3d 885, 119 Ill.Dec. 600, 523 N.E.2d 68), affirming the decision and order of the Illinois State Labor Relations Board (the Board) finding that the City had engaged in unfair labor practices under sections 10(a)(1), (a)(2), and (a)(3) of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (the Act) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 48, pars. 1610(a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3)) when it "reorganized" the structure of its public works department (the Department). The reorganization, which the Board found was motivated by antiunion animus, resulted in the discharge of only one employee--Robert Randle, a prounion foreman who was active in the organizational campaign which culminated in certification of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (AFSCME), as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Department's employees.

On appeal, the City contends that (1) the appellate court employed an inappropriate standard of review, and (2) the decisions of the appellate court and the Board are contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. We reject the City's contentions and affirm the judgment of the appellate court.

In July of 1984, AFSCME began organizing the Department's employees. At Robert Randle's request, an AFSCME organizer met with the Department's employees at their work site. During the meeting, the other departmental foreman, Norbert Maza, expressed his opposition to unionization. On August 15, 1984, an AFSCME representative and a number of the Department's employees attended a city council meeting to formally request that the City recognize AFSCME as the employees' exclusive bargaining representative. Randle spoke at the meeting, advocating that the City recognize AFSCME. The council deferred action on the request, pending receipt of a legal opinion from the city attorney.

According to Randle, he attempted to speak with Robert Herrmann, the City's administrator, after the meeting. Although Randle and Herrmann had been friends, Herrmann refused to talk to Randle because of Randle's role in AFSCME's organizational campaign. Herrmann did not talk to Randle again until the morning of August 1, 1985, when he confirmed that Randle had been discharged.

The morning after the meeting, prior to the start of the shift, the director of public works, James Seiler, interrupted a conversation between Randle and department employee Andrew Patellaro, to "angrily" inform Randle that he was not to discuss union business on company time. Subsequently, Seiler became distant, speaking to Randle only when absolutely necessary, and progressively curtailing his duties and responsibilities.

When the city council next met on September 12, 1984, action on AFSCME's request for recognition was again postponed. Consequently, AFSCME filed a petition with the Board on September 28, 1984, seeking to represent the Department's employees. The City responded by challenging the appropriateness of AFSCME's requested bargaining unit, claiming, inter alia, that the two foremen were "supervisors" within the meaning of the Act, and thus should be excluded from the bargaining unit. Based on Randle's testimony, the Board determined that the foremen were not supervisors. The Board ordered a representation election to determine whether the Department's employees desired representation by an exclusive bargaining representative.

At the representation election, the City challenged Randle's eligibility to vote on the ground that Randle was a supervisor under the Act. The City contested the inclusion of the foremen in the bargaining unit and requested a reversal of the Board's earlier decision that the foremen were statutory employees. When its objections were dismissed on July 18, 1985, the City tried, unsuccessfully, to challenge the Board's unit determination in the circuit court. AFSCME was certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Department's employees on August 2, 1985.

Prior to Board certification, the city council, on July 31, 1985, enacted an ordinance which "restructured" the Department, eliminating the foremen positions and creating a new position of deputy director. The City did not have a drafted copy of the ordinance prepared until after the meeting. The authority purportedly vested in the new position of deputy director under the ordinance mirrored that accorded a supervisor under section 3(r) of the Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 48, par. 1603(r)).

Seiler, the director of public works, later testified before the hearing officer that he had never discussed or heard of any plan to reduce the Department's staff prior to the July 31, 1985, meeting. Harry Klein, the city treasurer, testified subsequently that as early as February of 1985 he had recommended to Seiler and other city officials, based on purely fiscal considerations, that the City restructure the Department. Klein said his recommendation was based, inter alia, upon an article he had read in the Illinois Municipal Review and his belief that it was cheaper and more efficient to have street repairs effected by private contractors. Seiler testified that the City had saved a substantial amount of money by having the Department's employees do the work, and the work done by the Department's employees was as good or better than that completed by private contractors. The hearing officer subsequently determined that the article Klein claimed to have relied on in making his February 1985 recommendation was not published before July or August of 1985. Because of the internal inconsistencies in Klein's testimony and the conflicts with the testimony of Seiler, the hearing officer rejected Klein's testimony as not credible.

Only one Department employee was affected by the restructuring--Robert Randle. On August 1, 1985, the day after the meeting, and upon his arrival at work, Randle was informed that he was no longer employed by the City. When Herrmann arrived, he confirmed that Randle had been terminated. Neither Herrmann nor Seiler gave Randle a reason for his dismissal.

On August 6, 1985, AFSCME filed an unfair labor practice in connection with Randle's discharge. The Board issued a complaint and the matter was heard by a hearing officer on November 20, and December 13 and 18, 1985. AFSCME claimed that the ordinance was enacted to remove the foremen positions from the bargaining unit and to terminate Randle. The City denied any improper motive behind enactment of the ordinance, claiming that the ordinance was enacted in response to fiscal exigencies. It was only after issuance of the hearing officer's recommended decision and order that the City first raised as a justification for its action the need to maintain "first-line supervision" in the Department. The hearing officer rejected the City's position, noting the inconsistencies in the testimony of Klein and Seiler. The hearing officer issued a recommended order calling for reinstatement of Randle in his former position, or a comparable one, with back pay and benefits.

The Board adopted the hearing officer's recommended order, stating:

"We do not condone pretextual actions taken by a public employer, under the guise of 'legitimacy', which are actually intended to, and have the effect of, subverting the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and denying employees its rights and protections."

The Board noted the timing of the City's "abrupt" reorganization, that no discussion preceded it, and that the City presented "no credible evidence * * * to support any economic justification." Moreover, the Board considered the City's argument concerning first-line supervision and rejected it, finding "the City's 'reorganization' did not alleviate any alleged 'first-line supervision' problems; indeed, it did not change the Department's structure at all, except to rid itself of a known union adherent." The Board considered the City's shift in its justification as further proof that its motive was unlawful and rejected that claim as a pretext, unworthy of belief. While the Board acknowledged that an employer can reorganize its departments for any legitimate reason, it stated that an employer cannot do so when its purpose is to evade the requirements of the Act. The Board found that the City's reorganization was motivated "solely" by its desire to deny its employees their rights under the Act. The Board ordered Randle reinstated to a position comparable to the one he had previously held, with back pay and benefits, and ordered Maza's appointment as deputy director rescinded. Contemporaneously, the Board dismissed unit clarification petitions the City had filed.

In addressing the unfair labor practice issue, the appellate court identified the key question as whether the discharge of Randle was motivated by antiunion animus. The court acknowledged the City's contention that its action was prompted by the need to maintain "first-line supervision," then placed the burden on the employer to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the City was "principally motivated by legitimate business reasons." (168 Ill.App.3d at 893, 119 Ill.Dec. 600, 523 N.E.2d 68.) The court stated that it was required to "determine whether substantial evidence sustains the Board's conclusion that the City's actions were...

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