Administrative Office of Illinois Courts v. State and Mun. Teamsters, Chauffeurs and Helpers Union, Local 726

• Decision Date: 19 October 1995
• Docket Number: AFL-CIO,No. 75621,75621
• Citation: 167 Ill.2d 180,657 N.E.2d 972,212 Ill.Dec. 627
• Parties: , 212 Ill.Dec. 627, 150 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2935 ., Petitioners, v. STATE AND MUNICIPAL TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS AND HELPERS UNION, LOCAL 726, International Brotherhood of Teamsters,, et al., Respondents. Supreme Court of Illinois
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 972

657 N.E.2d 972

167 Ill.2d 180, 212 Ill.Dec. 627, 150

L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2935

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF the ILLINOIS COURTS et al., Petitioners, v. STATE AND MUNICIPAL TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS AND HELPERS UNION LOCAL 726, International Brotherhood of Teamsters AFL-CIO, et al., Respondents.

No. 75621.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 19, 1995.

Roland W. Burris, Attorney General, Springfield (Rosalyn B. Kaplan, Solicitor General, Chicago, of counsel), for petitioners.

Lisa B. Moss and John F. Ward, of Carmell, Charone, Widmer, Mathews & Moss, Chicago, for respondent State & Municipal Teamsters, Chauffeurs & Helpers Union, Local 726.

Jacalyn J. Zimmerman, Special Assistant Attorney General, Springfield, for respondent Illinois State Labor Relations Board.

PER CURIAM:

This is an original action for a writ of prohibition (Ill. Const.1970, art. VI, § 4(a); 134 Ill.2d R. 381) brought by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts and by 20 of the 22 chief circuit judges of the State of Illinois. In their complaint, the plaintiffs seek to prohibit the Illinois State Labor Relations Board from considering a union representation/certification petition submitted to the State Board pursuant to the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (5 ILCS 315/1 through 27 (West 1992)). As we explain below, we conclude that separation of powers concerns require that this court, as an employer of the employees at issue here, not be subject to the authority of the administrative agency. Accordingly, we issue the requested writ of prohibition and enjoin the administrative agency from proceeding further with the present matter.

The origins of the case at bar lie in a representation/certification petition filed with the Illinois State Labor Relations Board on November 30, 1992, by Local 726 of the State and Municipal Teamsters, Chauffeurs and Helpers Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO (Local 726). The Illinois State Labor Relations Board (State Board) has jurisdiction "over collective bargaining matters between employee organizations and the State of Illinois," among other employers. (5 ILCS 315/5(a) (West 1992).) Local 726 is seeking to represent, for collective-bargaining purposes pursuant to the Public Labor Relations Act, certified court reporters employed in the circuit courts of Illinois. The union's petition designated the State of Illinois as the employer of the court reporters and identified the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts as the employer representative. A copy of the petition was served on William M. Madden, then acting director of the Administrative Office.

An evidentiary hearing on the petition was conducted on January 11, 1993. At the hearing, Local 726 asserted that the State is the employer of the court reporters and that the Administrative Office is an appropriate employer representative. The Administrative Office took an opposing view, contending that the court reporters in each circuit are jointly employed by this court and the chief judge of the circuit. The Administrative Office maintained further that this court and the chief judges would be necessary parties to a proceeding under the Act but that the State Board could not exercise jurisdiction over the court without violating the separation of powers doctrine. The only witness to testify at the hearing was the acting director of the Administrative Office.

The hearing officer issued a recommended decision and order on February 23, 1993. The hearing officer found that this court is the sole employer of the court reporters. The hearing officer rejected the Administrative Office's contention that the chief circuit judges should be viewed as joint employers, concluding that whatever authority the chief judges might possess in that regard is subject to the greater authority of this court. In addition, the hearing officer disagreed with the Administrative Office's argument that this court cannot be subject to the jurisdiction of the State Board. The hearing officer believed that proceedings under the Labor Act would affect only nonjudicial, administrative matters and thus would not intrude on this court's judicial function. The hearing officer directed that a representation election be held in a bargaining unit that would comprise all court reporters employed by the State in the circuit courts, with the exception of court reporters serving in administrative, supervisory, confidential, or managerial capacities.

The Administrative Office and Local 726 separately filed exceptions to the hearing officer's recommended decision and order. Both parties challenged the hearing officer's conclusion that the supreme court is the sole employer of the court reporters. After hearing arguments by the two parties, the Illinois State Labor Relations Board issued a decision and order in the matter on May 25, 1993. In its decision, the State Board identified three possible employers of the court reporters: this court, the Administrative Office, and the chief judges of the State's 22 judicial circuits. The Board noted that only the Administrative Office had been served with notice of the proceedings and had appeared at the evidentiary hearing; without the participation of the two other potential employers, the Board found the record insufficient to identify the employer or employers of the court reporters. The Board therefore remanded the matter to the hearing officer for further proceedings, with directions to the hearing officer to amend the union's certification/representation petition and to serve the amended petition on the supreme court, the Administrative Office, and the 22 chief judges. The Board also directed the hearing officer to conduct further hearings as necessary and to issue a supplemental recommended decision and order.

A supplemental hearing was scheduled for June 18, 1993. The chief judges jointly entered their appearances before the Board on June 3, 1993; this court did not enter an appearance. On June 11, 1993, the Administrative Office and 20 of the 22 chief circuit judges instituted the present case, filing in this court a motion for leave to file an original complaint for a writ of prohibition. Named as defendants in the complaint are the State Board and Local 726. By their complaint, the plaintiffs seek to prevent the hearing officer and the State Board from taking any further action on the pending representation/certification petition. We entered an order staying the administrative proceedings, and we later granted the plaintiffs leave to file the present complaint for a writ of prohibition.

The plaintiffs contend that the supreme court and the chief judges are joint employers of the official court reporters. The plaintiffs further maintain that the Public Labor Relations Act cannot be applied to supreme court employees without infringing on this court's constitutional authority and violating the separation of powers doctrine. In response, the State Board and Local 726 both argue that the present matter is not ripe for adjudication because a number of factual questions remain unresolved and because the State Board has not decided any issue adversely to this court. The State Board also contends that the matter falls within its primary jurisdiction and that this court should therefore defer to the agency so that the agency may make the initial determination. With respect to the separation of powers question, the Board and Local 726 contend that prior decisions of this court have established that there is no constitutional infirmity in applying the Labor Act to the judicial branch and, in any event, that application of the Act to employees of this court does not infringe on this court's judicial authority. In addition to the preceding arguments, Local 726 raises the alternative contention that this court alone should be regarded as the employer of the court reporters and that the Administrative Office is an appropriate employer representative.

The parties agree that a writ of prohibition will not be awarded unless the following prerequisites have been satisfied:

"For a writ of prohibition to be issued, the action to be prohibited must be judicial or quasi-judicial in nature; the jurisdiction of the tribunal against which the writ is sought must be inferior to that of the issuing court; the action to be prohibited must be either outside the tribunal's jurisdiction or, if within its jurisdiction, beyond its legitimate authority; and the petitioner must be without any other adequate remedy. (People ex rel. No. 3 J. & E. Discount, Inc. v. Whitler (1980), 81 Ill.2d 473, 479-80 [43 Ill.Dec. 721, 410 N.E.2d 854].)" Orenic v. Illinois State Labor Relations Board (1989), 127 Ill.2d 453, 468, 130 Ill.Dec. 455, 537 N.E.2d 784.

The parties also agree that the first two requirements governing the issuance of a writ of prohibition have been met in this case: the action to be prohibited is quasi-judicial in nature, and the tribunal against which the writ is sought is inferior to this court. The present dispute centers on the third and fourth requirements listed above: whether the action to be prohibited is outside the Board's jurisdiction or authority, and whether the plaintiffs are without any other adequate remedy. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that this is a proper case for prohibition.

We will determine, as a threshold matter, whether this court is an employer of the official court reporters. Although constitutional concerns could still be present even in the absence of a direct employment relationship between this court and the court reporters, the existence of that relationship provides one means of gauging the potential impact of the Act on this court's administrative and supervisory authority over the judicial branch of State government. Even if this court were not an employer of the court reporters, constitutional problems could still arise, given the nature of the work of the court reporters...