Baker Bus Service, Inc. v. Keith

• Decision Date: 14 July 1980
• Citation: Baker Bus Service, Inc. v. Keith, 416 A.2d 727 (Me. 1980)
• Parties: 108 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3197 BAKER BUS SERVICE, INC. v. Edward W. KEITH et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 727

416 A.2d 727

108 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3197

BAKER BUS SERVICE, INC. v. Edward W. KEITH et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued June 3, 1980.

Decided July 14, 1980.

William F. Hufnagel, Winthrop (orally), for plaintiff.

Wayne W. Whitney, Jr. (orally), Maine Labor Relations Bd., Augusta, Needham, Beaulieu & Thorne, Gary F. Thorne, Old Town (orally), Teamsters Local Union No. 48, Jonathan G. Axelrod, Eastern Conference of Teamsters, Bethesda, Md., for defendants.

Before McKUSICK, C. J., and WERNICK, NICHOLS, GLASSMAN and ROBERTS, JJ.

McKUSICK, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff Baker Bus Service, Inc., appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court, Kennebec County, affirming the decision of the Maine Labor Relations Board (the "Board") that plaintiff in its operation under contract of the City of Augusta's school buses was a "public employer," as defined by 26 M.R.S.A. § 962(7) (Supp. 1979), ¹ subject to the Board's jurisdiction. Plaintiff asserts that under the statute a private corporation can never be a "public employer," and that even if it could, the facts of this case fail, as a matter of law, to establish that it is a "public employer."

We disagree and accordingly deny the appeal.

On August 19, 1977, the Augusta Board of Education (the "City"), which had in the past operated its own school bus system and was on that date involved in collective bargaining with the recognized bargaining agent for Augusta's bus drivers, defendant Teamsters Local Union No. 48, contracted its school bus operation to plaintiff Baker Bus, a private Maine corporation. Thereafter, the union began an organizational campaign among plaintiff's bus drivers who drove the Augusta school buses. On October 5, 1977, the National Labor Relations Board refused to take jurisdiction over any matters involving plaintiff, on the ground that the NLRB consistently refuses to assert jurisdiction over essentially local school transportation operations. On December 28, 1977, the union filed a petition with the Maine Labor Relations Board for appropriate unit determination and a bargaining agent election pursuant to 26 M.R.S.A. § 966. At the outset of the hearing on the petition held before a Board hearing examiner on February 22, 1978, plaintiff moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that it was not a "public employer" subject to the Board's jurisdiction. After taking evidence on this issue the examiner issued his report, concluding that the Board did have jurisdiction because plaintiff in its Augusta school bus operations was a "public employer" as defined in section 962(7).

Plaintiff appealed to the Board, which in July, 1978, conducted a hearing of its own. On October 6, 1978, the Board affirmed the examiner's decision, ruling that plaintiff was a "public employer" "to the extent that it operates the school bus system" for the City. Plaintiff's appeal to the Superior Court was denied, and its timely appeal to this court ensued.

I.

The Superior Court addressed itself to the unresolved question of what standard should be employed when reviewing the findings of fact made by the Maine Labor Relations Board in a unit determination proceeding. 26 M.R.S.A. § 968(4) provides that Board review of a unit determination decision "shall be subject to review by the Superior Court in the manner specified in section 972." Section 972, relating by its terms to review of arbitration decisions, provides:

§ 972. Review

Either party may seek a review by the Superior Court of a binding determination by an arbitration panel. Such review shall be sought in accordance with the Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 80B.

The binding determination of an arbitration panel or arbitrator, in the absence of fraud, upon all questions of fact shall be final. The court may, after consideration, affirm, reverse or modify any such binding determination or decision based upon an erroneous ruling or finding of law. An appeal may be taken to the law court as in any civil action.

The Superior Court, rather than applying the standard of "final in the absence of fraud," concluded that the Board's findings are final "only if they are supported by any credible evidence." Applying that standard to review the factfindings of the Board in this case, the court held that all the Board's findings were supported by credible evidence and therefore were binding on the court.

Although we agree with the Superior Court that the Board's findings were sufficiently supported by the evidence, we disagree with the court's construction of sections 968 and 972. In Sanford Highway Unit of Local 481, AFSCME v. Town of Sanford, Me., 411 A.2d 1010, 1013 (1980), we said, in dictum, that "26 M.R.S.A. § 968(4), by reference to § 972, makes the Board's findings of fact final 'in the absence of fraud'." Section 968(4) states that Board decisions in unit determination cases shall be reviewed in the manner outlined by section 972, and that"manner" includes an "absence of fraud" standard of review for findings of fact. Our construction is supported by an examination of section 968(5)(F), relating to appeals in prohibited practice cases, wherein the Board's findings are expressly declared to be "final unless shown to be clearly erroneous." The sharp difference in language used in successive subsections (4) and (5) of 26 M.R.S.A. § 968 strongly indicates that the legislature truly meant the Board's findings of fact in unit determination proceedings to be accorded more finality on review than its findings in prohibited practices cases. We thus conclude that in a unit determination proceeding, the Board's findings of fact are final in the absence of fraud.

In the case at bar, there has never been the slightest suggestion of fraud. Therefore, we must regard the Board's findings of fact as final. In any event, the Superior Court's application of the stricter standard of "clearly erroneous" could in no way harm plaintiff.

We also reject plaintiff's contention that reference to M.R.Civ.P. 80B in section 972 requires a standard of review that findings of fact will not be disturbed only if they are supported by "substantial evidence." Rule 80B does not itself provide a standard of review; it merely prescribes the procedure by which the Superior Court reviews governmental action. For example, under section 968(5)(F), while review of the Board's prohibited practices decision is to be "in accordance with" Rule 80B, the standard of review is separately stated as the "clearly erroneous" rule. The Administrative Procedure Act, 5 M.R.S.A. § 8001 et seq. (1979), similarly provides a distinct standard of review that of "substantial evidence on the whole record." 5 M.R.S.A. § 11007(4)(C)(5). Thus, the reference in section 972 to Rule 80B imports no standard of review contrary to that expressly provided by the statute's language final in the absence of fraud. This court's opinion in Frank v. Assessors of Skowhegan, Me., 329 A.2d 167, 170 (1974), should not be read to say anything to the contrary.

II.

Plaintiff's contention that a private corporation cannot be a "public employer" is also without merit. Section 962(7) provides that a "public employer," for purposes of the Municipal Public Employees Labor Relations Law ("the Act") (26 M.R.S.A. ch. 9-A), includes "any officer, board, commission, council, committee or other persons or body acting on behalf of any municipality or town . . . or of any school . . . district." (Emphasis added) The Act defines "person" as "an individual, corporation, partnership, company or association," 26 M.R.S.A. § 1. It is thus evident that a "public employer" can be a private corporation, such as plaintiff, if it acts on behalf of a municipality.

The phrase "acting on behalf of" used by Maine to define the sweep of the term "public employer" is apparently sui generis in public labor relations law. By including within the definition of "public employer" a corporation, as well as natural persons, who "act on behalf of" a municipality, section 962(7) invokes the general principles of agency, which are defined in the identical terms of "acting on behalf of." See Desfosses v. Notis, Me., 333 A.2d 83, 86 (1975), quoting Restatement (Second) of Agency § 1(1) (1958). However, as the Board with the affirmance of the Superior Court properly recognized, the Act's purposes do not require that every agent of a municipality be treated as a "public employer" subject to the Act. By the established law of agency, some agents are independent contractors, while there are other agents who, if natural persons, are in contrast designated as "servants." The distinction between an agent-servant and an agent-independent contractor is whether the agent's performance with respect to his physical conduct is subject to another's control or right to...