City of Pittsfield v. Local 447 Int'l Bhd. of Police Officers

• Decision Date: 03 October 2018
• Docket Number: SJC-12450
• Citation: 480 Mass. 634,107 N.E.3d 1137
• Parties: CITY OF PITTSFIELD v. LOCAL 447 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF POLICE OFFICERS.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

480 Mass. 634

107 N.E.3d 1137

CITY OF PITTSFIELD

v.LOCAL 447 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF POLICE OFFICERS.

SJC-12450

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Berkshire..

Argued May 7, 2018

Decided October 3, 2018

Richard M. Dohoney for the plaintiff.

Timothy M. Burke (Jared S. Burke also present) for the defendant.

Eric R. Atstupenas, for Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, Inc., amicus curiae, submitted a brief.

Present: Gants, C.J., Gaziano, Lowy, Budd, & Cypher, JJ.

CYPHER, J.

Dale Eason was terminated from his position as a police officer in the Pittsfield police department on grounds of conduct unbecoming a police officer, untruthfulness, and falsifying records. His union, Local 447 International Brotherhood of Police Officers (union), filed a grievance, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between the union and the city of Pittsfield (city). The union and city submitted Eason's termination to arbitration with two agreed-upon issues: (1) "Was there just cause to terminate the employment of Dale Eason?"; and (2) "If not, what shall the remedy be?" The arbitrator found that there was not just cause for termination and reinstated Eason with a three-day suspension.

The city commenced an action pursuant to G. L. c. 150C, § 11, in the Superior Court to vacate the arbitrator's award, arguing that it is contrary to public policy. A Superior Court judge confirmed the arbitration award, and the city appealed. We thereafter granted the city's application for direct appellate review. We conclude that the arbitrator's award of reinstatement does not violate public policy in the circumstances of this case, where the arbitrator found that the officer's statements were "intentionally misleading" but not "intentionally false" and where the statements did not lead to a wrongful arrest or prosecution, or result in any deprivation of liberty or denial of civil rights.

Background. We recite the facts as found by the arbitrator. The case arose from a February, 2016, incident in which Eason responded to a reported larceny at a supermarket. Eason arrested a woman, identified by supermarket security, and placed her in the back of his police cruiser. In his arrest report, Eason said the suspect "began thrashing her body around in the back seat .... For her safety, I attempted to remove the [suspect] from my vehicle and place her onto the ground to control her body." He additionally noted, "Also, [supermarket] [s]ecurity wanted to get a photo as part of their process."

The arbitrator explained that "[w]hen questioned during the investigation, [Eason] acknowledged that he removed the [suspect] from the back seat of his police cruiser to enable the supermarket security to photograph her, pursuant to a practice of photographing larceny suspects, which officers know about and facilitate." The city terminated Eason for "conduct unbecoming a police officer, untruthfulness, and falsifying records, based on the reason [he] reported for removal of the [suspect], expressed [as]: ‘for her safety.’ " The city also asserted that there was no evidence that the suspect was thrashing in the cruiser. Eason "acknowledge[d] that he removed the [suspect] to enable the store to photograph her, according to practice" and "also assert[ed] that the [suspect] had been out of control in the back of the car before she was removed, but not immediately prior to her removal. [He] denie[d] that he lied, implicitly, because she was thrashing and they needed to photograph her, fairly simultaneously."

The arbitrator held that Eason's misconduct did not amount to just cause for termination, "a capital offense in the employment context." The arbitrator found that "the three words at issue were untrue, intentionally misleading, and cause for discipline, but less than intentionally false" (emphasis in original).¹ He also found that there was "persuasive evidence that the [suspect] acted up in the back before she was removed." The arbitrator held that the city failed to "persuade [him] that [Eason's] misconduct was so serious that it justified termination without prior, corrective discipline."

Discussion. A brief reminder of the history of labor arbitration is useful to put the discussion that follows in context. In 1935, Congress recognized that "the refusal by some employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining lead[s] to strikes and other forms of industrial strife or unrest" and enacted the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 151 - 169. 29 U.S.C. § 151. In pursuit of labor peace and "the free flow of ... commerce," Congress declared it to be the policy of the United States to encourage collective bargaining. Id. See National Labor Relations Bd. v. Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co., 388 U.S. 175, 180, 87 S.Ct. 2001, 18 L.Ed.2d 1123 (1967) ("National labor policy has been built on the premise that by pooling their economic strength and acting through a labor organization freely chosen by the majority, the employees of an appropriate unit have the most effective means of bargaining for improvements in wages, hours, and working conditions"). To effectuate that policy, Congress established a framework for representation of private sector workers by a labor organization elected by the majority of employees. Once that organization, often a union, was elected and certified as the employees' exclusive bargaining representative, it was a violation of law for an employer to refuse to bargain in good faith to reach a collective bargaining agreement. 29 U.S.C. § 158.

The NLRA, however, does not reach the bargaining relationship between workers and their public employers at the State and local level. In 1973, the Legislature established an analog to the NLRA, G. L. c. 150E, governing bargaining between public employers and employees. Similar to the NLRA,² G. L. c. 150E prohibits employers from refusing to bargain in good faith with elected employee representatives.

The Legislature further evinces its preference for the results of collective bargaining, including the outcome of arbitration, in G. L. c. 150E, § 7 (d ), mandating that the terms of collective bargaining agreements shall prevail over certain statutes governing myriad working conditions of public employees, including regulations promulgated by a police commissioner. See id.; Boston v. Boston Police Patrolmen's Ass'n, 477 Mass. 434, 441, 78 N.E.3d 66 (2017) ( Williams ) (noting "courts' reluctance to allow [police commissioner's] broad discretionary powers to subsume bargained-for provisions").

1. Standard of review. The collective bargaining agreement between the city and the union, like many of its kind, contains a grievance procedure. A delicate balance of both parties' concessions and demands yielded the city's promise to consider the union's grievances³ through a process that, if necessary, culminates with arbitration. In any collective bargaining context, it is the arbitrator's expertise that the parties bargained for. United Steelworkers of Am. v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U.S. 564, 568, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960). The Legislature has indorsed, and we must respect, a strong public policy favoring arbitration. School Comm. of Pittsfield v. United Educators of Pittsfield, 438 Mass. 753, 758, 784 N.E.2d 11 (2003) ("Public policy in the Commonwealth strongly encourages arbitration"). "Arbitration would have little value if it were merely an intermediate step between a grievance and litigation in the courts." Id. The Legislature has codified this priority, permitting courts to vacate arbitration awards only in rare, statutorily enumerated circumstances. See G. L. c. 150C, § 11.

The system of collective bargaining created and indorsed by the Legislature necessitates deference to the bargained-for result of an arbitrator's award. We review the trial judge's decision to uphold the arbitration award de novo, but our examination of the underlying award is informed by the "strong public policy favoring arbitration" (citation omitted). See Bureau of Special Investigations v. Coalition of Pub. Safety, 430 Mass. 601, 603, 722 N.E.2d 441 (2000). However, the relationship between a reviewing court and the result of an arbitration is unlike the relationship between an appellate court and the outcome of a lower court's proceedings. City of Lynn v. Thompson, 435 Mass. 54, 61, 754 N.E.2d 54 (2001), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1131, 122 S.Ct. 1071, 151 L.Ed.2d 973 (2002). Our review of the underlying arbitration decision is considerably more deferential than even the abuse of discretion or clear error standards applied to lower court decisions. Id. See Williams, 477 Mass. at 439-440, 78 N.E.3d 66. Indeed, an arbitration award carries a presumption of propriety because it is the arbitrator's judgment, not necessarily an objectively correct answer, for which the parties have bargained. United Steelworkers of Am., 363 U.S. at 568, 80 S.Ct. 1343.

We therefore "uphold an arbitrator's decision even where it is wrong on the facts or the law, and whether it is wise or foolish, clear or ambiguous." Boston v. Boston Police Patrolmen's Ass'n, 443 Mass. 813, 818, 824 N.E.2d 855 (2005) ( DiSciullo ). "Because the parties have contracted to have disputes settled by an arbitrator chosen by them rather than by a judge, it is the arbitrator's view of the facts and of the meaning of the contract that they have agreed to accept." United Paperworkers Int'l Union, AFL-CIO v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29, 37–38, 108 S.Ct. 364, 98 L.Ed.2d 286 (1987) ( Misco ). Where the arbitrator allegedly engaged in "improvident, even silly, factfinding," we are nonetheless bound by those facts. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n v. Garvey, 532 U.S. 504, 509, 121 S.Ct. 1724, 149 L.Ed.2d 740 (2001), quoting Misco, supra at 39, 108 S.Ct. 364. See City of Lynn, 435 Mass. at 62, 754 N.E.2d 54, quoting Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, Int'l, 861 F.2d 665, 670 (11th Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 871, 110 S.Ct. 201, 107 L.Ed.2d 154 (1989)...