Keene State College Ed. Ass'n, NHEA/NEA v. State

• Decision Date: 12 January 1979
• Docket Number: No. 7878,7878
• Citation: 119 N.H. 1,396 A.2d 1099
• Parties: , 100 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2937 KEENE STATE COLLEGE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, NHEA/NEA v. STATE of New Hampshire and Public Employee Labor Relations Board.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

Page 1099

396 A.2d 1099

119 N.H. 1, 100 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2937

KEENE STATE COLLEGE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, NHEA/NEA v. STATE of New Hampshire and Public Employee Labor Relations Board.

No. 7878.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire.

Jan. 12, 1979.

McLane, Graf, Greene, Raulerson & Middleton, Manchester (Jack B. Middleton, Manchester, orally), for plaintiff.

Devine, Millimet, Stahl & Branch, P. A., Manchester, and Morgan, Brown, Kearns & Joy, Boston, Mass. (Nicholas DiGiovanni, Jr., Boston, Mass., orally), for defendants.

BROCK, Justice.

This is an appeal by the Keene State College Education Association (the Association) from a ruling of the Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB) that certain lecturers are excluded from the bargaining unit of full-time faculty at Keene State College. Our previous decision in this dispute reviewed the PELRB's determination that the full-time faculty at Keene State College constituted a bargaining unit under RSA 273-A:8. University System v. State, 117 N.H. 96, 369 A.2d 1139 (1977). Thereafter, on April 26 and 27, 1977, representative elections were held pursuant to RSA 273-A:10, to determine whether the faculty at Keene State College wished to be represented in collective bargaining by an employee organization. Voters could select representation by one of three employee organizations listed on the ballot, or could vote for "no representative." None of the four choices gained a majority of votes. At a run-off election held on October 29, 1977, the plaintiff Association received sixty-two votes and "no representative" received sixty votes. The University challenged fourteen ballots cast by lecturers. Because these challenged votes will affect the outcome of the election, the PELRB's order not to count them is an appealable "final order" under RSA 273-A:14. N. H. Dept. of Revenue Admin. v. PELRB, 117 N.H. ---, ---, 380 A.2d 1085, 1087 (1977).

In its decision on May 6, 1977, reaffirmed on July 11, 1977, the PELRB found first, that full-time lecturers are "temporary" employees under RSA 273-A:1 IX(d), and therefore "must be excluded from the unit of full-time faculty" because they are not covered by the statute; and second, that even if they are not temporary, the lecturers do not share a sufficient community of interest with other full-time faculty under RSA 273-A:8 and therefore do not belong in the same bargaining unit. We affirm the Board's decision.

The legislature has vested the PELRB with authority to initially define the terms of RSA 273-A:1, and the Board's determinations are persuasive although not controlling. SEA v. PELRB, 118 N.H. ---, 396 A.2d 1098 (December 29, 1978); State Employees' Ass'n v. State Prison, 118 N.H. ---, 388 A.2d 203 (1978); N. H. Dept. of Revenue Admin. v. PELRB, 117 N.H. ---, 380 A.2d 1085, 1086 (1977). All findings of the PELRB upon all questions of fact properly before it will be considered prima facie lawful and reasonable, and the burden is on the appealing party to show by a clear preponderance of the evidence that the PELRB's determination is...