KENT CTY. DEPUTY SHERIFFS'ASS'N v. KENT CTY. SHERIFF, Docket No. 210754.

• Decision Date: 10 February 2000
• Docket Number: Docket No. 210754.
• Parties: KENT COUNTY DEPUTY SHERIFFS' ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. KENT COUNTY SHERIFF and Kent County, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

605 N.W.2d 363

238 Mich. App. 310

KENT COUNTY DEPUTY SHERIFFS' ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. KENT COUNTY SHERIFF and Kent County, Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 210754.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted May 5, 1999, at Grand Rapids.

Decided October 26, 1999, at 9:15 a.m.

Released for Publication February 10, 2000.

Hankins & Flanigan, P.C. (by Dan E. Hankins and Timothy G. Holland), Okemos, for the plaintiff.

Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, P.L.C. (by Jack R. Clary and Peter H. Peterson), Grand Rapids, for the defendant.

Before: HOEKSTRA, P.J., and SAAD and R.B. BURNS¹, JJ.

SAAD, J.

In this lawsuit brought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),² and the Employee Right to Know Act (ERKA),³ plaintiff, Kent County Deputy Sheriffs' Association (hereinafter the association), sought the release of documents from defendants, Kent County Sheriff and Kent County.⁴ The association wanted defendant's internal affairs files, i.e., the records and witness statements defendant kept relating to defendant's investigation of two deputy sheriffs disciplined for violating agency rules. In an earlier agency proceeding between the same parties, but involving different deputies, the association had sought the internal affairs files from defendant, but the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) ruled that the files were exempt from disclosure under the public employment relations act (PERA).⁵ Because the association's request here involved a potential grievance arbitration under a collective bargaining agreement, and an unfair labor practice under the PERA if the request was wrongfully denied, defendant, relying on the MERC ruling in an identical case, responded that the MERC had exclusive jurisdiction over the matter. Defendant also argued that if the FOIA or the ERKA were to be interpreted to require disclosure, then these statutes would be in conflict with the PERA, which protects these records from disclosure and which takes precedence over the FOIA. Defendant also contends that the investigatory files are not subject to disclosure under either the FOIA or the ERKA. The trial court disagreed with defendant and ordered the release of the documents. Defendant appealed, and we reverse.

I. Nature of the Case

The PERA governs public sector labor law, and its provisions have been held to take precedence over other conflicting laws to ensure uniformity, consistency, and predictability in the critically important and complex field of public sector labor law. Rockwell v. Crestwood School Dist. Bd. of Ed., 393 Mich. 616, 629, 227 N.W.2d 736 (1975). The MERC is the sole state agency charged with the interpretation and enforcement of this highly specialized and politically sensitive field of law. Id., at 630, 227 N.W.2d 736; MCL 423.216; MSA 17.455(16).

"A major purpose of the FOIA is to enable the general public to obtain full and complete information regarding governmental decision making." Herald Co. v. Bay City, 228 Mich.App. 268, 286, 577 N.W.2d 696 (1998). A party claiming that material is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA bears the burden of proving that one of the statutory exemptions applies. Id. The FOIA has been interpreted broadly to allow public access, and its exceptions are interpreted narrowly so its disclosure provisions are not undermined. Lepp v. Cheboygan Area Schools, 190 Mich.App. 726, 729, 476 N.W.2d 506 (1991); Bradley v. Saranac Community Schools Bd. of Ed., 455 Mich. 285, 293, 565 N.W.2d 650 (1997).

In the labor law arena, unions frequently seek information and materials from management that the union asserts are necessary to bargain collectively (regarding, for example, wages, overtime, and pensions). In the private sector, under the federal Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), 29 U.S.C. 141 et seq., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has exclusive jurisdiction to resolve unfair labor practice disputes. 29 U.S.C. 160. Unless the information is protected from disclosure, an employer's failure to comply with the union's request for information and documents constitutes an unfair labor practice—a failure to bargain in good faith. General Motors Corp. v. NLRB, 700 F.2d 1083, 1088 (C.A.6, 1983); 29 U.S.C. 158(a)(5). See also AFSCME Local 2343 v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 330 U.S.App.D.C. 136, 144 F.3d 85 (C.A.D.C., 1998); NLRB v. United States Postal Service, 888 F.2d 1568, 1570 (C.A.11, 1989). Analogously, in Michigan's public sector, the employer's failure to release nonprotected information constitutes an unfair labor practice under the PERA, as interpreted and enforced by the MERC. M.C.L. § 423.210(1)(e); MSA 17.455(10)(1)(e). Questions of what information is vital to bargaining—and thus subject to disclosure—and what information is proprietary and confidential—and thus protected from disclosure—go to the heart of the collective bargaining and grievance arbitration law of labor management relations. See Detroit Edison Co. v. NLRB, 440 U.S. 301, 303, 99 S.Ct. 1123, 59 L.Ed.2d 333 (1979); NLRB v. Truitt Mfg. Co., 351 U.S. 149, 76 S.Ct. 753, 100 L.Ed. 1027 (1956).

In a dispute that involved the same parties and the precise issue now before us, the MERC determined that defendant law enforcement agency was not obliged to provide the association with copies of internal affairs records relating to association members' alleged misconduct. Kent Co. v. Kent Co. Deputy Sheriffs Ass'n, 1991 MERC Lab. Op. 374; 4 MPER 194 (1991). Recently, the MERC reiterated this position in Battle Creek v. Police Officers Labor Council, 12 MPER 25 (1998), which also involved an attempt by a police officers' union to obtain internal affairs records. In an apparent attempt to avoid an unfavorable ruling from the MERC, the association here sought to get the information by using the FOIA. Therefore, the following issue of first impression is raised by this appeal: Does a public sector labor union's FOIA request for information from a public sector employer create an unfair labor practice issue that falls within the MERC's exclusive jurisdiction? We answer yes and hold that the circuit court lacks jurisdiction over the association's FOIA and ERKA action. We also hold that the PERA, as the dominant law in public sector labor relations, precludes the association's FOIA and ERKA actions. Furthermore, we conclude that the documents are not subject to disclosure under the FOIA.

II. Facts and Proceedings

The association and defendant, a public employer, are parties to a collective bargaining agreement, subject to the PERA. The association represents the deputy sheriffs employed by defendant, including corrections officers John Biddington and Rodney Perdue. This case arose when the sheriff disciplined officers Biddington and Perdue for alleged misconduct. Biddington was dismissed after an off-duty incident in which he propositioned a woman in a restaurant to perform sexual acts for money. Perdue was suspended for twelve days without pay for using excessive force against a jail inmate.

Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement, the officers filed grievances. Anticipating that Perdue's grievance would proceed to arbitration, the association requested that defendant provide it with a copy of the internal affairs investigation file. This file consisted of documents defendant compiled in the course of investigating the charges against Biddington and Perdue, and presumably included statements by other officers with knowledge of the incidents. Defendant denied the request, asserting that it had no obligation to release the documents. Defendant relied on a previous MERC ruling, in which the MERC decided the precise issue between these parties in an unfair labor practice proceeding. Kent Co. v. Kent Co. Deputy Sheriffs Ass'n, supra. There, the MERC determined that "internal investigations conducted for the purpose of determining whether or not there was employee misconduct, fall within the confidential information exception," 1991 MERC Lab. Op. 377; 4 MPER 196 to an "[e]mployer's general obligation to provide information that is relevant and necessary to the performance of the [u]nion's duty as the collective bargaining representative," 1991 MERC Lab. Op. 376; 4 MPER 195. Consequently, defendant's refusal to release the documents did not constitute an unfair labor practice.

Having already lost on this issue under the PERA before the MERC, the association tried another way to obtain the investigation documents, this time through an FOIA and ERKA request for all reports concerning disciplinary action for both Perdue and Biddington. Although defendant released certain documents in response to this request, it maintained that the remaining records were not subject to disclosure under either the FOIA or the ERKA. The association filed suit, alleging that defendant's refusal to release the internal affairs records violated the FOIA and the ERKA, as well as the Michigan Constitution's Fair and Just Treatment Clause, Const. 1963, art. 1, § 17. The association stated in its complaint that it needed the grievants' statements, the witnesses' identities and statements, and the medical reports and other documents in order to "prepare for arbitration" (emphasis supplied).

Defendant contended that the association's FOIA action to obtain documents unavailable through the MERC was a thinly disguised claim of an unfair labor practice and attempt to circumvent the MERC's exclusive jurisdiction. Defendant further argued that neither the FOIA, the PERA, nor the constitution required release of these documents. Alternatively, defendant argued that if the FOIA or the ERKA did, in fact, mandate disclosure, then these statutes would be in conflict with the PERA, which protected the confidentiality of these records and which took precedence over the FOIA and the ERKA.

The trial court rejected defendant's arguments and ordered defendant to release the documents pursuant to the FOIA. Defendant now appeals....