State ex rel. Walker v. Lancaster City School Dist. Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 16 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-1645,96-1645
• Citation: 79 Ohio St.3d 216,680 N.E.2d 993
• Parties: , 119 Ed. Law Rep. 234 The STATE ex rel. WALKER, Appellee, v. LANCASTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Appellants.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 216

79 Ohio St.3d 216

680 N.E.2d 993, 119 Ed. Law Rep. 234

The STATE ex rel. WALKER, Appellee, v. LANCASTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Appellants.

No. 96-1645.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted March 31, 1997.

Decided July 16, 1997.

Cloppert, Portman, Sauter, Latanick & Foley and David G. Latanick, Columbus, for appellee.

Bricker & Eckler and Sue Wyskiver Yount, Columbus, for appellants.

COOK, Justice.

Before we can reach the question of the revocability of service credit, we must address the Board's assertion that the grievance and arbitration procedure of a collective bargaining agreement constitutes an adequate remedy at law when pursuing a claim for wages, including placement on a teachers' salary schedule, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between a public employer and an exclusive bargaining representative.

A writ of mandamus will not issue where there is an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law. R.C. 2731.05. A remedy is adequate if it is complete, beneficial, and speedy. State ex rel. Horwitz v. Cuyahoga Cty. Court of Common Pleas, Probate Div. (1992), 65 Ohio St.3d 323, 328, 603 N.E.2d 1005, 1009. A grievance and arbitration procedure in a collective bargaining agreement generally provides an adequate legal remedy, which precludes extraordinary relief in mandamus, when violations of the agreement are alleged by a person who is a member of the bargaining unit covered by the agreement. State ex rel. Zimmerman v. Tompkins (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 447, 449, 663 N.E.2d 639, 641.

Contrary to the Board's assertion, however, State ex rel. Johnson v. Cleveland Hts./Univ. Hts. School Dist. Bd. of Edn. (1995), 73 Ohio St.3d 189, 652 N.E.2d 750, does not always mandate that a grievance and arbitration procedure in a collective bargaining agreement constitutes an adequate remedy for a teacher's claim that she is entitled to increased salary based on an increment in years of training. The Johnson claimant conceded that her claim was based on the collective bargaining agreement. Id. at 192, 652 N.E.2d at 752. Conversely, Walker denies that her claim is based on the collective bargaining agreement.

Article VI(A)(2) of the collective bargaining agreement between the Board and the LEA defines a "grievance" as a "complaint involving the alleged violation, misinterpretation, or misapplication of this contract." The agreement does not address calculation of days of substitute teaching experience for service credit purposes. Nor does it contain provisions concerning the Board's authority to revoke previously granted service credit. In the absence of a grievable issue, the grievance and arbitration procedure does not constitute an adequate legal remedy in the ordinary course of law. See, also, Tapo v. Columbus Bd. of Edn. (1987), 31 Ohio St.3d 105, 31 OBR 268, 509 N.E.2d 419, syllabus. Accordingly, we reject the Board's first proposition of law.

Appellants assert, in their second proposition of law, that a board of education that has erroneously awarded a year of service credit must have the authority to correct that error.

R.C. 3317.13(A)(1) defines "years of service" to include "[a]ll years of teaching service in the same school district * * *, regardless of training level, with each year consisting of at least one hundred twenty days under a teacher's contract[.]" Pursuant to R.C. 3317.13(A)(1), the school board is not required to aggregate either teaching experience from different school districts or half days from the same school district. See, generally, State ex rel. Filipiak v. Midview Local School Dist. Bd. of Edn. (1993), 95 Ohio App.3d 139, 641 N.E.2d 1380; Oney v. Westerville City School Dist. Bd. of Edn. (Sept. 29, 1981), Franklin App. No. 81AP-171, unreported, 1981 WL 3488. Nonetheless, despite the statutory definition of "years of service," a board of education is free to establish its own service credit requirements. See, e.g., Maple Hts. Teachers Assn. v. Maple Hts. Bd. of Edn. (1983), 6 Ohio St.3d 314, 6 OBR 374, 453 N.E.2d 619, syllabus ("Notwithstanding the definition of 'years of service' in R.C. 3317.13, a board of education is authorized by R.C. 3317.14 to establish its own service requirements as long as each teacher is given full credit for a minimum of five years' prior actual teaching experience.").

The court of appeals, relying on State ex rel. Madden v. Windham Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Edn. (1989), 42 Ohio St.3d 86, 537 N.E.2d 646, held that once the Board granted the one-year service credit to Walker, it could not revoke that credit. In Madden, a school board granted a one-year service credit to a teacher even though she had not taught a sufficient number of days during that year to be eligible for the credit. This court held that the school board was not entitled to withdraw the credit when the teacher resigned and returned to her position eight years later because, "although [the school board] had discretion in 1968 whether to credit [the teacher] with one year of teaching, it did not have continuing discretion to withdraw it at a later date." Id. at 89-90, 537 N.E.2d at 649.

In the present case, the court of appeals determined that under Madden, "[o]nly if the record demonstrates some action by the teacher indicating she voluntarily and knowingly relinquished her right to the additional year of service is the Board entitled to reduce it." The Board claims, however, that the award of additional service credit to Walker resulted from mistake, not a discretionary decision to vary from the statute. Therefore, the Board continues, the court of appeals' reliance on Madden is misplaced. The Madden court suggested its decision may have been different had the service credit been the result of mistake or fraud. Id. at 89, 537 N.E.2d at 648 ("In the case before us, it is undisputed that when respondent credited relator with one year of teaching experience, it was under no obligation to do so since she only had one hundred five days of teaching in the prior year. Clearly such an act was discretionary and was not the product of any mistake or fraud." [Emphasis added.]). If the additional service credit to Walker resulted from mistake, then Madden is not controlling.

The court...