| OHIOWA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, An | | | CASE NO. 322 |
| Unincorporated Association, | | | |
| | | ||
| Plaintiff | | | |
| | | ||
| v. | | | OPINION AND ORDER |
| | | ||
| SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER 40, | | | |
| FILLMORE COUNTY, NEBRASKA, | | | |
| a/k/a OHIOWA PUBLIC SCHOOLS, | | | |
| A Political Subdivision, | | | |
| | | ||
| Defendant. | | |
Appearances:
For the Plaintiff:Theodore L. Kessner
Mark D. McGuire
Crosby, Guenzel, Davis,
Kessner & Kuester
For the Defendant:Stephen Bartling
Christensen Law Offices, P. C.
Before: Judges Wall, Gradwohl & Orr.
GRADWOHL, P.J.:
This matter involves a determination of wages and conditions of employment for 15 Ohiowa school teachers pursuant to Section 48-818. By the time of the trial, the only two items in the industrial dispute which had not been agreed to by the parties were base salary and paid health insurance premiums.
The Association seeks a base salary of $9,386.00 and fully paid health insurance premiums for all teachers, including part time teachers, effective at the beginning of the 1979-1980 school year. The District currently pays full single health insurance premiums for all teachers, including part time teachers. The District in its post hearing brief seeks a base salary of $9,142.00 for the 1979-1980 school year, and fully paid health insurance premiums for all full time teachers and a percentage of coverage for part time teachers (based upon the percentage of time employed), effective March 1, 1980.
Of the 15 Ohiowa teachers, 12 are full time and three are part time. Ten full time teachers and all three part time teachers are married. Two full time teachers are single. The Blue Cross/Blue Shield premium for married teachers is $83.40 per month and for single teachers is $31.30 per month.
The Ohiowa student enrollment is 79, ranking 292d out of 295 K*-12 school districts in Nebraska. Ohiowa is not a member of an athletic conference and participates in only a limited number of sports which does not include football.
The parties are agreed that teachers in ChesterHubbell, Davenport, Diller, Fairmont, Filley, Milligan, Ruskin, and Shickley exhibit like or similar skills under the same or similar working conditions within the standard of Section 48-818. The Association additionally relied upon Benedict and Dorchester teachers for comparative purposes and the District additionally relied upon Byron, Elk Creek and Guide Rock teachers for comparative purposes. The Association's proposed array consisted of districts ranked 170 to 283; student enrollments of 98 to 274; and were located from 14 to 58 miles from Ohiowa. The District's proposed array consisted of districts ranked 200 to 293; student enrollments of 75 to 232; and were located from 14 to 88 miles from Ohiowa. The evidence establishes that in each of these districts, teachers perform the same or similar skills under the same or similar working conditions. We find that applying the statutory criteria, the following school districts constitute a proper array for comparative purposes in this matter: Benedict, Byron, Chester-Hubbell, Davenport, Diller, Dorchester, Elk Creek, Fairmont, Filley, Guide Rock, Milligan, Ruskin, and Shickley.
Section 48-818 states that "In establishing wage rates the court shall take into consideration the overall compensation presently received by the employees, having regard not only to wages for time actually worked but also to wages for time not worked including vacations, holidays, and other excused time, and all benefits received, including insurance and pensions, and the continuity and stability of employment enjoyed by the employees." This rule of overall compensation does not require an identity of benefits, but that the overall compensation be "comparable to the prevalent wage rates paid and conditions of employment for the same or similar work of workers exhibiting like or similar skills under the same or similar working conditions." These determinations must be made on the basis of the evidence introduced in the trial of the case. The determinations under Section 48-818 may, therefore, vary from case to case depending upon the evidence introduced by the parties.
The evidence introduced by the parties in this case is limited to a comparison of standard salary schedule compensation and fringe benefits. The 15 Ohiowa teachers have a staff index factor of 16.5936 on Ohiowa's 4 x 4 index salary schedule. The evidence of the parties agrees or is uncontested as to the standard salary schedule compensation for Ohiowa teachers on the schedules of all of the other districts except Byron. The full Byron 4 x 4 index has been used to produce a Byron staff index factor of 16.5936 for the Ohiowa teachers even though the Byron teachers are frozen to lower amounts on the schedule in some instances. For that reason, we accept the Byron figures presented by the District in Exhibit 14.
The Association assumed that all districts pay the same health insurance premiums for part time teachers as full time teachers in the computations in Exhibit 2. That Exhibit was presented and marked at the pretrial conference and was introduced on the first day of the trial. On the second and final day of the trial the District introduced Exhibit 14 showing that Chester-Hubbell, Davenport, Diller, and Ruskin do not presently employ any part time teachers. In addition, Exhibit 14 shows that some of the other districts do not pay full health insurance premiums for some or all part time teachers.
Exhibit 14 shows that Fairmont pays the same health insurance premium for part time single teachers as full time single teachers, but does not pay the same health insurance premium for part time married teachers as full time married teachers. Filley does not pay the same health insurance premium for part time single teachers as full time single teachers, but does pay the same health insurance premium for part time married teachers as full time married teachers. Guide Rock apparently pays one-half of the health insurance premium for all part time teachers. Milligan pays a percentage of the premium for part time teachers. Shickley pays no insurance premium for part time teachers. We accept the District's figures shown on Exhibit 14 in these respects.
District's Exhibit 14, however, makes no allowance for insurance premiums for part time teachers in those districts showing no part time teachers. The Association's expert witness testified that it is customary to pay insurance premiums for part time teachers, although on cross examination late in the trial, he admitted that the figures shown on Exhibit 2 had not been checked for a possible differentiation between the amount of health insurance premiums paid for full time teachers and for part time teachers. The District's assumption which assigns no value to insurance premiums for part time teachers in the computations with respect to Chester-Hubbell, Davenport, Diller, and Ruskin is not supported by the other evidence in the record. Between the positions of the Association and District, the position of the Association which assigns the same level of benefit currently provided by Ohiowa is supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
in this record. Accordingly, we accept the Association's figures shown on Exhibit 2 for the health insuance premium calculations involving those four districts. Applying the statutory criteria of Section 48-818 to the evidence in this case, we find that the base salary for Ohiowa teachers should be $9,350.00 effective at the beginning of the 1979-1980 school year, and that fully paid health insurance premiums for all teachers, including part time teachers, should be provided effective January 1, 1980. The calculations upon which these determinations are in large part based are set out in the following table:
IT 1S THEREFORE ORDERED that:
1. The base salary amount for Ohiowa teachers shall be $9,350.00, effective at the beginning of the 1979-1980 school year.
2. The District shall pay full Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance premiums for all teachers, including part time teachers, effective January 1, 1980.
This Order shall be effective for wages and conditions of employment with respect to the 1979-1980 school year.
All Judges assigned to the panel in this case join in the entry of this Opinion and Order.
Filed December 18, 1979.
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