| ROSALlE FACULTY ASSOCIATION, | | | CASE NO. 383 |
| An Unincorporated Association, | | | |
| | | ||
| Plaintiff, | | | |
| | | ||
| v. | | | OPINION AND ORDER |
| | | ||
| SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER 11, THURSTON | | | |
| COUNTY, NEBRASKA, a/k/a ROSALIE PUBLIC | | | |
| SCHOOLS, A Political Subdivision of the | | | |
| State of Nebraska, | | | |
| | | ||
| Defendant. | | |
Appearances:
For the Plaintiff: Theodore L. Kessner
and Mark D. McGuire.
For the Defendant: Kelley Baker.
Before: Judges Gradwohl, Kratz and Orr.
GRADWOHL, J.:
This matter came on for trial for a determination of wages and other conditions of employment pursuant to Section 48-818. The parties stipulated that there were four areas of dispute for the 1980-1981 school contract year:
1. Base Salary.
2. Board paid health insurance - amount paid for dependents' coverage.
3. Extra-duty compensation for ticket takers.
4. Compensation for teachers frozen at the top of the salary schedule lanes.
The Commission has jurisdiction of the parties and of the subject matter.
1. Statute.
The controlling statute is Section 48-818, which states:
The findings and order or orders may establish or alter the scale of wages, hours of labor, or conditions of employment, or any one or more of the same. In making such findings and order or orders, the Commission of Industrial Relations shall establish rates of pay and conditions of employment which are comparable to the prevalent wage rates paid and conditions of employment maintained for the same or similar work of workers exhibiting like or similar skills under the same or similar working conditions. In establishing wage rates the commission 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. Any order or orders entered may be modified on the commission's own motion or on application by any of the parties affected, but only upon a showing of a change in the conditions from those prevailing at the time the original order was entered.
2. Comparables
The parties agreed that teachers in the public schools of Rosalie, Bancroft, Decatur, Prague and Snyder exhibit like or similar skills under the same or similar working conditions and are otherwise within the comparability standards of Section 48-818. The Association sought to include teachers in the Beemer, Coleridge, Newcastle and Winnebago public schools in the array. The District sought to include teachers in the Clearwater, Orchard, Monroe, and Petersburg public schools in the array. The parties stipulated that all of these teachers perform the same or similar skills under the same or similar working conditions but with the understanding that the Commission can select an array from these employments pursuant to Section 48-818 for reaching its decision in this matter.
In selecting employments for the purpose of comparison in arriving at comparable and prevalent wage rates and conditions of employment, the question is whether, as a matter of fact, the employments selected for comparison are sufficiently similar and have enough like characteristics or qualities to make comparison appropriate in that situation. Fraternal Order of Police v. County of Adams , 205 Neb. 682, 685, 289 N. W. 2d 535, 537 (1980); Omaha Assn. of Firefighters v. City of Omaha , 194 Neb. 436, 441, 231 N. W. 2d 710, 713 (1975); Crete Education Assn. v. School Dist. of Crete , 193 Neb. 245, 255, 226 N. W. 2d 752, 758 (1975). Since this is a factual determination to be made in each case, the use of a particular array in one case does not require that the same group of employments would be appropriate in a different case. Crete Education Assn. v. School Dist. of Crete , 193 Neb. 245, 255, 226 N. W. 2d 752, 758 (1975).
The evidence in this case, in addition to the stipulation as to work skills and working conditions, consisted of the size and ranking of the schools by student enrollment, geographic proximity to Rosalie, and community of interest of the other schools with Rosalie, especially as to athletic competition.
Rosalie is one of the approximately 25 smallest public schools in Nebraska in Classes II through V. It is a member of the Logan Valley Athletic Conference which consists of Beemer, Decatur, Prague, Rosalie, Snyder, Macy and Winnebago. Macy was not included in the proposed array of either party. The Association sought to include Coleridge and Newcastle on the basis of their geographic proximity to Rosalie and some athletic competition. The District sought to include Clearwater, Monroe, Orchard, and Petersburg primarily because they were within the Commission's tentative size comparison range from one-half as large to twice as large. The District also contended that at least one smaller district should be included in the array and introduced evidence that the Rosalie student enrollment is declining. Petersburg, at 107 miles, is the closest smaller public school district.
Table 1 sets out some of the information concerning the school districts in the proposed arrays. From the evidence in this case, and applying the above criteria for selecting comparable employments, it is determined that a suitable array for the purposes of Section 48-818 consists of teachers in the public schools of Bancroft, Decatur, Prague, and Snyder. These employments thoroughly comply with the requirements of Section 48-818 and have been agreed to by the parties. The other eight proposed employments, although within the scope of possible inclusion in the array, have fewer similarities and like characteristics. While it might well be appropriate to include Beemer and Winnebago because of their close proximity (30 and 15 miles, respectively) and membership in the Logan Valley Conference, despite being slightly in excess of twice as large as Rosalie, we decline to do so in this instance because of Rosalie's very small student enrollment and the size of the other schools with which comparisons are possible in this case. The schools selected by the District for comparison in addition to the four conference schools for which the parties are agreed are within the general size parameters sought by the Commission in making these comparisons, but have no significant proximity or community of interest with Rosalie. Rather than dilute the excellent and agreed to yardsticks presented by Bancroft, Decatur, Prague, and Snyder, it is preferable to limit the comparisons to an array consisting of those four public schools alone. The evidence does not indicate any strong basis for distinguishing among the additional eight public schools. And the average total teacher compensation for Bancroft, Decatur, Prague, and Snyder ($179,460) is almost identical to that for an array consisting of all twelve schools ($180,071). An array consisting of just four schools, Bancroft, Decatur, Prague, and Snyder, is an exceptionally small array, but we find that it is appropriate for settlement of this industrial dispute.
3. Determination as to "Overall Compensation."
Section 48-818 states that "In establishing wage rates the Commission 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 by the parties in the trial of the case. The determinations under Section 48-818, R.R.S. 1943, may, therefore, vary from case to case depending upon the evidence introduced by the parties.
The four items for determination by the Commission are: 1) base salary, 2) Board paid health insurance - amount paid for dependents' coverage, 3) extra-duty compensation for ticket takers, 4) compensation for teachers frozen at the top of the salary schedule lanes.
The evidence establishes the following salary and fringe benefit comparisons as compiled in Table 2. The actual salaries currently being paid at Rosalie are not set out in the evidence.
Table 3 compares the insurance benefits of Rosalie to those of the array school districts.
The evidence establishes in Table 4 the activity pay of the school districts in the selected array for duties as ticket taker.
The salary index schedule of Rosalie and the districts in the selected array are set out in Table 6.
Applying the statutory criteria of Section 48-818 to the evidence in this case, we find that effective at the beginning of the 1980-1981 school contract year, the base salary amount for Rosalie teachers should be $10,275.00 and that the employer contribution to the dependent's health insurance coverage shall remain unchanged. This represents a total standard salary schedule cost of $173,647.50 (base salary amount, $10,275, times staff index factor, 16.9) fringe benefits of $6,422.23 and an overall compensation of $180,069.73. In addition, we find extra duty compensation for ticket takers and the salary index schedule should remain unchanged.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that:
1. The base salary amount for Rosalie teachers shall be $10,275, effective at the beginning of the 1980-1981 school contract year.
2. No other adjustment is ordered concerning the wages and conditions of employment for the employees represented by the Plaintiff in this matter.
This Order shall be effective for wage and conditions of employment with respect to the 1980-1981 school contract year. The adjustments resulting from this Order shall be made ratably over the twelve months of the school contract year. The amount due for the portion of the school contract year already elapsed shall be paid as soon as feasible following the entry of this Order.
All Judges assigned to the panel in this case join in the entry of this Opinion and Order.
Entered October 31, 1980.
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