| FRIEND EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, | | | CASE NO. 492 |
| An Unincorporated Association, | | | |
| | | ||
| Petitioner, | | | |
| | | ||
| v. | | | OPINION AND ORDER |
| | | ||
| THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF | | | |
| FRIEND, IN THE COUNTY OF | | | |
| SALINE, IN THE STATE OF | | | |
| NEBRASKA, A Political | | | |
| Subdivision, | | | |
| | | ||
| Respondent. | | |
Appearances:
For the Petitioner: Mark D. McGuire
Crosby, Guenzel, Davis,
Kessner & Kuester
400 Lincoln Benefit Building
Lincoln, Nebraska
For the Respondent: Rex R. Schultze
James B. Gessford
Perry, Perry, Withoff, Guthery, Haase
& Gessford, P.C.
1806 First National Bank Bldg.
Lincoln, Nebraska
Before: Judges Orr, Gradwohl and Davis.
ORR, J:
This matter came on for a determination of wages and other conditions of employment for the Friend School District teachers for the 1982-1983 contract year pursuant to Section 48-818. Friend is a Class III school district employing 25 teachers (23.5 full-time equivalent) and had a student enrollment for the 1981-1982 school year of 288 students.
The parties stipulated at the pretrial conference in this matter that "[e]xcept for base salary, the terms and conditions of employment for the teachers employed by the School District for the 1982-83 contract year shall be as previously established by the agreements made by the parties." 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. Comparable School Districts.
The Association and the School District both presented comparisons with the following six school districts: Exeter, Henderson, Sandy Creek, Sutton, Tri-County, and Wilbur Clatonia. The Association also presented comparisons with the school districts of Centennial, Geneva, Hebron, and Stromsburg. The School District in addition presented comparisons with the school districts of Clay Center, Harvard, Meridian, and Nelson. The parties stipulated at the pretrial conference that the work, skills and working conditions of the teachers employed by Friend and the teachers employed in all of the compared to districts offered by the Association and District are similar and satisfy the standards set forth in Section 48-818 to permit a comparison of terms and conditions of employment if included in the array of compared to school districts by the Commission.
The evidence in this case as to the compared to school districts, in addition to the stipulation as to work skill and working conditions, consists of the student enrollment and ranking, distance from Friend, county located, athletic conference and contacts with Friend, and testimony as to the community of interest of the districts presented with Friend. The following Table 1 sets out some of this information:
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).
In selecting an array of school districts for the purpose of comparison in arriving at comparable and prevalent wage rates and conditions of employment the Commission has considered, among other factors, the following: student enrollment, geographic proximity, athletic conference membership, and community of interest demonstrated by athletic, scholastic and administrative contacts.
The Commission is considering the evidence as to these factors determines that a suitable array for the purposes of Section 48-818 should consist of the following school districts: Centennial, Exeter, Geneva, Harvard, Hebron, Henderson, Meridian, Sandy Creek, Sutton, Tri-County, and Wilber. The schools selected are similar to Friend in student enrollment, are all within 53 highway miles of Friend, and have a significant community of interest with Friend demonstrated by their athletic and non-athletic contacts.
We decline to include the non-conference schools of Clay Center, Nelson, and Stromsburg for the reason that the evidence presented shows that their community of interest with Friend demonstrated by athletic as well as non-athletic contacts is not as significant as those school districts selected for comparison by the Commission.
3. Base Salary Determination.
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 maintained 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 evidence establishes the following salary and fringe benefit comparisons as compiled in Table 2.
Applying the statutory criteria of Section 48-818 to the evidence in the case, we find that effective at the beginning of the 1982-1983 school contract year, the base salary amount for Friend teachers shall be $12,080.00. This represents a standard salary schedule of $396,948.80 (base salary amount of $12,080.00 multiplied by the staff index factor of 32.86), plus fringe benefits of $30,135.30 (15 family and 5 single health insurance coverages, 4 dental coverages, and long-term disability insurance coverage) which makes the total teacher compensation for the purposes of these calculations: $427,084.10.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED:
1. That the base salary amount for Friend School District teachers shall be $12,080.00, effective at the beginning of the 1982-1983 school contract year.
2. This Order shall be effective for wages and conditions of employment with respect to the 1982-1983 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.
Filed January 26, 1983
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