By Jim Cline and Peter Haller
In Walla Walla Community College, a PERC Examiner ruled that a college administrator was to be excluded from the bargaining unit representing rank and file higher education staff. The Examiner held that although the administrative employee had in the past done fill-in work for staff, the employee was still exempt from the bargaining unit because of her primary function as an administrator.
The bargaining unit in the present case, American Federation of Teachers Washington, filed a petition to represent all employees of Walla Walla Community College. The petition was certified with the employer objecting to the inclusion of a single employee, Assistant Dean of Enrollment Services Tessa Kimball.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kimball began doing fill-in work for staff due to budget restrictions and staffing shortages. Although Kimball was an administrator, she found herself doing day-to-day tasks in the office. During this time, she continued her administrative functions which included policy formation and supervision.
The Union argued that Kimball should be included in the bargaining unit because she effectively did the same work as staff. Thus, she shared a community interest with other members of the bargaining unit.
The Examiner first noted that the controlling issue is not whether Kimball shared a community interest, but whether her continued role as an administrator exempted her from inclusion. The Examiner noted that the community interest would only be an issue had Kimball not continued to her duties as an administrator. The Examiner reasoned that,
“Kimball has continuously directed the work of Enrollment Services. Kimball did perform some fill-in work or work performed by bargaining unit members, primarily during the pandemic and the staffing shortages since then, but the amount of time that Kimball has performed fill-in work has decreased over the past year, and the fill-in work is not expected to continue.”
Thus, Kimball’s primary and continuous function as an administrator exempted her from participation in the new bargaining unit.
PERC typically places supervisors in their own unit, although in paramilitary organizations first level “supervisors” (e.g. Law Enforcement Sgts and Fire Lts.) are considered to be “working leads” that belong in the same bargaining unit. At the next tier of management, those employees are typically excluded but often are eligible for their own “supervisor” bargaining unit. While this is an education case, the lessons from it are still relevant to public safety bargaining units.
The challenge that can arise is what happens with those managers occasionally performing line work. In this case, PERC found the occasional work did not warrant inclusion of the position in the bargaining unit. This could later, though, raise a series of possible “work jurisdiction” issues that will have to be dealt with later.
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