Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of City of New York, Inc. v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board
New York Court of Appeals
6 N.Y.3d 563, 815 N.Y.S.2d 1, 848 N.E.2d 448 (2006)
- Written by Abby Roughton, JD
Facts
The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) (defendant) issued a decision finding that New York City did not need to bargain with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of the City of New York (NYCPBA) (plaintiff) over five subjects related to police discipline that had been included in an expired collective-bargaining agreement. The expired agreement (1) gave police officers being questioned during departmental investigations up to four hours to confer with counsel, (2) left unchanged certain guidelines for interrogating police officers, (3) provided that a joint subcommittee would develop procedures to ensure that disciplinary charges were timely resolved, (4) provided for the establishment of a pilot program to refer police-disciplinary matters to a third-party agency, and (5) provided that employees who were charged but not found guilty could petition to have the disciplinary proceeding expunged from their records. PERB concluded that these five areas were prohibited bargaining subjects. The NYCPBA brought an action against PERB in New York state court, seeking to annul PERB’s decision. The trial court upheld PERB’s decision after finding that under New York City’s Charter and Administrative Code, discipline of New York City police officers was a matter for the police commissioner. The appellate division affirmed, and the NYCPBA appealed to the New York Court of Appeals.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Smith, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 824,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 989 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
