Public Sector Employers

Court Ruling Impacts Public Sector Employers

A recent Illinois Supreme Court case, The Village of Winfield v. Illinois State Labor Relations Board, carries special significance for public sector employers. This case addresses the following issues:

• joint employer status, which has been a point of contention as it has been defined by the Illinois State Labor Relations Act (Act) and interpreted by the Illinois State Labor Board; and
• whether a local government unit meets the minimum thirty- five employee threshold needed to fall under the jurisdiction of the Act.

In Winfield, the State Board had ruled that the Village of Winfield and the Winfield Public Library were a single entity or joint employers for determining whether or not the State Board had jurisdiction over a representation petition filed on behalf of the Village’s police officers. The State Board then determined that the Village had more than the minimum thirty-five employees necessary under the Act. The appellate court also found that the Village had the requisite thirty-five employees.

The Village petitioned the Illinois Supreme Court for review, arguing that the Library and the Village were two separate governmental entities. The Village argued that if each were treated as separate entities, neither employer had the requisite thirty-five employees.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Village, stating that several factors existed which showed that the two should be treated as separate entities. The Court found the two entities to be sufficiently independent so that they were not joint employees. As a result, neither entity had thirty-five employees, and thus the union’s petition was dismissed.

Utilizing the Act’s lack of jurisdiction over entities with less than thirty-five employees has become a valuable tool for municipalities. First, the Winfield case enables the employer to make a good argument that it is separate from other local government entities which act independently. Second, the municipality can exclude all elected officials, supervisors, department heads, confidential employees, managers, short-term and other excluded employees from the thirty-five employee count based on prior cases. Third, the municipality may have some persons who are not employees at all under the Act. After all of these exclusions, the count for thirty-five employees begins. If less than thirty-five employees remain, the Act will not apply.

Note that the Second District Appellate Court is currently considering County of Hamilton, in which the State Board ruled that the county housing authority and county water district were entities separate from the county itself. Also, beware of three bills now in the Illinois General Assembly which may affect the thirty-five employee threshold.

A bold move to oppose jurisdiction of the Act must be considered carefully. Consult an attorney familiar with the Act and supporting case law.