TERMINATION OF OUT OF WORK SCHOOL DISTRICT EMPLOYEE PURSUANT TO THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW IS NOT ARBITRABLE, PETITION TO STAY ARBITRATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED.
The Second Department determined the school district’s petition to stay arbitration should have been granted. A school district employee, Turco, was injured on the job and was out of work on Workers’ Compensation leave for more than a year. The district terminated his employment pursuant to Civil Service Law 71. Turco filed a grievance with his union alleging the termination violated the collective bargaining agreement. The Second Department held that the matter was not arbitrable because of the conflict between the agreement and the statute:
Despite the general policy favoring the resolution of disputes by arbitration, some matters, because of competing considerations of public policy, cannot be heard by an arbitrator. “If there is some statute, decisional law or public policy that prohibits arbitration of the subject matter of dispute, . . . the claim is not arbitrable'” … . Indeed, the public policy exception can be invoked as a threshold issue to preclude arbitration pursuant to CPLR 7503 … . “Preemptive judicial intervention in the arbitration process is warranted where the arbitrator [cannot] grant any relief without violating public policy” … . * * *
Here, the district terminated Turco’s employment pursuant to Civil Service Law § 71. Section 71 provides that a public employer may terminate an employee who is absent due to an occupational disability for a cumulative period of one year if the employee remains physically or mentally unable to return to work … . Matter of Enlarged City Sch. Dist. of Middletown N.Y. v Civil Serv. Empls. Assn., Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 02421, 2nd Dept 3-29-17
