The following 11-employees of the Town of Loudon tried to form a bargaining unit with the assistance of the Teamsters: one police sergeant, one police corporal, four police patrol officers, three full-time firefighters, one part-time firefighter, and one fire department administrative assistant. The New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB) certified the bargaining unit. The Town appealed.
RSA 273-A:8, I requires that a newly certified bargaining unit contain a minimum of 10 members. In addition, the town and union agreed that one of the 11 members, the part-time firefighter did not qualify, therefore reducing the number in the certification unit to 10 in the amended PELRB order.
This appeal turned on the language in RSA 273-A:8, II stating, “[p]ersons exercising supervisory authority involving the significant exercise of discretion may not belong to the same bargaining unit as the employees they supervise.”
Despite the police chief’s testimony that “he considers the sergeant and corporal to be ‘glorified patrol officers,’ and that he does not believe that their inclusion in the bargaining unit would create a conflict among employees,” the job description of the sergeant and corporal, and other testimony from the chief demonstrated that they have supervisory authority over the other officers in the bargaining unit. Therefore, they would be excluded under RSA 273-A:8, II. As such, the certification unit would only number 8, falling below the 10-person threshold for certification. As a consequence, the N.H. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the PELRB to certify the bargaining unit.