Management Rights - AELE's Home Page
Management Rights - AELE's Home Page
Management Rights - AELE's Home Page
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Workplace Rules and Practices 13-20<br />
1 Again, these rules and procedures must also be applied in a nondiscriminatory fashion.<br />
2 Board of Trustees, University of Massachusetts, 7 MLC 1577 (1980).<br />
3 Town of Shrewsbury, 25 MLC 12 (1998).<br />
4 Medford School Committee, 1 MLC 1250 (1975).<br />
5 Mass. Commissioner of Admin. & Fin., 20 MLC 1195 (1993).<br />
6 City of Somerville, 20 MLC 1523 (1994).<br />
7 Mass. Commissioner of Admin. & Fin., 20 MLC 1298 (1993).<br />
8 Town of Middleborough, 18 MLC 1409, af’d, 19 MLC 1200 (1992).<br />
9 City of Taunton, 17 MLC 1420 (1991).<br />
10 Suffolk County House of Correction, 22 MLC 1001 (1993).<br />
11 Nahant School Committee, 19 MLC 1666 (1993).<br />
12 City of Leominster, 3 MLC 1579 (1977)<br />
13 Duxbury School Committee, 25 MLC 22 (1998).<br />
14 Town of West Bridgewater, 1 MLC 1040 (1983). See Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission, 18<br />
Mass. App. Ct. 550 (1984).<br />
15 City of Melrose, 21 MLC 1519 (1995). See also, Town of Tewksbury, 19 MLC 1189 (1992) (reversing<br />
hearing oficer and holding that town’s appointment of a provisional lieutenant constituted a unlawful<br />
unilateral change because of the impact on regular, scheduled overtime). Compare another City of Melrose<br />
case, 22 MLC 1209 (1995), where the Commission found no unlawful unilateral change given that the<br />
reduction in number of firefighters assigned to each engine and ladder had no impact on safety and/or<br />
workload. See also, Town of Halifax, 20 MLC 1320 (1993),af’d, 38 Mass. App. Ct. 1121 (1995) (finding<br />
no unlawful unilateral change when town reduced number of firefighters assigned to work weekend shift<br />
where there were no safety or workload implications).<br />
16 Mass. Commissioner of Admin. & Fin., 21 MLC 1637 (1995).<br />
17 Town of Brookline, 15 MLC 1631 (1989).<br />
18 Town of Natick, 12 MLC 1732 (1986).<br />
19 City of Revere, 20 MLC 1015 (1993); Town of Falmouth, 19 MLC 1498 (1992); City of Taunton, 17<br />
MLC 1575 (1991); City of Springfield, 17 MLC 1001 (1990).<br />
20<br />
A consistent practice that applies to rare circumstances may become a condition of employment if it is<br />
followed each time the circumstances precipitating the practice occur. See Town of Arlington, 16 MLC<br />
1350 (1989); Town of Lee. 11 MLC 1274, 1277, n. 8 (1984).<br />
21 16 MLC at 1351.<br />
22 Town of Falmouth, 25 MLC 24 (1998).<br />
23 Id.<br />
24 City of Boston, 31 MLC 25 (2004).<br />
25 Commonwealth of Mass. _____, 30 MLC 60 (2003).<br />
26 Suffolk County House of Correction, 22 MLC 1001 (1995); City of Boston, 14 MLC 1029 (1987).<br />
27 Town of Halifax, 19 MLC 1560 (1993); Springfield Hospital, 22 MLC 1645 (1996).<br />
28 Higher Education Coordinating Council, 22 MLC 1433 (1996).<br />
29 See supra section on “Overtime”.<br />
30 Boston School Committee, 27 MLC 121 (2001).<br />
31 Taunton School Committee, 28 MLC 378 (2002).<br />
32 Town of Danvers, 3 MLC 1559, 1576 (1977); City of Boston 30 MLC 38 (2003).<br />
33 Town of Wilbraham, 6 MLC 1668 (1980). The bargaining requirement applies to positions which are<br />
filled or unfilled.<br />
34 Town of Plainville, 20 MLC 1217 (1993) (holding employer unlawfully unilaterally assigned leaf<br />
burning duties to firefighters).<br />
35 City of Boston v. Boston Superior Officers Federation, 9 Mass. App. Ct. 157, 454 N.E.2d 1298 (1980).<br />
Note, however, that until 1998 the City of Boston had greater power and authority in this area than other<br />
towns and cities because of the special statute granting such authority. Normally, certain inherent<br />
managerial prerogatives may be bargained away by an employer voluntarily during contract negotiations<br />
(as long as the right at issue is not nondelegable, such as the right to appoint), though such a prerogative<br />
Commonwealth of Massachusetts