Recent Amendments to Budget Repair Bill Affecting Municipal Collective Bargaining Statute
2011-02/17 Dean R. Dietrich                                                                                Printer Friendly PDF Version

The Joint Finance Committee of the Legislature has proposed some modifications to the Budget Repair Bill that directly relate to the Municipal Collective Bargaining Law. These changes do not appear to address the majority of the proposed changes summarized in our recent communication (see attached). A significant re-writing of Section 111.70 of the Wisconsin Statutes is still included as part of the Budget Repair Bill.

While we have not seen the exact statutory language, it appears that the proposed amendment to Special Session Senate Bill 11 addresses employee discipline in the public sector. The Amendment requires all local government units to either follow an existing civil service system or create a “grievance process” no later than the first day of the fourth month after the effective date of the bill.

The requirement under the Amendment is that the local government unit follow any established civil service system such as would exist for police and fire employee discipline or deputy sheriff employee discipline or create a “grievance procedure” that must cover the following topics: (a) employee terminations; (b) employee discipline; and (c) workplace safety. The exact definition of each of these required topics that must be subject to a grievance is not clarified at this time.

It is clear, however, that a local government unit is not required to establish a grievance procedure that provides for the use of an independent arbitrator who issues a final and binding decision. Rather, the grievance process must contain the following elements:

• A written document specifying the process that a grievant and an employer must follow (this would likely be an ordinance or a policy adopted by the local government unit)
• A hearing before an impartial hearing officer (the use of the word hearing may pose legal issues as to the extent of what type of hearing must be conducted and who would be the impartial hearing officer);
• An appeal process in which the highest level of appeal is the government body of the local government unit (which means that the final decision on any one of the topics that must be included in the grievance process will be made by the governing body of the local government unit, although it is not clear what process must be followed to make that decision).

As you can see from the above, the new requirement for either a civil service process (which often addresses hiring, seniority, and employee discipline procedures) or the creation of a grievance procedure to consider employee terminations, employee discipline, and workplace safety issues that arise with an employee is subject to more interpretation and clarification. Ruder Ware will be hosting a Special Briefing Session on Wednesday, February 23, at the Great Dane Restaurant. We anticipate having more information to present to you at that time.

Please feel free to contact Dean Dietrich, the author of this e-alert, or any of the attorneys in the Employment,
Labor & Benefits Practice Group of Ruder Ware: Ron Rutlin, Jeff Jones, Mary Ellen Schill, Chris Toner, or Sara
Ackermann if you have questions in regard to this update.

© 2011 Ruder Ware, L.L.S.C. Accurate reproduction with acknowledgment granted. All rights reserved.
This document provides information of a general nature regarding legislative or other legal developments. None of the information contained herein is intended as legal advice or opinion relative to specific matters, facts, situations, or issues, and additional facts and information or future developments may affect the subjects addressed.