Court Rules No Do-overs Regarding Change of Probationary Status

In a recent case, the New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld administrative hearing examiner and district court conclusions that a change to non-probationary status was effective the date issued, rather than the date purported to be effective.

Recent NM Labor Goings-On

On April 25, the Public Employee Relations Board (PELRB) met for the first time since its recent "reorganizations," under the influence of the Governor and then the Supreme Court.  The upshot of the reorganizations was that Supreme Court said the Governor exceeded her authority by summarily discharging any members except that which served upon its own recommendation,* and the Governor's Office conceded that only the Board had authority to hire and fire the Director.

So where did that leave us at the April 25 meeting?  With lots of questions regarding current dates of appointments, candidates for Director, and pending business.  Elsewhere, KUNM hosted a not very balanced segment on public sector bargaining.

Collective Barganing Seminar to be Held May 6

I am please to announce that Dr. Reeves has graciously invited me to participate in the May 6, 2011 collective bargaining seminar that he is coordinating, which I wrote about in an earlier blog. 

He has also provided me with a Preliminary Agenda, and both the guest and topic line-ups look very intriguing, and timely.  The seminar begins with the premise that NM has a long and relatively stable history of public sector collective bargaining, and that today's "changing economic times and financial constraints on employers, unions, and taxpayers" call for "dialogue and creativity, not acrimony and rhetoric."

ABQ Labor Board -- First Meeting in 16 Months Mostly a No-Go

Today Albuquerque's Labor Management Relations Board was scheduled to meet for the first time since December 2009.  The two sitting members--Justin Lesky, Esq., the labor representative, and Barbara Stephenson, the management representative--did convene the meeting.  However, under the Labor Board's Rules, all three members are required for a quorum, so it could not take any action today, although everyone present was allowed to speak--and speak they did, largely to vent quite a bit of simmering frustration.

Seminar 5/6/11, State of NM Public Sector Collective Bargaining

New Mexico Arbitrator-Mediator-Hearing Examiner T. Zane Reeves, PhD, has coordinated a seminar on the state of public sector collective bargaining in New Mexico. 

NM PELRB Reinstated

Today the ABQ Journal reported that the State Supreme Court has ordered the reinstatement of PELRB members John Boyd, who was the labor recommendation, and Duff Westbrook, who was recommended jointly by the management and labor recommendations.  The Governor's Office pointed to a 2003 state Supreme Court ruling upholding then Governor Richardson's removal of six appointees to the Judicial Standards Commission.  The Union's position, accepted by the Supreme Court was that the Governor lacked authority to remove these board members, because the Office of the Governor was itself involved in adjudication before the PELRB.  

Barriers to Family Medical Leave for Men

In the March issue of the ABA Journal, Becky Beaupre Gillespie and Hollee Schwartz Temple (presumably themselves liberated, in light of those very long names) wrote about Ariel Ayanna, and the new frontier in sex/gender employment discrimination cases.  Ayanna was an associate in a Boston law firm, and has filed suit alleging termination in retaliation for his having exercised his right under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to take leave to take care of his new born baby and ill wife.