As reported by the New Jersey Law Journal, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division (“Appellate Division”) ruled that the State’s Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”) has near-exclusive jurisdiction over labor disputes between public workers and their employers. To this end, the three judge panel stated PERC has “exclusive jurisdiction to decide complaints

In a recent decision, the Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”) overturned decades of precedent in concluding that a public employer was not required to pay automatic increments to officers upon the expiration of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. As you can expect, the decision, County of Atlantic and PBA Local 243, FOP Lodge 34 and

On May 16, 2009, the Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”) issued a decision in response to certain unfair practice charges and requests for interim relief filed against the State of New Jersey regarding the imposition of unpaid, “furlough” days. 

By way of background, on April 14, 2009, the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO (“CWA”)

On Friday, April 17, 2009, The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, upheld the ability of state and local governments to furlough public employees. The court agreed with the decision of the state government that the fiscal crisis that the state and nation currently faces allows for emergency action.

In citing its opinion the

Jerry DeMarco, a reporter with the website www.examiner.com has reported that significantly more police unions around the state are turning towards interest arbitration as a means to settle their contract due to the hard line stance that many municipalities and county governments have taken during negotiations.

DeMarco reported that the average salary increase for