 PERB ruling affects Cortland
office
Members at Labor
Department win back ‘casual-dress’ rights
By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF has successfully defended the right of its members to
continue a five-year practice of casual-dress on Fridays
at the state Labor Department’s Cortland Community
Service Center.
The employees turned to PEF for help when they were
notified in May 2001 that they would no longer be allowed
to wear jeans and casual clothes to work on Fridays.
PEF Division 264, with the help of PEF field
representative Peter Costello, charged DOL with violating
the state Taylor Law by unilaterally changing the
established past practice, which involved an issue (dress
on the job) that must be negotiated with the union.
Just 13 months later, the DOL reinstated the casual-dress
Fridays privilege at the Cortland office at the direction
of Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)
Administrative Law Judge Susan Comenzo.
“This PERB ruling lets the department know it
can’t unilaterally change a past practice that
affects our members’ terms and conditions of
employment, without first negotiating it with PEF,”
said Division 264 Council Leader David Rood.
DOL’s manager at the Cortland office instituted the
casual-dress Fridays practice in 1996 to reward the
center’s 13 employees for their consistently high
performance.
PEF contended it was a well established practice for
approximately five years before it came to the attention
of the DOL acting regional administrator in May 2001 and
he ordered the local manager to immediately stop it.
In defending that order before PERB, the state argued
that Labor Department employees have to set an example of
proper, business-like attire for their job-seeking
clients.
In ordering DOL to reinstate the casual-dress practice,
Comenzo said PERB had previously established dress codes
are a mandatory subject of bargaining and that the state
had submitted no evidence “to suggest that employees
at the Cortland office failed in meeting the mission of
the DOL in the five years that dress-down Fridays were in
effect.”
The PERB judge also dismissed the state’s claim that
high level managers at DOL never approved the policy,
saying the local office manager represented DOL in
instituting this practice in 1996.
“We are very good employees at the Cortland office,
and our manager told us in 1996 that since he could not
raise our pay or promote us, he wanted to give us the
opportunity to dress down on Fridays as a reward for our
excellent work,” said PEF member Pat Dady, who
testified at a PERB hearing on the charge.
“Right from the start, we discussed what would be
acceptable and that everyone should look neat and clean.
We do not come in dressed like slobs.”
Because the employees saw the special Friday privilege as
an acknowledgement of their achievements, they felt
insulted when DOL abruptly withdrew it.
“We kept up our strong performance. The month they
stopped this practice, our office had the second highest
scores for job placements in our region,” Dady said.
“The Utica office beat us by just one
placement.”
Dady said this case has impressed on her the value of
having PEF to protect the rights and interests of its
members.
“We are just thousands of little people working in
our offices, while the state is a huge, powerful
employer. What kind of say would we have over our work
lives, if we didn’t have the union in Albany to
represent us on an equal basis with the state?” Dady
said. “Can you imagine how different our lives would
be without a union?”
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The Communicator
September 2002
The Official Online Edition of
The New York State Public Employees
Federation
Inside This
Issue:
Features
PEF backs Pataki re-election
bid
PEF Board votes to back
candidates in ’02 races
PEF joins fight against
soaring Rx costs
Early retirement windows
opening
Q&A on 25/55, ERI
9/11; One Year Later:
‘Everything is different’ since 9/11
PEF fights for counseling
Victims’ families
grateful for PEF’s help
Contributions of PEF
activists missed
PEF to dedicate memorial
Departments
President's Message:
Endorsements and Loyalty
You Said It: Member's
letters this month
Member Mobilization: 8 steps
to success
Legislative Action:
Retirement, whistleblower laws
Nurses' Station: Help make
new future for nursing
Retirees In Action: Lucky to
get 1% COLA
PEF Membership Benefits
Program & Travel Corp
Union Matters
2002 Convention Preview
PEF researcher’s
discovery offers hope
Members show interest in
PS&T negotiations
Division 236 at Parole fully
mobilized
Members at Labor Dept. win
back rights
PEF fights big chemo bills
PEF vets keep wagering safe
bet
PEF wins OT pay
Highlights of PEF Exec
Board’s meeting
Member’s kids wins
scholarships
Support true charities, job
security
GET OUT THE VOTE!
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