The Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 109 (PBA), filed an unfair practice charge against Hudson County, alleging that the County violated the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act by unilaterally altering the regularly scheduled days off for 67 COs during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission Director of Unfair Practices dismissed the charge, ruling that the County had a managerial prerogative to change the schedules to address staffing shortages and ensure officer and inmate safety.
The dispute arose after a July 2022 incident in which a corrections officer was severely injured by an inmate during a weekend shift. Following the attack, the County met with the PBA to discuss staffing issues and proposed a 12-hour shift schedule to address the problem. The PBA rejected the proposal, but the County proceeded to change the schedules of 67 COs, altering their regular days off to ensure adequate weekend staffing. The PBA argued that this unilateral change violated the Act. The County, however, contended that it had a legitimate business justification for the change, citing the need to improve safety and address staffing shortages.
The Director of Unfair Practices found that the County had a managerial prerogative to change the schedules under the circumstances. While work schedules are generally mandatorily negotiable, an employer may unilaterally change them if maintaining the status quo would substantially interfere with a governmental policy determination, such as ensuring public safety. The Director held that the staffing shortage, coupled with the near-fatal attack on an officer, created a situation where the County could no longer responsibly operate under the existing schedule. The County’s actions were deemed necessary to increase officer and inmate safety and reduce the likelihood of future dangerous incidents.
The Director also addressed the PBA’s argument that the County had violated past practices by changing the officers’ days off. The decision noted that any past practice was negated by the express language in the collective bargaining agreement, which granted the County full managerial discretion to schedule days off for COs. The Director concluded that the dispute was largely contractual and did not warrant the Public Employment Relations Commission’s intervention, as the parties’ agreement provided the County with the authority to make such changes.
Hudson County, 51 NJPER ¶ 61 (2025).