Agenda - Council - 05/27/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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of the property owner's rights. The existing pro- vision requiring use of the local improvement assessment procedure is unnecessary since these charges are reviewed by the district court. PERSONNEL, PENSIONS AND LABOR RELATIONS Disability retirement Abuses of disability retirement provisions in public pension plans have in the past caused some serious waste of human resources and of scarce public funds. In view of the current laws forbidding discrimination against handicapped per- sons who are not disabled from gainful employ- ment, the League recommends that public pension plans in which city employees participate be re- quired to use a uniform definition of disability which limits disability pensions to those whose medical conditions disable them from engaging in any substantial gainful activity over a substan- rial period. Unreasonable service limits tests should not be imposed and no employee should be re- quired to have more than five years of service under the applicable plan in order to qualify for disability retirement. Workers' compensation entit- lements should be deducted from any disability pensions. Disability benefits from all sources other than privately financed disability insurance, as well as a portion of employment earnings, should be an offset against city disability pension pay- ments to the extent that these combined payments approach after-tax salary for the former position. Minnesota Public Employment Labor Relations Act Legislation passed late in the 1979 session has triggered the first comprehensive examination of the state collective bargaining process since the Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PELRA) was enacted into law in 1971. The Commission on Employee Relations, created in the legislation to examine the State Civil Service Act and PELRA, has until .July 1, 1981, at which time the present civil service law expires, to complete its work. Within this framework, the League (ecommends that the following changes affecting cities be made: Disciplinary action. Employees covered by civil service systems have the option of using either the grievance procedure con- tained in the labor agreement or the civil service procedure but the use of one pre- cludes the use of the other. The keague recommends continuation of the civil service appeals system for disciplina~ grievance actions and that disciplinary grievances not be included within the labor agreement grievance procedure. Impasse resolution. The distinction bet- ween essential and non-essential employ- ees as it relates to compulsory, binding arbitration should be eliminated with all employees considered as non-essential and given the limited right to strike. Within the limited right to strike, the public employer would have the option of either requesting arbitration within a specified time or allow- ing employees to legally strike. PELRA should be amended so that the employees must exercise their right to strike within 15 days following the employer's refusal to arbitrate or forfeit such right. Supervisors and confidential employees within public collective bargaining. Super- visors of public employees should have their management role acknowledged and their status limited to meet and confer. In no event should supervisory or confi- dential employees be represented 'by an employee organization which represents the non-supervisory employees they super- vise. The term '"supervisory" should be as presently defined under PELRA for non- essential employee supervisors. Public Employment Labor Relations Board. The authority of PERB should be extended to include representation election appeals. Disciplinary actions against em- ployees and unions for participation in illegal strikes should continue to be the responsibility of the public employer and courts respectively. NOTE:The section on impasse arbitration (IV-2, part 2 in last year's policies) was intention- ally not included. -8-