SC20733 - Middlebury v. Fraternal Order of Police, Middlebury Lodge No 34. (“In this certified appeal, the plaintiff, the town
of Middlebury (town), challenges the trial court’s dismissal of the town’s administrative appeal from the
decision of the labor board concluding that the town
violated MERA by unilaterally changing the town’s past
practice of including extra duty pay in the calculation of
pension benefits for members of the named defendant,
Fraternal Order of Police, Middlebury Lodge No. 34 (union).
The town claims that the Appellate Court incorrectly
determined that the labor board did not act unreasonably, illegally, arbitrarily, or in abuse of its discretion
when it declined to apply the ‘‘contract coverage’’ standard, as adopted by the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) in MV Transportation, Inc., Case No. 28-CA173726, 368 N.L.R.B. No. 66, slip op., pp. 1–2, 9–11 (September 10, 2019), and instead applied the clear and
unmistakable waiver standard to the union’s claim that
the town’s unilateral change to its pension plan constituted a refusal to bargain collectively in good faith in
violation of MERA. We disagree and affirm the judgment
of the Appellate Court..”)