Court finds Greater Dayton bus service must challenge state labor board in county where it has physical presence. Photo by Darius Pinkston from Cincinnati, United States (Transit fanning in Dayton) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Court finds Greater Dayton bus service must challenge state labor board in county where it has physical presence. Photo by Darius Pinkston from Cincinnati, United States (Transit fanning in Dayton) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A local government agency can only contest rulings of the State Employee Relations Board (SERB) in a county where it has a physical presence, according to a state appeals court ruling that the Ohio Supreme Court let stand.

The Supreme Court voted today that it  improvidently allowed the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority’s appeal of a Tenth District Court of Appeals decision to come before the Court. The Tenth District prevented the regional transit authority (RTA) from challenging a SERB decision in Franklin County courts. The RTA provides bus service in Montgomery County, where it is headquartered, and parts of adjacent Greene County.

The Supreme Court’s brief opinion lets the Tenth District’s ruling stand. The appellate court affirmed a Franklin County Common Pleas Court decision that rejected the RTA’s claim that because it “transacts business” in Franklin County, it is allowed to appeal SERB decisions in Franklin County.

RTA Challenged Union Grievances
The Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO, Local 1385 represents more than 500 bus operators and maintenance employees who work for the RTA. In 2013, the union filed a case with SERB, alleging that the RTA was not processing employee labor grievances. SERB, which is the state agency that handles charges of unfair labor practices in public employment, found in favor of the union and employees in June 2014.

The RTA appealed the decision to the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. The union and SERB asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing the court did not have jurisdiction to consider it because SERB rulings must be filed in a county in which the RTA “transacts business.” Although it does not provide bus service in Franklin County, the RTA maintained it transacts business through numerous contracts it has with organizations in the county, and through business relationships there.

The common pleas court found that in R.C. 4117.13(D), which governs appeals of SERB decisions, the term “transacts business” is ambiguous. The court dismissed the case, ruling a local government agency must have a permanent physical presence in the county for it to be defined as transacting business there. The RTA appealed the decision to the Tenth District, which agreed with the lower court, referencing parallel language that appears in the National Labor Relations Act and four federal cases interpreting the phrase.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Paul E. Pfeifer, Terence O’Donnell, Judith Ann Lanzinger, and William M. O’Neill joined the opinion to dismiss the case.

Justices Sharon L. Kennedy and  Justice Judith L. French dissented without a written opinion.

2015-1205. Greater Dayton Regional Transit Auth. v. State Emp. Relations Bd., Slip Opinion No. 2016-Ohio-7559.

View oral argument video of this case.

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