Committee approves more legal funding as PERB appeal keeps PAB union question open

The Budget and Finance and Governance Committee voted to authorize an amendatory agreement for labor and employment law services to cover ongoing appellate work in a representation dispute over PAB employees.

The decision matters because the city faces an active appeal to the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) after an administrative law judge ruled in favor of AFSCME as the appropriate bargaining unit for some PAB employees. Corporation Counsel told the committee outside counsel Hancock Estabrook provided an estimate for finishing the appeal and the additional funding before the council was to pay for that work.

Corporation Counsel summarized the procedural history for the…