1493 Perez v. Region 2B

The collective bargaining agreement specifically allows the employer to lay off employees permanently when appropriate. Perez argued that the contract prohibited management from replacing him with a non-bargaining unit employee, but the contract does not state that unequivocally. The restriction on the performance of bargaining unit work by members of management is so qualified that the Union would have been unlikely to persuade an arbitrator that it was intended to limit the employer’s right permanently to lay off employees that is so clearly stated in the agreement. Furthermore, the Union had no basis for challenging the validity of the business reasons for Perez’s layoff cited by the employer.