AFSCME Council 31 v. The State of Illinois

Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Collective Bargaining Agreements
Citation
Case Number: 
2015 IL App (1st) 133454
Decision Date: 
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
District: 
1st Dist.
Division/County: 
Cook Co., 2d Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed.
Justice: 
SIMON
Section 6.1 of Illinois Public Labor Relations Act narrowed class of state employees who could be considered "public employees", and set up process for Governor to designate certain number of positions as excluded from collective bargaining units, and exempted certain positions from designation. Section 6.1 is efficient tool to give Governor authority to reassign employees whose positions were incompatible with collective bargaining unit membership, which is a reasonable method to achieve direct objective of Act. State has legitimate interest in efficiency of state government and rational basis for treating some top-level managers differently than other managerial-type workers, and thus Section 6.1 does not violate individuals' equal protection rights, and it does not constitute impermissible impairment of contract.(NEVILLE and PIERCE, concurring.)