Request By:
Mr. Daniel T. Guidugli
Attorney at Law
7923 Alexandria Pike
Alexandria, Kentucky 41001
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your office has been retained by the Campbell County Fraternal Order of Police Beehive Iodge No. 48 to represent it in negotiating a contract with the Campbell County Fiscal Court.
However, it is the opinion of the Campbell County Attorney that, since Campbell County does not have a population of 300,000 or more, although other conditions are satisified, no collective bargaining between fiscal court and the Campbell County Police may take place.
Your interpretation of the statute, KRS 78.470, is that since the Fraternal Order of the Police is the recognized representative of the county police force, the fiscal court may, in its discretion, enter into such negotiations as are deemed proper under KRS 78.480.
You, on behalf of the county police, request our opinion on the following question:
"Please advise this office whether or not, in your opinion, any County Police force, other than Jefferson County, may legally organize or participate in collective bargaining, and what legal steps need to be taken to become the authorized representative of such County Police force and whether or not any agreement entered into would be binding on the parties."
KRS 78.480 reads:
"In any county in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which has a population of 300,000 or more, and which has adopted the merit system for its police force, the fiscal court may contract with representatives of the police employed by said county with respect to wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment, including execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached between the fiscal court and representatives of the police. The fiscal court shall not be required to bargain over matters of inherent managerial policy."
Pursuant to KRS 78.470, in any county in Kentucky having a population of 300,000 or more and which has adopted a merit system, the county employees in the classified service as police may organize or participate in an organization designed to carry on collective bargaining and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own free choice. Thus KRS 78.480 is a follow-up on KRS 78.470, in providing that fiscal court may contract with representatives of the county police with respect to wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment.
Only Jefferson County qualifies under KRS 78.470 as to population, and, therefore, except for Jefferson County, there is simply no statutory provision for requiring collective bargaining between county governments and their police officers. Thus, in those counties other than Jefferson, collective bargaining agreements, in the absence of the fiscal court's voluntary permission or recognition, would not be enforcible or binding on the parties. But on the other hand, if the fiscal court desires, in its discretion, to recognize collective bargaining, it may do so, and the agreements would then be enforcible and binding on the parties.