Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-818 Commission; Findings; Order; Powers; Duties; Orders Authorized; Modification

• Library: Nebraska Revised Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current with changes from the 2023 Legislative Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-818

(1) Except as provided in the State Employees Collective Bargaining Act, the findings and order or orders may establish or alter the scale of wages, hours of labor, or conditions of employment, or any one or more of the same. In making such findings and order or orders, the commission shall establish rates of pay and conditions of employment which are comparable to the prevalent wage rates paid and conditions of employment maintained for the same or similar work of workers exhibiting like or similar skills under the same or similar working conditions. In establishing wage rates the commission shall take into consideration the overall compensation presently received by the employees, having regard not only to wages for time actually worked but also to wages for time not worked, including vacations, holidays, and other excused time, and all benefits received, including insurance and pensions, and the continuity and stability of employment enjoyed by the employees. Any order or orders entered may be modified on the commission's own motion or on application by any of the parties affected, but only upon a showing of a change in the conditions from those prevailing at the time the original order was entered.

(2) For purposes of industrial disputes involving public employers other than school districts, educational service units, and community colleges with their certificated and instructional employees and public employers subject to the State Employees Collective Bargaining Act:

(a) Job matches shall be sufficient for comparison if (i) evidence supports at least a seventy percent match based on a composite of the duties and time spent performing those duties and (ii) at least three job matches per classification are available for comparison. If three job matches are not available, the commission shall base its order on the historic relationship of wages paid to such position over the last three fiscal years, for which data is available, as compared to wages paid to a position for which a minimum of three job matches are available;

(b) The commission shall adhere to the following criteria when establishing an array:

(i) Geographically proximate public employers and Nebraska public employers are preferable for comparison;

(ii) The preferred size of an array is seven to nine members. As few as five members may be chosen if all array members are Nebraska employers. The commission shall include members mutually agreed to by the parties in the array;

(iii) If more than nine employers with job matches are available, the commission shall limit the array to nine members, based upon selecting array members with the highest number of job matches at the highest job match percentage;

(iv) Nothing in this subdivision (2)(b) of this section shall prevent parties from stipulating to an array member that does not otherwise meet the criteria in such subdivision, and nothing in such subdivision shall prevent parties from stipulating to less than seven or more than nine array members;

(v) The commission shall not require a balanced number of larger or smaller employers or a balanced number of Nebraska or out-of-state employers;

(vi) If the array includes a public employer in a metropolitan statistical area other than the metropolitan statistical area in which the employer before the commission is located, only one public employer from such metropolitan statistical area may be included in the array;

(vii) Arrays for public utilities with annual revenue of five hundred million dollars or more shall include both comparable public and privately owned utilities. Arrays for public utilities with annual revenue of less than five hundred million dollars may include both comparable public and privately owned utilities. Public utilities that produce radioactive material and energy pursuant to section 70-627.02 shall have at least four members in its array that produce radioactive material and energy when employees directly involved in this production are included in the bargaining unit. For public utilities that generate, transmit, and distribute power, the array shall include members that also perform these functions. For a public utility serving a city of the primary class, the array shall only include public power districts in Nebraska that generate, transmit, and distribute power and any out-of-state utilities whose number of meters served is not more than double or less than one-half of the number of meters served by the public utility serving a city of the primary class unless evidence establishes that there are substantial differences which cause the work or conditions of employment to be dissimilar;

(viii) In constructing an array for a public utility, the commission shall use fifty-mile concentric circles until it reaches the optimum array pursuant to subdivision (2)(b)(ii) of this section; and

(ix) For a statewide public utility that provides service to a majority of the counties in Nebraska, any Nebraska public or private job match may be used without regard to the population or full-time equivalent employment requirements of this section, and any out-of-state job match may be used if the full-time equivalent employment of the out-of-state employer is no more than double and no less than one-half of the full-time equivalent employment of the bargaining unit of the statewide public utility in question;