In a Town of Arlington case (41 MLC 272 (2015) recently decided by a hearing officer at the Department of Labor Relations (DLR), the Town was deemed to have an obligation to bargain with the Arlington Police Patrolmen’s Association about its decision to use an assessment center as the tool for ranking candidates for promotion from the rank of police officer to police sergeant. The fact that the sergeants’ position was in a different bargaining unit of police supervisors did not matter. (Arlington appealed the hearing officer’s decision, but subsequently withdrew the appeal after successfully negotiating the underlying issue.)

What about promotion from a supervisory position to a non-union managerial position like deputy chief? We think the LRC (Labor Relations Commission) weighed in on this issue way back in the 1977 Town of Danvers case, expressing with approval the view of the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) that promotions into non-union positions are not a mandatory subject of bargaining. More recent NLRB decisions have continued that view. There is no reason to think the current DLR will view the matter differently, especially since the number of non-union managerial positions under c. 150E are so few.