IN RE: TOWN OF NEW CASTLE (1997)

In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 75 to stay arbitration, Edna L'Eplattenier appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Colabella, J.), dated January 29, 1996, which granted the petition to stay arbitration and denied her cross petition, inter alia, to compel arbitration.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.

Edna L'Eplattenier had been employed by the Town of New Castle as an Assessment Clerk since 1983.   As such, she was a member of the Civil Service Employees Association (hereinafter CSEA) Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO.   Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement between CSEA and the Town (hereinafter the Agreement), any employee placed in the Assessment Clerk title on or after January 1, 1977, was placed in Group VI of the salary scale.   In 1995, due to an alleged increase in her responsibilities, L'Eplattenier sought to have her rate of compensation as an Assessment Clerk reclassified from a Group VI to a Group VIII.   She subsequently filed a grievance seeking “[a]pproval of reallocation from Group VI Step 5 to Group VIII Step 5”.   When the Town denied the grievance, CSEA demanded arbitration.   The Town then commenced the instant proceeding to stay arbitration on the ground that the grievance was not arbitrable.   CSEA subsequently withdrew from the arbitration, in writing, recognizing that L'Eplattenier's claim did not constitute a contract grievance.   CSEA did not answer the Town's petition to stay arbitration.   The court subsequently granted the Town's petition and denied L'Eplattenier's cross petition, inter alia, to compel arbitration.

 Contrary to L'Eplattenier's contention, the reclassification of a civil service position is governed by Civil Service Law § 22, which a municipality and its employees, whether represented by a union or otherwise, may not circumvent by agreement to arbitrate (see, Matter of Civil Serv. Employees Assn., Westchester Ch., Local 860 v. Town of Harrison, 48 N.Y.2d 66, 74, 421 N.Y.S.2d 839, 397 N.E.2d 350;  Matter of Union Free School Dist. No. 2 of Town of Cheektowaga v. Nyquist, 38 N.Y.2d 137, 144, 379 N.Y.S.2d 10, 341 N.E.2d 532).   Arbitration of a claim seeking reclassification undermines the public's interest in the creation of new positions and the reclassification of existing ones (see, Matter of Dutchess County Ch., Civ. Serv. Employees Assn. [Dutchess County], 54 N.Y.2d 738, 740, 442 N.Y.S.2d 994, 426 N.E.2d 488;  Matter of Civil Serv. Employees Assn., Westchester Ch., Local 860 v. Town of Harrison, supra, at 74, 421 N.Y.S.2d 839, 397 N.E.2d 350;  Town of Brookhaven v. Civil Serv. Employees Assn., Brookhaven Town White Collar Unit, 141 A.D.2d 630, 631, 529 N.Y.S.2d 539).   Furthermore, L'Eplattenier was not permitted individually to pursue the arbitration when the CSEA withdrew (whether that be characterized as a withdrawal from the arbitration or, as L'Eplattenier puts it, the union's merely “agreeing with the Town's position on the merits”).   The right to demand arbitration is reserved to CSEA and the Town as the designated contractual parties to the Agreement (see, County of Westchester v. Mahoney, 56 N.Y.2d 756, 758, 452 N.Y.S.2d 21, 437 N.E.2d 280;   Matter of Board of Educ. of Glen Cove City School Dist. v. Steigerwald, 210 A.D.2d 401, 620 N.Y.S.2d 109;  Perduyn v. Consolidated Edison Co. of N.Y., 185 A.D.2d 766, 587 N.Y.S.2d 553;  Albert v. City of New York, 103 Misc.2d 962, 964, 431 N.Y.S.2d 240).

L'Eplattenier's remaining contentions are either unpreserved for appellate review or without merit.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.