By Mitchel Wilson
I
n Sadie v. City of Cleveland, 118 FEP Cases 1104 (6th Cir. 2013), the appellate court upheld the lower court for dismissing the suit of a group of former Cleveland police officers who were not retained after age 65. Their suit alleged that the City’s mandatory retirement program violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), an Ohio discrimination statute, and equal protection of the 14th Amendment.
By Jim Cline
Occasionally, an arbitration decision calls out for a bit more explanation and the Arbitrator’s Ruling allowing the Ocala Fire Department to “Mass Test” its Firefighters is one such decision. As described in our recent case note on the decision, the arbitrator found that the reasonable suspicion language in the CBA allowed the City to undertake a “mass test” all firefighters with any type of access to fire trucks from which narcotics had gone missing.
By Anthony Rice
In the City of Ocala, an arbitrator found that the City did not violate the CBA when it urine tested 19 firefighters who had access to two fire trucks from which narcotics went missing.
By Anthony Rice
In City of Chicago, the arbitrator reduced the Grievant’s suspension from 20 days to 10 days for a Chicago officer charged with interference in the execution of search warrant during an investigation of a car bombing by a suburban Police Department in which the Officer’s friend was a suspect. The arbitrator ordered the reduction after he concluded that the Officer did not interfere with the execution of a search warrant, but did agree that the Officer had been verbally abusive to the investigating officers.
In Moore v. County of Camden, 20 WH Cases 2d 1369 (D.N.J. 2013), a New Jersey federal district ruled declined to dismiss and set for trial a Dispatch Managers Claim that he was retaliated against after he presented his health issues.
By Mitchel Wilson
In an unpublished decision Nazario v. City of Riverside, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s decision to dismiss a discharged Riverside PD officer’s Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”) claims, denying him a trial, because he could not show he was fired and not rehired because of his military service.
By Anthony Rice
In CSC Applied Technologies, the arbitrator sustained the grievance finding that Management overlooked mitigating factors when it terminated an assistant fire chief from service on the grounds that he failed to meet medical requirements. [Read more…]
By Mitchel Wilson
In Mercer v. Cook County, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, (in an unpublished opinion) upheld the trial court’s decision to dismiss Corrections Sergeant Pamela Mercer’s claims of Gender Discrimination and Hostile Work Environment. It agreed with the lower court because Mercer could not show the conduct directed at her was because of gender and her transfer was not an adverse employer action and the incidents cited were not severe/pervasive enough to alter the Officer’s working conditions. [Read more…]
