Laundry List: California Arbitrator Rules that California Police Department Terminated Officer Accused of Violating Handful of Department Policies for Just Cause

By Jim Cline and Stephen Hatton

In City of Selma, Arbitrator George Riggs, Jr. held that Selma, California’s Police Department had just cause to terminate an officer who had violated six of its departmental policies between 2005 and 2021.

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Union Did Not Breach Duty of Fair Representation by Declining to Grieve Pennsylvania Firefighter’s Termination

By: Jim Cline and Clive Pontusson

In Addeo v. Philadelphia Firefighter and Paramedic Union, a firefighter sued both the City of Philadelphia and his union for violating his due process rights and his right to fair representation. Addeo had been fired following a DUI, and when the Union decided not to pursue his grievance, he filed a personal lawsuit that accused both the City and the union of misconduct. However, a federal judge dismissed all of Addeo’s lawsuit, finding that both the City and the Union had behaved properly.

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Court Upholds Arbitration Award and Rules Connecticut Police Officer’s Lie Not Bad Enough to Violate Public Policy

By: Jim Cline and Geoff Kiernan

In Town of Stratford (Connecticut), the City attempted to vacate an arbitration decision that had reinstated a police officer who was discharged for lying to an independent neurologist by withholding medical information about his seizures and alcohol abuse.  The City argued that the police officer must be fired because there is a public policy against intentional dishonesty in connection with police employment. The Court agreed that while there was a public policy against intentional policy officer dishonesty in connection with employment, the dishonesty at issue here was not so extreme as to make the arbitrator’s award a violation of public policy.

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Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals Holds That Expanding Weingarten Rights To Union Employees That Are The Focus Of A Criminal Investigation Violates Public Policy

By Jim Cline and Jordan L. Jones

stew10In Prince George’s County v. Prince George’s County Police Civilian Employees Association, a Maryland appellate court vacated an arbitrator’s decision which had reinstated a civilian employee  with the Prince George’s County Police Department. The Court rejected the arbitrator’s conclusion that the civilian employee must be informed of his right to have a Union representative present before being subjected to questioning that may lead to discipline by the County. The Court stated that expanding the requirement of Weingarten rights to “employees that are the focus of a criminal investigation violated public policy.”

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Pennsylvania Court Rules Part-Time Police Officer Removed from Work Schedule Has A Claim for Discharge Without Due-Process

Jim Cline and Geoff Kiernan

Part-Time-Clock-smallIn Mariano v. Borough of Dickson City, the Court held that the Borough may have violated an officer’s right to due process when the police chief removed him from the work schedule without a proper hearing. The Court disagreed with the City’s assertion that since the Officer was a part time employee he did not have a protected interest in his employment. The Officer had raised questions about his contract rights which was then followed by a meeting with the Police Chief in which the officer was accused of misconduct and then told he was being removed from the schedule.

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Feud Fueled by Questionable Sick Leave Escalates into Plausible ADA Claims for Injured Officer

By Mitchell Riese and Mitchel Wilson

snowflake3-1-1In Sube v. City of Allentown, the Court denied the Defendant City’s motion for summary judgment and permitted the employee’s disability discrimination claims under the ADA to proceed to trial. As the City was aware of Sube’s injury and later terminated him soon after he sought to bring discrimination charges with the EEOC.

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Arbitrator Guy Coss Holds that Spokane Valley Fire Captain Extinguished His Remedy for Termination by Appealing to the Civil Service Commission

By Anthony Rice

email_devilIn Spokane Valley Fire Dep’t, Arbitrator Guy Coss dismissed a Spokane Valley Fire Department (SVFD) employee’s grievance as not arbitrable, because he exhausted his remedy by first appealing to the Civil Service Commission.

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Despite an Unjust Demotion, the CBA Does Not Give a Police Captain Redress

By Anthony Rice

captainIn City of West Palm Beach, the arbitrator held the grievance was not arbitrable, because the captain (grievant) was outside the bargaining unit and the CBA contained no language concerning grieving a captain’s demotion.

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Federal District Court Trashes City’s Motion to Dismiss Due Process Claims of Terminated Police Officer Accused of Misusing City Dumpsters

By Emily Nelson

DumpsterIn Mariano v. Borough of Dickson City, a Pennsylvania Federal District Court held that the City was not entitled to dismissal of a terminated police officer’s claim that his right to due process was violated when he was fired shortly after filing grievances.

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Officer Terminated after Arrest for Illegal Sale of Firearm Survives Motion to Dismiss Due Process Claim

By David Worley

Due ProcessIn Dooley v. City of Bridgeport, 34 IER Cases 1507 (S.D. Ill. 2013), the court denied motions to dismiss the due process claims of Officer Dooley, an Illinois police officer who was terminated following an arrest for illegally selling a firearm.  The charge turned out to be baseless, and Dooley challenged his termination on due process grounds and a number of state statutes.  The court found that as Dooley had a well defined property interest in his employment and no sufficient inquiry had indicated termination was actually proper, his claims could survive a motion to dismiss.

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