August 17, 2015 by

Arbitrator Rules Against Alaska Correctional Officers Association In Dispute Over Pay Rates For Voluntarily Demoted Officers

By Jim Cline and Geoff Kiernan

step downIn State of Alaska, 133 LA 1436 (DiFalco 2014) an arbitrator ruled that the State properly paid Correction Officers who voluntarily demoted themselves back to a lower classification, even though the result was that they were paid less than if they had not been promoted in the first place. The arbitrator conceded that while the results of this were unfair to several Corrections Officers, he stressed that it was not his job to do what was fair but to interpret the contract language as it appeared in the CBA.

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Filed Under: Arbitration Rulings, Contract Interpretation
July 20, 2015 by

Arbitrator Reverses Florida Firefighter’s Discharge for Off-Duty Drug Use, Persuaded by His Difficult Personal Circumstances

By Jim Cline and Jordan Jones

pot fireIn City of Oakland Park, the arbitrator held that there was not just cause to discharge a Florida firefighter for using marijuana while off-duty. The arbitrator cited the firefighter’s excellent work history and other mitigating circumstances.

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Filed Under: Discipline
March 5, 2015 by

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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Filed Under: Loudermill
January 16, 2015 by

Arbitrator Held That There Was Not Just Cause To Discharge An Illinois Police Officer Based On Two Conflicting Psychological Reports

By Jim Cline and Jordan L. Jones

fit for dutyIn City of Rockford, 133 LA 572 (Simon, 2012) and City of Rockford, 133 LA 587 (Simon, 2013), the Arbitrator denied the police union’s grievance alleging a procedural violation of the CBA, but held that the City did not have just cause to terminate a ten-year veteran police officer based on two conflicting psychological fitness for duty reports.

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Filed Under: Arbitration Rulings
January 13, 2015 by

Memphis Police Officer is Reinstated After Being Discharged for “Inciting Officers to Strike”

By Jim Cline and Jordan L. Jones

MPDbadgeThe Arbitrator held in City of Memphis, 133 LA 612 (Skulina 2014) that a police officer’s discharge for “inciting officers to strike” should be reduced to a 10-day suspension since the discussion with another officer was about a past and not a current strike.

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Filed Under: Arbitration Rulings, Discipline
December 19, 2014 by

Border Patrol Agent’s Time On Administrative Duty For Arrest Was Proper

By Jim Cline and Jordan L. Jones

NO-DUIIn Dep’t of Homeland Security,133 LA 419 (Nicholas 2014) the Arbitrator, citing the memorandum of understanding, denied a Border Patrol Agent’s grievance for being placed on administrative duty, following a DWI arrest, for “too long.”

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Filed Under: Discipline
December 17, 2014 by

Arbitrator Finds Just Cause for Suspension of Coronado Naval Police Officer for Off Base Use of Excessive Force

By Jim Cline and Geoff Kiernan

naval policeIn Dep’t of the Navy,133 LA 1469 (Halter 2014), an Arbitrator Patrick Halter held that there was just cause for the suspension of a Department of the Navy  police officer who used excessive force to subdue a civilian off-base.

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Filed Under: Discipline
November 26, 2014 by

Pennsylvania Arbitrator Rules Against Police Union in Veteran’s Day Holiday Pay Dispute

By Geoff Kiernan

christmasclub_imageIn City of Butler, an arbitrator held that the City did not violate its CBA when it paid a police sergeant time and a half in overtime pay for working during a holiday parade, rather than providing both overtime pay and holiday pay premium.

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Filed Under: Arbitration Rulings, Contract Interpretation
November 26, 2014 by

Florida Arbitrator Finds Sheriff’s Office Unilaterally Changed Firefighter Union Release Time

By Geoff Kiernan

past practiceIn Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the Arbitrator held that the city could not unilaterally change the way in which the Union President was paid for doing Union work on the clock, especially when such a change violated an established past practice.

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Filed Under: Arbitration Rulings, Contract Interpretation
September 16, 2014 by

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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Filed Under: Arbitration Rulings, Discipline, Other Procedure issues
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