FHKAD attorney Edward S. Kim recently secured a positive arbitration verdict for a City Police Department. The issue in front of the arbitrator concerned whether the City had just cause to discipline an employee for unsatisfactory performance and insubordination.
Since 2014, the City had required its day shift supervisors to submit a daily shift report to the City’s Safety Director by 8:00 A.M. the following day. In 2017, the City gave this duty to the third shift dispatcher. The Grievant had failed to submit this report on four separate days, at which point Grievant was sent a memo which ordered Grievant to send the reports daily, as required, and put on notice that any further failure to do so without good cause would result in discipline up to and including termination. However, shortly thereafter, Grievant again failed to submit the required report and as a result the City initiated a disciplinary investigation which ultimately culminated in a three-day suspension without pay.
The Union grieved the discipline, arguing that the suspension was unfair. The City’s position was that the suspension was warranted, given Grievant’s continued failure to perform the requirements of her job and her insubordination for ignoring a direct order. The Arbitrator sided with the City and denied the grievance, holding that Grievant’s past failures to submit the daily report could be considered even though the memo ordering Grievant to perform her job duties wasn’t technically discipline. Further, the Arbitrator ruled that Grievant’s misconduct, although not willful insubordination, showed a lack of due respect for the chain of command and that she was on clear notice that any subsequent failures would result in discipline. The Arbitrator ruled that “when the Employer is found to have acted reasonably within its discretion there is no basis for the Arbitrator to substitute his/her opinion for that of the Employer as to level of discipline.” Therefore, the Arbitrator denied the grievance.
For any questions regarding this matter, feel free to contact Edward S. Kim at ekim@fishelhass.com or (614) 221-1216.