By David Worley
When the Ashtabula County Youth Detention Center declared that it was no longer providing “transitional” positions, which were specifically detailed in the CBA, the employer was found by an arbitrator to have improperly read these provisions out of the CBA.
In Ashtabula Youth Detention Center, 131 LA 848 (Cohen, 2012), the grievant, a detention 17 year officer, was denied a light duty “transitional” position when she re-injured her arm and was denied a temporary position in the control room, as had been assigned after the first injury. The employer stated in a responsive memo that it was no longer providing transitional work for otherwise qualified employees. This, found the arbitrator, was the same as no longer recognizing the provision in the CBA that detailed the assignment of transitional work, and was therefore an improper unilateral change to a bargained-for provision.
The grievant, a female detention officer, injured her arm twice while pushing open a heavy door. The first injury resulted in her being assigned a light duty position in the control room for roughly two months. Seven months later, the grievant re-injured her arm in the same way. This time, however, she was denied the transitional position and told that no such work was available.
Examining the applicable CBA provision 32.02, the arbitrator noted that it detailed in length the procedures for the grievant to be assigned to a light duty position. By removing the possibility of a transitional position, the employer improperly removed any effect of that provision.
The evidence is compelling that the County violated Section 32.02 by not providing transitional work to the Grievant after her second injury on September 30, 2010. Such transitional work may involve duties in the control room or another available transitional work setting. It must be emphasized that such transitional work is not discretionary on the part of the County; it is a mandatory part of the bargain entered into with the Union.
