By David Worley

In City of Chicago, 131 LA 902 (Goldstein, 2013), the arbitrator found no violation of the CBA occurred when the Chicago Police department did not elevate a Captain to position of Commander when the current Commander was temporarily absent even though the CBA specified that an available Captain (the grievant), would be elevated to that position when it became vacant.  The arbitrator found a valid exercise of management rights when the City decided it was unnecessary to fill the vacant Commander position when the vacancy was for such a short period.  Although during the vacancy, officers were instructed to look to a Commander at a neighboring district for “any questions or concerns”, the arbitrator found this did not constitute actually filling the vacancy.

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By David Worley

In Town of Canton, 131 LA 876 (Gnocchi 2013), the arbitrator found that because the overtime provisions of the CBA did not reference “Private Duty” work, and there was a separate provision detailing the compensation for private duty work, the grievant was not entitled to the overtime rate of pay for that private duty work.  The arbitrator found the lack of applicable language in the overtime provision determinative, and considered private duty work, although assigned by the department and done in uniform, to be essentially work performed for a third party. [Read more…]