By Anthony Rice
In City of Springdale, the Arbitrator ruled that the City violated the CBA when it refused to grant an officer’s wage increase after she was out on maternity and injury leave, where the intent of the parties surrounding the CBA was to grant the wage increase on the anniversary of the officer’s date of hire.
By Jim Cline
A case currently pending before the US Supreme Court may challenge the Court’s previous holdings that workplace speech that touches on a public employee’s “job duties falls outside the protection of the First Amendment. The Lane v. Franks involved an Alabama Community College employee who was terminated in retaliation for his subpoenaed testimony. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that because his testimony was in furtherance of his actual job duties, it did not fall under the “job duties” exception to the First Amendment enunciated by the Supreme Court in 2006 in Garcetti v. Calleballos.
By Anthony Rice
In City of Naperville v. Ill. Fraternal Order of Police, the Illinois Appellate Court held the issue of refusing to hire a police officer to operate a snowplow, while off duty, was not arbitrable because the parties’ CBA did not have an expressed provision stating otherwise. [Read more…]
By Jordan Jones
In City of Farmington, the arbitrator found that a firefighter’s termination that included an allegation of failure to report his off duty DUI was without just cause because (1) the employer’s investigation was not conducted fairly and objectively, (2) the employer did not obtain substantial evidence that the employee was guilty, and (3) the discipline was not reasonably related to the incident.
By Anthony Rice
In City of Memphis v. Lesley, the court held that failing to provide an officer with a statement of charges against her, violated her due process right where her probationary period was over, despite having been out of the academy for less than a year. [Read more…]
By Jordan Jones
In City of Toledo, the arbitrator sustained an Ohio firefighter’s grievance for being denied use of 24 hours of compensatory time off, after reviewing the Collective Bargaining Agreement language.
By Emily Nelson
Ruby Maes, a former corrections officer at the City of Española Detention Facility, sued the City and the Detention Facility’s Director for disability discrimination, alleging that it refused to provide a reasonable accommodation for her disability, responding to her request telling her that her health issues were “your problem.” The City filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Maes’s medical conditions (depression, severe insomnia, and migraines) did not qualify as a “disability” because the inability to sleep does not “substantially limit a major life activity,” under the ADA. The federal district court of New Mexico disagreed with the City, finding, among other things, that such conditions do qualify as a disability, and allowed Maes to proceed with her discrimination claims. [Read more…]
By Emily Nelson
Susan Graziosi, a sergeant of the Greenville Mississippi Police Department, alleged she was fired in retaliation for posting criticisms of her police Chief Freddie Cannon on Facebook The federal district court dismissed her free speech claim in Graziosi v. City of Greenville, finding that the Chief was justified in firing her in order to minimize disruption in the department.
By Emily Nelson
In Rebello v. City of New Bedford, a federal district court granted summary judgment to the City on a Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) claim, after Paramedic Joseph J. Rebello failed to establish that his reserve service was the proximate cause of his discharge when he was laid off during a city-wide staffing reduction.
By Oliver Enquist
In Ellis v. Houston, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of five African American corrections officers who brought claims against five of their supervisors for race based harassment and retaliation. The appellate court ruled that the officers’ claims stated a cause of action and reversed a district court ruling that had dismissed all the allegations. [Read more…]
