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Clark County Sheriff Dept.
Springfield, Ohio
and
Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council
116 LA (BNA) 1266
FMCS Case No. 01/10019
December 11, 2001
Fred E. Kindig, Arbitrator*
* Selected by parties through procedures of the Federal
Mediation and Conciliation Service
Preamble
This Agreement is made and entered into a Springfield, Clark County,
Ohio, this ___ day of December, 1999, by and between the Board of County
Commissioners of Clark County (the Legislative Body), the Office of the Sheriff
of Clark County (the Employer), and the Fraternal Order of Police/Ohio Labor
Council, Inc. (F.O.P./O.L.C. or the Union).
This
Agreement is made for the purpose of promoting cooperation and continuous
harmonious relations between the Board of County Commissioners, the Office of
the Sheriff, the employees of the Sheriff's Office and their representative,
the F.O.P./O.L.C., and to comply with the requirements of Chapter 4117 of the
Ohio Revised Code.
Article 15 Vacancy and Show of Interest
Section 15.1 Filling Permanent Vacancies. The Employer shall post
any and all permanent vacancies within the bargaining unit for five (5) days.
Bulletin boards will be provided for the posting of these vacancies. The notice
of vacancy will provide a description of the position, the rate of
compensation, the shift or the hours associated with the position, the minimum
qualification of the position and the person to whom interested employees
should respond.
Interested employees shall make written notice to the person
listed in the posting of the vacancy and will provide whatever information that
may be required. The Employer will screen all applications and will consider
all employees found to be qualified and eligible.
The Employer shall select the applicant who is most qualified and
able to perform the duties of the position being filled. When the qualifications
of two or more employees are found to be equal, seniority shall prevail in the
final determination of who will be selected to fill the vacancy. Upon request
made to the Employer within seven (7) days after a position is filled, any
employee who applied but was not selected for the position, will be notified in
writing of the reason(s) he/she was not selected.
Section 17.1 Procedure. The Employer and the Union recognize that
in the interest of harmonious relations, a procedure is needed whereby
employees can be assured of prompt, impartial, and fair processing of their
grievances. The grievance procedure shall be the exclusive method of resolving
grievances as hereinafter defined. However, it: is not intended that this
procedure be used to effect changes in this Agreement.
Section 17.3 Definitions/Limits. The term “grievance” shall mean
an allegation by an employee(s) that there has been a breach, violation,
misinterpretation or improper application of this Agreement. Employees may
grieve discipline that results in loss of pay or position but may not grieve
reprimands beyond Step 4.
The Grievant,
F__, was hired by the Employer as of November 17, 1980, and has been a Deputy
in the Jail Division of the Sheriff's Department for all of the twenty plus
years of service. In the spring of 2001 there was a vacancy in the Court
Division and the Grievant applied for said position. When he was not awarded
said position, pursuant to Article 15, Section 15.1 of the Agreement, he
requested an explanation as to why he had not been selected for said position.
As a result, he received the letter from Chief Deputy C__ dated March 6, 2001.
Because the Grievant considered the letter to be degrading, derogatory,
offensive and hurtful, the subject grievance was filed, which led to the
instant arbitration.
At the
hearing, the Employer contended that the grievance is not arbitrable because
there has been no violation of the Agreement. The Preamble simply acknowledges
that there is a labor agreement and provides that the purpose is to promote
cooperation and continuous harmonious relations between the parties. In
addition, Article 17, Section 17.3 indicates that there must be an allegation
of breach, violation, misinterpretation or improper application of the
Agreement, and the Grievant's claim does not constitute such. The letter was in
response to the Grievant's request for reasons as to why he did not get the
job, and the Employer simply responded to said request for reasons, which in no
way violated the Agreement. The Preamble was not intended to allow employees to
file grievances simply because they disagree with remarks made about them by
supervision. Work performance comments are necessary and it would be a
disservice if employees were not alerted to needs to improve themselves.
The Union
contended that if the letter were so egregious that it upset the ability to
promote harmonious relations between the parties, then said grievance must be
considered arbitrable and the facts must be seen to determine said issue of
arbitrability. Article 17, Section 17.1 also mentions an interest in harmonious
relations between the parties and therefore the need for the grievance
procedure and the fair processing of grievances. The letter by the Chief Deputy
was so degrading, derogatory, offensive and hurtful that it did not lend itself
to harmonious relations and, in fact, created disharmony and cannot be allowed.
The Union notes that Article 17, Section 17.3 provides that employees may not
grieve reprimands beyond Step 4 of the grievance procedure. However, in this
case, the subject grievance should be sustained, the letter in question should
be rescinded, and the Employer should be ordered not to issue such letters in
the future.
The basic function of the Preamble to a collective bargaining
agreement is, as stated in this case, to declare that the Agreement which follows
has been made and entered into by the parties, and that it has been made to
promote cooperation and harmonious relations between the parties. Article 17,
Section 17.1 of said Agreement then provides that, in the interest of
harmonious relations, there is a need for a procedure known as the grievance
procedure, which “shall be the exclusive method of resolving grievances as
hereinafter defined.”Article 17, Section 17.3 then defines a “grievance” to
mean “an allegation by an employee(s) that there has been a breach, violation,
misinterpretation or improper application of this Agreement.”
As in the Teledyne Monarch Rubber Company case cited by the
Employer, on the basis of the unambiguous language used by the parties to the
instant Agreement, it is clear that they intended to limit grievances to
complaints alleging or claiming a failure by the Employer to adhere to the
express terms and conditions of employment as set forth in the Agreement. The
language defining a grievance in Article 17, Section 17.3 excludes general
complaints that do not involve terms and conditions of employment as set forth
in the Agreement. The
language of the Preamble can not be extended to apply to allegations by an
employee that his supervisor's personal comments about him constitute a
violation of the Preamble. As argued by the Employer, if so, such would open
the door to every employee filing a grievance if and when a supervisor makes a
comment concerning said employee and the employee dislikes the comment.
The Grievant
exercised his right, pursuant to Article 15, Section 15.1, to request reasons
for his not being selected for the job vacancy in question, and Chief Deputy
C__ apparently stated his personal reasons. The Grievant did not like said
comments and thought the letter to be degrading, derogatory, and hurtful. Such
claims, as in the subject grievance filed, simply cannot be considered a
“breach, violation, misinterpretation or improper application of this
Agreement.” Therefore, the claims made cannot be considered as arbitrable.
It is
understandable that the Grievant should be shocked, hurt and intimidated by the
letter he received in response to his request for reasons as to why he had not
been selected for the vacancy. Said letter certainly demonstrates a complete
lack of good supervisory counseling technique and hopefully does not represent
Chief Deputy C__'s overall supervisory abilities, if the parties really desire
to have harmonious relations. If the statements in said letter are untrue, and
in retaliation for the past Union activity, as claimed by the Grievant, he may
have a valid complaint in another forum, but his complaints simply are not
arbitrable as a grievance under this Agreement.
In
consideration of all of the facts in the case, the testimony and evidence
presented, in accordance with the above opinion, the subject grievance is
denied as not arbitrable. This ruling is confined to the conclusion that
the Grievant's complaints concerning the C__ letter are not within the types of
complaints or grievances that the parties intended would be dealt with through
the grievance procedure of the Agreement.
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