City manager answers questions about social media post
Some of you had questions about a social media post recently regarding an arbitrator’s finding in connection with disciplinary action taken involving a Bartlesville firefighter. City Manager Mike Bailey explains what happened and how the arbitration process works in this week’s Director’s Cut.
I see on the International Association of Firefighters and Professional Fire Fighters of Oklahoma Facebook pages that the City of Bartlesville recently lost a grievance arbitration to the local IAFF. Can you explain what this means?
This is a great question that is not commonly understood. Grievances and grievance arbitrations are fairly unique to unionized operations. State law allows many municipal police and fire departments to unionize, and both the police and fire departments in Bartlesville are represented by unions.
What is a grievance?
A grievance is simply a method of resolving disputes between management and employees represented by a union. The first step in this resolution process is the filing of the grievance. Any employee or the union can file a grievance concerning the ‘interpretation, enforcement, or application’ of the union agreement.
The grievance is then reviewed by the fire chief. If the chief denies the grievance, it is forwarded to the city manager for a final decision. If the city manager also denies the grievance, then the union has the option to request grievance arbitration.
What is grievance arbitration?
A grievance arbitration is a quasi-judicial procedure that is argued in front of an arbitrator selected from a federal list of arbitrators instead of a judge. Both parties have the right to argue their case, and the arbitrator holds the final decision making authority. The arbitrator will decide if the grievance should be sustained or denied. If the grievance is denied, the action taken by the City is final. If the grievance is sustained, the action taken by the City is overturned. A sustained grievance could result in the reinstatement of a terminated employee, assessment of back wages, clearing of personnel files, and other remedies.
Does this happen often?
Grievances are fairly common in management/union organizations. The total number of grievances received by the City over the last five years is detailed in the following chart. The disposition of those grievances is also indicated.
Do all denied grievances result in arbitrations?
Denied grievances do not have to go to arbitration by rule, but as the above chart indicates, about 70 percent of the denied grievances resulted in the union requesting arbitration. Of the requested arbitrations, only four have actually been argued before an arbitrator at this point. These four grievances covered disciplinary actions ranging in severity from informal counseling to termination.
Does this mean that the City or IAFF did something ‘wrong?’
Grievances are usually the result of a disagreement over employee discipline. An arbitrator’s ruling does not necessarily indicate wrongdoing by either party.
Who pays for arbitrations? Does the City have to pay everything if the union was right and vice-versa?
Unfortunately, arbitrations are expensive for both parties, and win or lose, both parties have to pay their share. A municipality can expect to pay between $5,000 and $15,000 for a grievance arbitration depending on the severity and complexity of the grievance. I don’t know how much a union pays, but I would assume it is similar.
I know you can’t discuss personnel matters, but since the local IAFF shared the letter about the most recent arbitration on their Facebook page, can you provide more detail?
Personnel matters are almost always held in the strictest confidentiality by the City, but in this instance, the employee’s representatives (PFFO and IAFF) have elected to make this case public. As such, the City believes it is in the public’s best interest to provide a bit more context, absent the employee’s name, on this particular issue.
The grievance discussed in the PFFO’s letter was filed against the City by the IAFF on behalf of an employee — in legal terms, he’s a ‘grievant’ — who violated standard procedures included in the union contract. Both parties agreed that the violation occurred, and a violation of these procedures, whether willful or accidental, can, and in this instance did, result in financial ramifications to the City. In fact, the party that was wronged by the grievant’s actions was a fellow firefighter, and the City was required to pay this firefighter back wages for a shift that he did not work in order to correct the violation.
As such, the fire chief conducted an informal counseling session with the grievant to ensure that he would follow the proper procedure in the future. Informal counseling is the mildest form of corrective action in the fire department, and, as stated in the union’s contract, ‘Most potential employee problems can be best addressed by day-to-day communication and feedback between an employee and his/her supervisor. Many potential problems (job performance, attendance, etc.) can be adequately addressed through proper counseling and guidance by the supervisor regarding reinforcement or explanation of City/department rules, requirements or standards.’
The chief therefore felt that an informal counseling was appropriate. However, the arbitrator disagreed and found that ‘the employer failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that there was just cause for discipline of the grievant,’ and as such, the records of this event have been removed from the grievant’s file.
What does the City do now? If all parties agree that there was a violation of procedures and the mildest form of corrective action was applied, surely the City intends to appeal this decision?
If this were a court case, the City would certainly appeal the decision, as we believe that corrective action must be taken when policy or procedure is violated. However, this is not a court case, and the City has no right of appeal. In accordance with the 1977 Oklahoma law, an arbitrator’s decision is absolutely final and may not be appealed to any elected body, judge, or other authority.
What’s next? Will the City stop using corrective action in the Fire department?
Absolutely not. While the City cannot appeal the decision, we have an obligation to the citizens of Bartlesville and our firefighters — keep in mind that the party injured by the grievant’s actions was a fellow firefighter — to ensure that the contract and our operating procedures are followed. As such, the City will continue to follow the union contract and operate in a manner that is in the best interests of the public and our employees.