R.U.D.E., or How We Get in Trouble - Metropolitan Alliance of Police

Grievance Rights
Police and Employer Responsibilities in Grievance Rights: Part I
By Joseph M. Andalina
The collective bargaining rights
granted to all police, correctional,
and other law enforcement related employees
includes a duty of the employer
to negotiate a grievance procedure to be
included into a contract.
This duty is mandated by the Illinois
Labor Relations Act, the National Labor
Relations Board, and by the courts.
After a bargaining unit is formed at
a state sponsored election or majority
petition, the municipal, state, or county
employer must bargain with the union
to establish a grievance procedure as well
as wages, benefits, and other issues both
economic and non-economic.
Once the grievance procedure is negotiated,
agreed upon, or ordered in arbitration,
the employer must abide by its provisions.
If the employer refuses to do so,
the union can force compliance by filing
unfair labor practice charges or litigating
the issue in court.
An employer can sometimes raise challenges
to grievances being brought
forward by a union or member on the
grounds of management rights. If this
happens, an independent, unbiased arbitrator
can be brought in to decide the issue
or the courts may ultimately be given
the case to decide. Usually the employer
just denies the grievance at each step and
the issue spirals upward through the steps
until an arbitration date is filed, and the
grievance itself is heard. The employer
cannot just say no to a grievance and expect
the issue to be dropped. Somewhere
along the line, the grievance will be
heard, either in court or at arbitration. Of
course, the employer can also resolve the
grievance by making the grievant whole
or in plain terms, correcting the issue at
hand on behalf of the grievant. However,
we all know how often that happens.
The police union also has a responsibility
to process grievances for the employees in
any bargaining unit. The grievance must
have a legitimate basis in the contract
and the union must use reasonable care
in processing a member’s grievance. It
is the grievant’s responsibility to follow
the grievance steps, and that includes the
meet and confer process with the employer.
A union cannot be arbitrary or discriminatory
in dropping a grievance. Rather,
the dialogue in the steps from unit supervisor
to chief or city manager should
be on-going in the hopes of obtaining a
resolution to the matter.
However a union has much more discretion
in denying that a grievance can actually
go forward past the grievance steps
to actual arbitration. The union must act
in “good faith” in deciding whether or not
to file for an independent arbitrator to
ultimately hear the case if the unit steps
are followed and no resolution in the
procedure is forthcoming.
A variety of factors may affect whether a
full scale hearing before an arbitrator occurs.
What is the nature of the grievance
itself Is the grievance an actual violation
of the contract Or is it only closely
related to a section Is there evidence
to support furtherance of the issue to
arbitration Is there a likelihood of winning,
or has the case in other venues been
litigated before unsuccessfully Is there
full cooperation from the grievant
Other rationales may occur and as long
as the union is diligent in its appraisal
and again, acts in good faith, their decision
to not go forward to arbitration is a
legitimate cause for denial.
The employer, however, cannot make
those decisions. Their veto of the grievance,
their attempts to ignore it or their
refusal to accept a grievance in any stage
is unacceptable.
They must participate in every stage. If
they refuse to do so, ignore the grievant,
or are unable or unwilling to resolve the
matter amicably with the union, then all
things being equal, an unresolved grievance
should be sent through the steps according
to the contractual guidelines and
if necessary, scheduled for arbitration.
This may also include subjects such as
discipline and termination of employment
in those municipalities or MAP
chapters if they are included in a bona
fide negotiated collective bargaining contract.
The key here is that this provision
must appear in a negotiated document.
Sometimes promotions and department
rules can also be grieved if agreed upon
in any particular contract. Normally,
however, a grievance forms its basis when
a violation of a contract occurs that affects
an employee’s wages, benefits, or
other working conditions that are subject
to collective bargaining.
Page 12 The Rap Sheet Winter 2006