Tuesday, July 7th, 2009...9:09 am
Arbitration in Alaska: Disloyalty in a City Police Department
The Fairbanks Police Department demoted a lieutenant for disloyalty after he met directly with the Mayor to complain about denial of a promotion. The lieutenant grieved the demotion, arguing that his communication with the Mayor was protected by the 1st Amendment. Arbitrator Richard Humphreys has now denied the grievance, finding the matter was not one of “public concern.” Humphreys did find that the City had failed to conduct the”mitigation review” required by the parties’ CBA, and awarded back pay from the effective date of the demotion to the union’s demand for arbitration.
The employee has filed suit against the City on this and related matters. See previous post. The City has recently moved for summary judgment based on the Humphreys Award.
City of Fairbanks & PSEA, June 17, 2009 Award: Part I; Part II
T. K. Kleiner, Business Agent, represented the union; Joseph Evans, Atty., of Bremerton, WA, represented the City.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.