AN ARBITRATOR has ruled that the City of Chelan violated a collective bargaining agreement when it denied a laid-off employee’s request to be bumped into a less-senior position.

As a result, Thomas Levak ruled that the grievant be offered the position of pump technician and be awarded back pay that he lost as a result of the City’s violation of the agreement.
The grievant in the hearing had worked for the City for 19 years and had worked his way up to parks operations supervisor, a position he held for nine years.

In September 2006 the City said it was combining the Parks Department within the Recreation Operations Department and that the grievant’s position would be eliminated. Relying on a clause in the collective bargaining agreement, the grievant requested he be bumped into the pump technician position at Public Works.

The City responded that the grievant was unqualified for the pump technician position and denied his request.
During the hearing Council 2 contended the grievant was qualified for the position, but added that the qualifications of the grievant and the employee holding the position should not be compared. The contract language required an employee only to meet minimum qualifications of a job to bump a less senior employee.

Levak ruled that the union proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the City had violated the agreement when it determined the grievant did not possess the minimum qualifications for the position. “There can be no doubt but that it simply wanted to retain an individual in the position whom it has spent time and money training and who was performing to a satisfactory level,” he said.

“In doing so, it ignored the minimum qualifications of the grievant, the clear language of the contract and its own position description, and therefore failed to use the reasonable judgment required by the section.”

General Counsel Audrey Eide represented Council 2 in the hearing.