FCCFF Newsletter 2-4-08


Union Wins Grievance at Step 4


On January, 17th, the Union won a grievance at step 4.  The issue began when a faculty member was sick and contacted the departmental secretary that he would be unable to conduct class.  This was the procedure used in every department that I know.  The program manager wrote a letter of reprimand to be placed in the faculty member's personnel file because he was not contacted directly.  The program manager has since written a new procedure for his area so that he will be contacted directly in the future.   
 
Our contract requires that discipline be administered by the  supervising dean or the campus president and shall be for proper or just cause.  Since the dean did not write the letter of reprimand, this was the first contract violation.  A common test for determining whether just cause or proper cause exists was developed by arbitrator Carroll Daugherty in a 1966 case.   This standard has become known as the 'Seven Tests of Just Cause'. 

1. Was the employee adequately warned of the consequences of his conduct?  In his case, obviously, the faculty member could not be warned about a policy that did not exist yet.

2. Was the employer's rule or order reasonably related to efficient and safe operations?  Actually, the departmental secretary acted to tell the students class was cancelled and posted the alternate assignment in a timely fashion.

3. Did management investigate before administering the discipline?   

4. Was the investigation fair and objective?

5. Did the investigation produce substantial evidence or proof of guilt?

6. Were the rules, orders, and penalties applied evenhandedly and without discrimination?

7. Was the penalty reasonably related to the seriousness of the offense and the past record?

Obviously, the administration violated 3 through 7 based still on the fact that the faculty member was disciplined  for violating a procedure that had not been created yet.

The discipline article is an important article in our contract.  The board of trustees is only limited by statute and the contract.  Without the contract, the faculty member in this case could have been forced to accept this unwarranted reprimand.


Stephen Milczanowski, FCCFF President