24-hour notice in Unit 7 contract reinforced
Date: 12/18/2009
The CSLEA legal team is proud to have disrupted another game managements -- either intentionally or accidentally -- enjoy playing with state employees continues.
On Dec. 14, arbitrator Catherine Harris ruled in favor of CSLEA on a grievance it brought against the Medical Board of California on behalf of CSLEA-member investigators. Harris found the Medical Board had violated the Unit 7 contract by failing to provide notice of a temporary shift-change by the required 24 hours.
The grievance stemmed from an annual low-light, range-qualification test that investigators are required to take. The seven participating investigators were notified 35 days in advance when and where the training was to occur, but the notice did not tell them how they should alter their normal work schedules to avoid falling into overtime. It was not until 22 hours prior to the time of the training that Board management sent out an e-mail advising investigators how to flex their normal schedules.
"This case is an example of how important it is for CSLEA to enforce the Unit 7 contract even where the violation is technical in nature," said Clark. "It is also an example of the amount of money the state will spend defending its position, regardless of merits. The Medical Board could have resolved the whole matter by giving the seven investigators four hours of overtime, which would have amounted to a couple hundred of dollars. Instead, the Board chose to pay Department of Personnel Administration attorneys and half of the arbiter's fees to hear the case, which amounted to between $7,500 and $10,000. MBC elected to pursue the matter to arbitration despite the fact that DPA had granted the grievance. As the saying goes, if the state were a private business, it would be out of business."
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