22 Jun In this assignment, you are asked to resp
In this assignment, you are asked to respond to the following question:
How effective are the grievance and arbitration processes? Refer to the issues discussed in case studies 10.2 and 11.3 and the video links below. Refer to the questions found at the end of the case study to help you think about your answer to the question above.
10.2
On August 15, employees Billie Green, Mary Swallows, Betty Jones, and Edie Barnett lunched together in the company’s parking lot. The discussion centered on Barnett’s pending grievance concerning her recently completed layoff. Green, a nonunion employee, asked Barnett if she had said that Green had not been laid off because she was providing sexual favors to a supervisor. When Barnett admitted that she had made the comment, Green asserted that Barnett’s husband engaged in sexual conduct with Swallows, a union employee. Swallows then slapped Green, and Green proposed that they leave the company property to settle the matter.
Swallows slapped Green again, and then turned and walked away. Green became infuriated, followed Swallows, and kicked her in the back. The two fought for about four minutes.
Later that day, human resource manager Joe Rogalski called Green and Swallows for separate meetings to talk about the incident. Rogalski had talked with witnesses to the incident, and their accounts gave conflicting reports as to who had struck the first blow. Because he could not determine who had started the incident, he had no recourse but to fire both of them. He advised them that they could file a grievance if they chose. At the end of the day, Green and Swallows met at the time clock. Green accused Swallows of lying and told her, “Sooner or later I’ll beat the hell out of you.”
The next day, Green telephoned the plant and told the human resource department’s secretary that she was going to file a grievance. The Union Grievance Committee members was meeting that morning at the plant cafeteria. Green went to the meeting and spoke with grievance committee members Jack Nolan and Joe Caldwell about filing a grievance. Nolan told her to see union secretary Sue Cogdill. She spoke to Cogdill who told her, “We’ll take care of it…just go up to the cafeteria and wait for me.”
Earlier that same day, Swallows had met with the Union Grievance Committee in the cafeteria and had given her version of the incident. Green was later asked to give her version to the same group. Green believed that by meeting with the Grievance Committee she had officially filed a grievance. She then left the plant.
A week later, Swallows returned to work and Green was told by friends about Swallows’s reinstatement. Green went to the plant to inquire about her grievance and was informed that no grievance had been filed on her behalf. She then confronted Cogdill and asked why her grievance had not been filed. Cogdill replied, “That’s not normally my duty.” Green then spoke to Rogalski, who explained that he could not rehire her because he had no written grievance from her. When she reminded him that she had told him earlier that she wanted to file a grievance, he responded that even if she had filed one, it would not have mattered because he and Cogdill had discussed the situation and decided to rehire Swallows. Green believed that her rights under the LMRA had been violated and filed a charge of an unfair labor practice with the NLRB, alleging lack of fair representation by the union.
Questions:
1) What are nonunion employee rights under the LMRA?
2) What is meant by the union’s duty of fair representation?
3) When had the union met its obligation of fair representation?
4) Has the union in this case met its fair representation obligation? Explain.
11.3
The origin of this matter of arbitration is the following grievance filed on January 15, 2009:
On 4-25-08 due to circumstances beyond my control I (Bob Boyce) was involved in a job-related accident leading to an injury. Negligence and disregard for safety by Management created an unsafe work environment. Information on defective equipment was not give to employees by Management. Therefore, hazards remained when injury occurred. Only then did Management respond to correct problems.
I was denied work due to restrictions from M.D. I am filing for for 26 weeks employee contributions to his medical insurance and adjustment to my vacation checks. Compensation for other has been given in the past.
In a letter dated March 20, 2009, the company responded:
This regards Grievance filed by Bob Boyce who has requested to be reimbursed for the 26 weeks of employee contributions to medical coverage and adjustment for vacation pay during this recent absence due to an injury. The Grievance feels that since the injury was beyond his control, he should be compensated for all loses.
As a practice, the company does not require an employee who is out of work (regardless of reason) to keep contributing to their portion of the medical coverage during their absence. After the employee returns, he is required to “catch up” the back payments over a period of time. In the following year, vacation pay is calculated on the basis of total wages earned for the 52 weeks period preceding the vacation eligibility period (anniversary date). If the Grievant was out of work (regardless of the reason) his total wages would of course be less than normal.
The company has made only a couple of exceptions to the policy relative to the medical contributions in the past: two occasions when employees did not return to work from an injury and/or accident. Both of these cases were under extenuating circumstances, not as in the present case. The Grievant argued that since he was not at fault in his incident, he should be granted the same considerationas the previous cases. I do not think it will be productive to gent into the practice of having to argue facts of eat granting the special request. Similarly, the Workers Compensation program is also a “no fault” system where the company is responsible for paying for the claims regardless of who is at fault. Therefore, I am not inclined to start a different practice at this time.
The Grievant is also arguing that, since the accident was “not his fault”. He should be compensated for the loss of earnings that would have otherwise been considered in calculating his vacation pay for the following year. This would establish a completely new practice to administer in the future.
As I review the current Labor Agreement, I cannot find a provision that obligates the company to reimburse the grievant for either of his requests. The actions of the previous cases were above and beyond our contractual obligations and should not be construed as a precedent for other cases.
Based on the reasoning previously cited, I must deny the grievance.
Issues
Whether the collective bargaining agreement between the parties obligates the employer to pay for the employee’s contribution for medical coverage during the time he was on worker’s compensation leave and to adjust the employee’s vacation pay to credit him for time he was out on leave.
If so, what is the remedy?
Relevant Provisions of the Agreement
Article 15: Vacation
Employees will become eligible for vacations with pay on the following bases:
1) Eligibility, time lost as a result of a work related injury will be counted for the purpose of determining 1040 hours of work during the fifty-two (52) week period.
2) Continuous Service
For the purpose of computing vacation eligibility:
a)Time lost as a direct result of illness or accident shall not constitute a break in continuous services for twelve (12) moths of such time lost.
b) Absences due to leave of absences which do not exceed three (3) months shall not constitute services. However, that period of absence from this cause in excess of one (1) month shall not be counted in computing continuous service for vacation, and an employee’s anniversary date will be charged accordingly.
c) Termination of seniority as provided for an Article 7, Section III (e), shall constitute a complete break of continuous service and no past service shall be credited in the event of re-employment.
3) Vacation Pay
a. Employees will qualify for six (6) weeks of vacation on the twenty-fifth (25th) anniversary of the date from which their employment is continuous provided the employee has completed at least 1040 hours of work during the year immediately preceding such eligibility date. In such instances, vacation pay will be an amount equal to twelve (12) percent of the employee’s total wages earned by the employee during the calendar year immediately preceding the year of his current eligibility date or 240 times his permanent hourly rate as of the date he became eligible, whichever is greater.
b. Employees separated from the payroll and who have previously qualified for at least the first week of vacation shall received pro rata vacation pay for unused vacation at the rate of three and one-half (3 ½) times their regular hourly rate per week of eligible vacation, for each month of continuous service since the last vacation eligibility date.
c. Vacation payment will not be made earlier than the week immediately prior to the vacation period.
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