Page 18 - July 2017 Newsletter

Lodge obtains two significant arbitration awards
It’s not often that the Lodge receives two sig- nificant victories that impact our officers
in a positive way — both in the same month. Both rulings have implications
grievance immediately after each delay in order to object timely to the loss of his IOD time. The officer waited until his IOD time had been exhausted, however, to avoid filing a grievance in case it would not be necessary.Unfortunately,dueinparttotheCity’s delays, the officer exhausted his IOD time and instead used his own earned time while recover- ing from his injuries in order to remain in pay sta- tus. Nielsen found the grievance timely, in part, because the officer filed a grievance within 35 days of the date on which he began to use his earned time while recovering from his IOD. Nielsen properly explained: “Measuring the timeliness from the point of actual harm is also con- sistent with the practical facts that people react to actual,
rather than theoretical, losses.”
In addition, Nielsen directed the City to restore the of-
ficer 25 days of IOD time due to the delays caused by the City of Chicago’s medical review process — consistent with a past arbitration award entered against the City in
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over the procedures, rather than the substantive nature, of the processes in play. One is a medical grievance, while the other is a discipline grievance.
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Lab Rep t
First, on June 23, 2017, Arbitrator Nielsen addressed what constitutes “the events or circumstanc- es giving rise to the grievance” that will trigger the 35- day window in which to file a medical grievance under Section 9.5.
There, the facts related to an officer’s time off work due to an injury on duty (IOD). While off work, the officer un- derwent two surgeries, and on both occasions, the City of Chicago’s review of the medical necessity for each sur- gery delayed the dates on which the surgeries could pro- ceed. The City argued that the officer should have filed a
18 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2017