Page 19 - June 2017 Newsletter

and FI responsibilities. Subsequently, the Lodge objected and filed the underlying grievance, which resulted in an arbitration hearing.
Fortunately, Arbitrator Nielsen found that the evidence presented by the Lodge at the hearing established that the City, since January 2015, continually violated Section 26.3 of the parties’ agreement by denying out-of-grade pay to ETs. He specifically found that the contract language:
clearly and unambiguously calls for payment of out of grade compensation any time an ET is directed to perform substantially all the duties ad assumes sub- stan-tially all the responsibilities of a...Forensic In- vestigator for more than two (2) hours within a single eight (8)-hour tour of duty.
The arbitrator went on to answer the main issue in dis- pute also in the Lodge’s favor: that the assignment of an ET to a homicide, police-involved shooting or certain oth- er types of crime scenes constitutes the performance and assumption of substantially all the duties and responsibil- ity of an FI within the meaning of Section 26.3.
In formulating a remedy, Arbitrator Nielsen indicated that all Officers should be made whole for their losses and retained jurisdiction to allow the parties the opportunity to formulate an appropriate remedy consistent with his award. The parties, however, continue to disagree as to the amount of backpay that each individual ET is entitled to receive. The main dispute now focuses on the defini- tion of “other crime scenes.”
The Lodge argues that the definition of “other crime scenes” should be based on the definition of FI work as defined in the 1999 Training Bulletin. The City, on the oth- er hand, argues that the definition of “other crime scenes” should be based on the definition of FI work as defined in a new 2010 Training Bulletin. According to several ETs and a sergeant from the Forensic Services Section, the De- partment’s actual practice on how out-of-grade was paid prior to the fall of 2014 will establish that even after the 2010 Training Bulletin was issued, the City continued to base the correct out-of-grade pay on whether an ET was assigned to a crime scene listed as FI work in 1999.
The parties have agreed to submit their written disputes to Arbitrator Nielsen by May 31, 2017, in order to obtain a resolution to the parties’ dispute over the definition of FI work and to determine accurately the exact amount of back out-of-grade pay for the period of January 1, 2015 forward.
Catherine Chapman from our office, who handled the arbitration hearing, is continuing to work with the im- pacted members to frame the appropriate arguments. Upon receipt of a ruling from the arbitrator on how to re- solve the backpay dispute, the parties should be able to complete the backpay calculation for the period January 2015 to date pursuant to the arbitration award. If not, then a subsequent hearing may be necessary to have the arbitrator make the determination. As always, the Lodge will keep the membership apprised of any new develop- ment.d
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JUNE 2017 19