Page 17 - FOP Magazine August 2020

Here, the changes made in the course of expanding the pilot program to the final order directly impact the way the City will discipline bargaining unit members. The City did not afford the Lodge any opportunity to discuss when and under what circumstances police officers will be disciplined for even mi- nor violations of the new order. Moreover, by selecting certain groups of bargaining unit employees who will be exempt from complying with the new swiping program (and, thus, not sub- ject to discipline), the City is treating some groups differently from others — without any explanation as to the underlying reason. On its face, the City’s conduct appears arbitrary and capricious.
The Lodge has become a regular customer at the Illinois Labor Relations Board. Once the City files a formal answer to each and every one of the allegations contained in the com- plaint, then the labor board’s executive director will schedule the matter for hearing before one of the board’s administra- tive law judges. The Lodge would expect such a hearing to take place in the near future. Typically, these hearings last one or two days.
At such a hearing, the parties will have an opportunity to present witnesses and other evidence to support their re- spective positions. Once completed, the parties will then file post-hearing briefs and eventually the administrative law judge will issue a recommended decision and order (RDO). Clearly, the Lodge will request that the board ultimately issues an order directing the City to cease and desist from unilaterally implementing any changes to how bargaining unit members must swipe in at the start of their tour and swipe out at the
end of their tour without first bargaining with the Lodge over the impact or effect such changes will have on bargaining unit employees’ terms and conditions of employment. Further, the Lodge will ask the board to direct the City not to expand the program further in an attempt “to produce payroll, recording overtime, and managing the accumulation of compensatory time and use of any contractual paid time off” unless it first bargains with the Lodge. Any RDO issued by the administra- tive law judge can be appealed to the Board, which will either affirm or reverse the RDO.
As with the City’s conduct in the past, it fails to appreciate its obligation to bargain with the Lodge over the impact any new system will have on our bargaining unit members. Or maybe the City simply has a propensity (or a pattern) to engage in illegal conduct knowingly. Either way, it must stop.
While this process plays out at the labor board, as I urged all police officers in a prior article, everyone should be com- plying with the directive and swiping in at the start of their tour and swiping out at the end of their tour. If asked or called to perform any function after officially swiping out, please do not forget to swipe back in again. As with the other cases, the Lodge expects the ALJ to find the City to be in violation of the State Labor Relations Act, require the City to rescind the di- rective, and sit down and bargain with the Lodge. The Lodge will settle for nothing less. Not even the City should be above the law.
Please continue to stay safe.
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ AUGUST 2020 17