Page 16 - February 2016

PAT FIORETTO
BAUM SIGMAN AUERBACH & NEUMAN, LTD.
ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELLORS
Available to Practice In:
Labor Relations Law ● Employee Welfare & Pension Benefit Law Worker’s Compensation Law ● Personal Injury Law
JAMES M. NEUMAN PASQUALE A. FIORETTO CATHERINE M. CHAPMAN STEPHEN J. ROSENBLAT
BRIAN C. HLAVIN LAURA M. FINNEGAN PATRICK N. RYAN CECILIA M. SCANLON
Construction Related Injuries
200 W. ADAMS STREET, SUITE 2200 CHICAGO, IL 60606
(312) 236-4316 WWW.BAUMSIGMAN.COM
LODGE 7 LABOR CORNER
Arbitrator orders City to destroy
stale disciplinary records

On Jan. 12, arbitrator George Roumell issued an than four years old pending the arbitration. The circuit court later

interim award sustaining two grievances filed by the issued a broader order in May 2015, after the City received subse-

Lodge. The grievances, in essence, challenged the
quent FOIA requests for additional disciplinary records more than

City’s failure to destroy CR files and other discipli-
four years old. The City and various news organizations appealed

nary records as required by Section 8.4 of the
the circuit court’s decision, but the appellate court has not yet

Collective Bargaining Agreement. Since the
ruled.

very first collective bargaining agreement
With the appeal pending, and with the protection of the

between the Lodge and the City, there has
preliminary injunction, the Lodge proceeded with the previ-

been a provision requiring the City to destroy
ously scheduled arbitration hearing. The arbitration hearing,

certain disciplinary records (typically those
conducted on June 23, 2015 (after several delays on behalf of

more than five years old), subject to several exceptions. The City’s
the City), the parties submitted post-hearing briefs submitted to the

In his decisi on,Ro umel lrec ognizedthe lon g-st andingu seofthe wor d“des troy”i nbo ththeCollective Bargaining Ag reementa nd the
own policies have, since at least 1975, contained similar record
Arbitrator in the fall.

retention/destruction provisions.

When the Lodge learned, in October 2014, that the City intended

to releas e certain disc iplinary records d atin g back to 19 67 pursu ant

t o F r e e d o m o f I n f o r m a t i o n A c t r e q u e s t s , i t s o u g h t a p r e l i m i n a r y
City’s own policies and procedures. He relied on prior arbitration
injun ction to b ar the rele ase pen ding this arbitration hearing. In
decisions between the Lodge and the City, which bolstered his con- clus io nt hat“ destro y”isa n un ambig uoust erm,requ iring thee lim- ination of sp ec ified reco rds . The City’s re peated effo rts to modify or eliminate the destruction requirement in collective bargaining over
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

December 2014, the circuit court agreed with the Lodge, entering an

order preventing the City from releasing the requested records more
16 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2016