Page 15 - FOP September 2016

Splitting the difference over time
On Aug. 8, the Lodge received the results of the field training officer (FTO) grievance. This grievance was one of many here at the Lodge that was left for dead by the previous administration. We were able to rescue
this grievance – which was demanded
for arbitration on Nov. 27, 2013 – and ensure its arbitration date was pro-
vided. Because of the length of time,
we were saddled with an argument initiated by the past Grievance Committee Chair Rich Aguilar.
This issue was that the Department would compen- sate FTOs one half-hour at the rate of time-and-one- half for completing a daily observation report (DOR). Eventually, the Department started to assign multiple probationary peace officers (PPOs) to one FTO due to a shortage of FTOs. Because of this shift in practice, FTOs alleged they should be compensated at one half-hour’s rate for each recruit assigned, as stated in Section 26.1 of the contract. The Department disagreed, stating that one half-hour is plenty of time to finish multiple DORs; therefore, the FTOs are not entitled to any additional overtime.
In short, the argument brought forward by the previ- ous administration alleged that the language of section 26.1, providing for compensation up to one half-hour of overtime, would be doubled when there are two PPOs, due to past practice. Unfortunately, the FTOs who tes- tified revealed that DORs are computerized and are completed in less than one half-hour, and past practice could not be proven, as it was never the official policy of the Chicago Police Department to submit multiple over- time slips for each recruit.
Since this section of the contract needed past prac- tice to ensure its approval, this part of the grievance was denied, thereby ruling no retroactive overtime will be awarded to any FTO. The ruling states:
“The arbitrator concludes that the (Donald) O’Neill/ (Rich) Aguilar testimony clearly establishes that any claim for compensation based upon alleged past prac- tice as to the application of Section 26.1 prior to Jan. 11, 2013 fails as not being factual.”
However, the Lodge, realizing that the testimony giv- en by the original grievant was not ideal, attempted to persuade the arbitrator by referencing Section 20.2 Compensation for Overtime. Through this action we were successful, an outcome you can verify through the arbitrator’s ruling:
is to find that Section 20.2, is applicable in the appro- priate case...that he or she is entitled to overtime com- pensation over and above the 30 minutes by applying the provisions of Article 20.2 on the basis that the actu-
al overtime was necessary to prepare the required multi-DORs and cycle summaries.”
To summarize, this grievance was partially granted. The arbitrator ruled that, because past practice was not proven, no retroactive pay-
ments are to be awarded to the affected FTOs. However, going forward, if any FTO has multiple re- cruits in the future, and takes more than one half-hour to complete the DORs and cycle summaries, he or she is to submit an overtime slip to his or her supervisor for the amount of time worked beyond the one half-hour it
takes to complete these forms.
If you would like to read the entire decision, please
stop by the Lodge and we will have it available for your perusal. d
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“The best this arbitrator can do in terms of remedy
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2016 15