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Department, the officer shall repay 100 percent of all tuition reimbursement received for any course com- pleted within two years of such resignation. Officers receiving tuition reimbursement shall, as a condition of receiving such reimbursement, execute an appro- priate form consistent with this paragraph.
The provision shall not apply to reimbursement under Section 24H of this article, nor shall this provi- sion apply to officers who resign from the Department for the purpose of accepting employment within an- other City of Chicago Department.
Revised Employee Resource E07-02 now mandates a member to reimburse the City for either a voluntary resignation or upon retirement. The Lodge quickly filed both a grievance and unfair labor practice charge with the State Labor Relations Board (an all-too-familiar course of action lately). This unilateral change has resulted in the imposition of a new requirement to reim- burse the City without the City having given the Lodge notice and an opportunity to bargain — once again violating the State Labor Act.
Troubling circumstances
Making the issuance of the March 21 revision more troubling are the circumstances under which the Department issued the revision. On or about Sept. 27, 2018, during a hearing on a no- tice of collection at the City’s Department of Administrative Hearings that the City had filed against a retired police officer, the Lodge learned for the first time that the City is unilaterally defining the term “voluntary resignation” found in the agree- ment to include retirement as an additional condition upon which an employee must reimburse tuition. Not only is the
Lodge appealing the findings made by the Department of Ad- ministrative Hearings in state court to aid the retired member from having to pay back the tuition reimbursement (more than $14,000), but the Lodge also filed a grievance and unfair labor practice charge. The labor board deferred the matter to the par- ties’ grievance and arbitration procedure, since a grievance also had been filed on behalf of the retired police officer. Within two weeks of the board’s deferral order, the City came out with its newly imposed restriction on tuition reimbursement.
With the issuance of the revised Employee Resource, the City seems to be flaunting its ability to make whatever changes it cares to without regard to either the administrative processes already in place or its obligation to negotiate at the bargain- ing table. By the time this article is sent to print, the Lodge will have filed a new class action grievance and unfair labor prac- tice charge. In part, the Lodge is asking the board to order the City to cease and desist from such actions unless and until it bargains with the Lodge, and that all affected bargaining unit members be made whole as a result of the most recent modi- fication.
As I have said before in multiple articles, the City seems to have a habit of making unilateral changes without regard to its obligations — mostly at the expense of police officers. The Department violates the act by unilaterally changing the status quo on mandatory subjects of bargaining without giving the union the opportunity to bargain. And the Lodge will be there to challenge the City, each and every time.
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