1993 AGN MAY 04 I24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF COLTON AGENDA REPORT ce For Council Meeting of May 4, 1993 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: April 15, 1993 FROM: GORDON R. JOHNSONPg Personnel Director SUBJECT: IBEW APPEAL OF ARBITRATOR'S DECISION IN DENTAL INSURANCE GRIEVANCE BACKGROUND Article VI, Section 7C5 of the IBEW MOU provides for the selection of a 3 -person arbitration panel to hear appeals of grievances where the employee or Union are not satisfied with the decision of the City Manager. Such a panel composed of neutral arbitrator Louis M. Zigman, employee representative Tom Lasher and City representative Gordon Johnson held a hearing on February 1, 1993, on Grievance #92-3-157. Bill Floyd of BB&K presented the City's case. IBEW representative Hank Colt presented the Union's case. In a letter dated March 29, 1993 (Attachment A), Mr. Zigman issued the award as a majority opinion from himself and the City's panel member denying the grievance. In accordance with Article VI, Section 7C6 of the IBEW MOU, either party may appeal the arbitrator's decision. In a letter dated April 9, 1993 (Attachment B), IBEW Business Representative Bob Villalobos appealed the decision to the City Council. Mr. Villalobos disputes the arbitrator's determination that the grievance was time-barred. The appeal is based on IBEW's contention that the issue of timeliness was never raised by the City during discussions nor during the grievance procedure. The City contends that the timeliness of the grievance was an issue throughout the grievance procedure. The timeliness issue was addressed in the letter from Mark Lewis to Bob Villalobos dated September 23, 1992 (Attachment C) denying the grievance. The first reason he listed as grounds for the denial was that the grievance was untimely. The timeliness issue was raised repeatedly by the City in the grievance arbitration hearing as noted on pages 2, 6, 8, 12 and 13 of Mr. Zigman's March 14, 1993, letter containing a draft Arbitration Decision and Award (Attachment D). In that same letter, Mr. Zigman endorsed the City's contention that the grievance was time- barred as noted on pages 15, 16 and 18. On pages 1-6 of a letter from Bill Floyd to Mr. Zigman sated March 3, 1993 (Attachment E), written arguments were submitted from the City regarding the issue of timeliness. Also attached is a letter faxed to Mr. Zigman from Tom Lasher on March 29, 1993 (Attachment F) raising the issue of timeliness. All of the above referenced oral and written arguments were considered by Mr. Zigman before he issued his final decision (Attachment A). In that letter, he stated that Mr. Lasher had not raised any new issues and his JtW