Last week, OCSEA filed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas a Motion to Vacate the arbitrator’s award on the union’s emergency pay grievance.
In its filing, the union argued that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by including pieces of the Department of Administrative Services’ agency policy in his decision to deny emergency pay that aren’t part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The arbitrator found that the State could opt out of paying the stipend by declaring an “emergency” instead of a “public safety emergency” and that a stipend wasn’t required if no employees were on administrative leave. The union argues that none of these reasons were in the Collective Bargaining Agreement under 13.15b and so the arbitrator went outside the CBA and exceeded his authority in rendering his decision.
If the judge rules in favor of the State, the decision will stand. If for the union, the parties could be headed back to arbitration or to mediation.
There is currently no timeline on this case from the court.