Because of a staffing shortage, the Municipality of Kingston, Pennsylvania Police Department reassigned a detective to a patrol position. The detective’s labor organization challenged the reassignment in arbitration, alleging that the reassignment was the equivalent of disciplinary action.
An arbitrator sided with the Municipality. The Arbitrator concluded that the collective bargaining agreement gave the Municipality the right to reduce the work force. The Arbitrator expressed his understanding that the length of the reassignment made the detective believe that the reassignment was punitive in nature; however, the Arbitrator noted that there was no allegation of an offense or misconduct on the detective’s part.
Municipality of Kingston, Pennsylvania, LAIG 6254 (Bloom, 2005).
This article appears in the September 2005 issue