Case: Labor Arbitration/Discharge (Arb.)

Arbitrator Robert Costello ruled that the city of Tulsa had just cause to suspend a police officer for 80 hours without pay for violating police regulations when he failed to respond to two dispatcher calls, took himself out of service without notifying his supervisor, and disobeyed his supervisor’s order to meet him at the station. The grievant’s removal from an overtime list until the matter of his misconduct “gets resolved” was neither disciplinary, nor final and therefore didn’t, together with his suspension, constitute double jeopardy. Deference must be afforded the chief’s choice of penalty given that it wasn’t arbitrary, capricious ...