Case: Labor Arbitration/Discharge (Arb.)

Arbitrator Sinclair Kossoff held that the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority had just cause to immediately discharge the grievant, a bus operator, due to an incident involving a male passenger, where the grievant violated multiple employer policies and procedures by leaving the running bus with passengers aboard to chase after him with a pocket knife after he spat on her while getting off the bus. Arbitrator Kossoff determined that the grievant’s conduct was dangerous and egregious enough to justify skipping one step in progressive discipline and assess discharge as the penalty for her actions. Athough the passenger’s spitting was a ...