Case: Labor Arbitration/Temporary Reassignment (Arb.)

Cook County Health and Hospitals didn’t violate the collective bargaining agreement when it refrained from using the Article 4.4 call-back procedure when reassigning an in-patient occupational therapist to out-patient status within the central campus to cover unexpected absences, Arbitrator Jeffrey B. Winton ruled. The grievance was arbitrable because the union filed within the bargained-for 30 day limitation. While the union argued that reassignment from Stroger Hospital to Harrison Square met Article 4.4’s definition of the word “float,” Arbitrator Winton clarified that a “float” occurs when an employee changes their workplace within the normal course of business, and that Article 2.2 ...