PITTSBURGH – Allegheny County has appealed the case of a former prison guard who claimed an arbitrator overstepped the authority of her role in punishing her for alleged dereliction of her duty in failing to notice the death of an inmate, to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
Allegheny County filed a petition in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 27, 2018 versus the Allegheny County Prison Employees Independent Union, of Pittsburgh.
The county is a political subdivision based in Pittsburgh, while the union respondent is a labor organization representing corrections officers employed by the county at the Allegheny County Jail, and governed by the Public Employee Relations Act. Both parties are bound to a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
“Veronica Brown was an Allegheny County Jail Corrections Officer and a member of the Union. The ACJ terminated grievant’s employment after grievant failed to perform the duties of her position, i.e.: conducting required guard tours and falsifying log entries indicating she had completed the guard tours,” the petition stated.
“Union filed a grievance and the matter proceeded to arbitration before arbitrator Aleta Richmond. Grievant’s duties included performing a minimum of two guard tours per hour on the pod to which she was assigned, and recording her tours in a log maintained for that purpose. During said guard tours, grievant was responsible for looking into the cells to ensure the safety and security of the inmates and the pod.”
According to Richmond, Brown did not conduct the required two guard tours per hour on the night shift spanning from 11 p.m. on April 17, 2017 through 7 a.m. on April 18, 2017. Richmond further determined that Brown improperly recorded guard tours in the log that were not conducted on the grievant’s night shift, and that when Brown exited the guard station to conduct a tour, she was not checking on the inmate’s conditions.
“When grievant’s replacement for her meal break conducted his first guard tour, he discovered an inmate had hung herself in her cell. Within the past five years, grievant has been terminated, which via arbitration was subsequently reduced to a 20-month unpaid suspension, for her involvement in insurance fraud,” the petition read.
“During arbitration, Union offered evidence of subsequent remedial measures to establish that corrections officers were not directed and therefore not aware of their duty to use a flashlight to look into the darkened cells. Over the objection of ACJ’s counsel, the arbitrator admitted into evidence subsequent remedial measures taken by the ACJ as evidence.”
As a result, the arbitrator reduced grievant’s termination to a suspension. Brown claimed Richmond “exceeded her powers, issuing an arbitration award which imposed her own notion of industrial justice” and her decision “cannot be said to be rationally derived from the collective bargaining agreement.”
The plaintiff was seeking the Court to vacate Richmond’s arbitration award of Aug. 27, but that attempt was dismissed on Sept. 10 and the original decision upheld. Subsequently, Allegheny County appealed the denial to the Commonwealth Court the following day, where the action currently remains.
The plaintiff is represented by Diego Correa of Andrews & Price, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant is represented by Eric C. Stoltenberg and Susan M. Pickup of Welby Stoltenberg Cimballa & Cook.
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania case 1396 C.D. 2019
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-18-012564
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com