by Fern Steiner of Smith, Steiner & Vanderpool APC
You are all covered by a Memorandum of Understanding. A MOU is an agreement bargained between the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and the County that sets out certain rights you have and the Department has. The MOU covers wages, hours of work, leaves, retirement, health insurance, and many other terms and conditions of employment.
While the DSA directors, representatives, and I often discuss issues with the Department or the County that arise and are able to resolve them with the Department and/or the County, there are times when we don’t agree. When there is a violation of a section of the MOU, in order to remedy or fix that violation, a grievance must be filed in order to come to a final resolution of the dispute.
A grievance can be filed by an individual deputy or by a group of deputies that the County has not complied with the MOU. Many times deputies will complain about violations of the MOU, but when they are asked to provide us documentation and to file a grievance, they are not willing to do so. This reluctance sometimes means we cannot fix the violation, because we need to be able to prove a violation occurred, and if no one is willing to provide the DSA with the evidence it needs to either convince the Department or County or if need be a neutral arbitrator, the DSA cannot move forward.
For example, if a deputy believes the overtime provisions of the MOU have been violated, such as not provided comp time when deputy requests it or paid the wrong amount of overtime, we need things like time records, documentation of requests made, and pay received to prove the violation.
Retaliating against a deputy for exercising their right to file a grievance is an unfair labor practice. The MOU also makes the right to grieve clear by stating that a grieving employee has the right to present his or her grievance without fear of disciplinary action or reprisal by a supervisor, superior, or department head.
The grievance procedure is Article 11 of the DS and the SM MOU. If there is a written grievance, it must be filed within 45 days from the alleged violation. A DSA rep can help you through the steps of the grievance procedure. The first step is an informal discussion with your supervisor, which is normally one-on-one. This is before there is a written formal grievance. The next step is the filing of a written grievance with 14 days after the informal discussion with the supervisor. Grievance forms are available through the DSA office. A DSA rep can help with the filling out of and filing of the grievance.
If still not resolved, the next step is filing with a superior, then with the Sheriff or Sheriff’s designee. You are entitled to have a rep help with these steps and attend any meetings on the grievance. County Labor Relations can also informally review the grievance. The final step is advisory arbitration of contract violations. Our experience has been, while the arbitration is advisory, the County and Department have abided by the decisions.
There also is an agreement with the County that appeals of letters of reprimand are subject to the grievance procedure. Decisions by the arbitrator on grievances of letters of reprimand are binding, meaning that failure to obey the established terms would likely have legal consequences.
A grievance is an allegation that the County failed to provide a condition of employment set out in the MOA or in the Sheriff’s Policy and Procedure Manual. Some things are not covered by the MOA as grievances, including: matters over which the Civil Service Commission has jurisdiction, matters covered by the Labor Relations Ordinance, and Performance Reports.
While you have the right to represent yourself in the grievance process, more importantly you have the right to have the help and representation by the DSA.