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Portage County collective bargaining case reversed
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: March 24, 2017
A Portage County trial court erred by finding an arbitrator exceeded his authority in a collective bargaining agreement in favor of the county Educators’ Association for Developmental Disabilities, according to the 11th District Court of Appeals.
Patricia Byttner was hired in 2008 for an account clerk position with the Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities’ transportation department.
It is undisputed that the job duties were clerical only. However, the Association and Board disagree as to whether Byttner was told at the time of hiring that the Board expected her to fill in occasionally as a substitute bus driver and bus aid.
According to case summary, Byttner suffered from knee and back problems and wanted to stop acting as a substitute bus driver.
The Association filed a grievance on Byttner’s behalf after the Board changed her job description in 2012 stating transportation department clerks are required to fill in as bus drivers and aids.
After the Board denied the grievance, the issue went to arbitration.
The arbitrator concluded that the Board must remove the added language in the clerk’s job description.
However, the trial court agreed with the Board and vacated the arbitration decision.
In his 3-0 opinion, 11th District Judge Thomas R. Wright noted that the 2008 job description described a clerical position requiring bookkeeping and computer experience, with no mention of driving a school bus or acting as a bus aid.
“ … The arbitrator noted that the Board employees who regularly drive the buses are subject to a separate collective bargaining agreement with the Board,” Judge Wright stated. “And although he acknowledged that the Board can increase its employees’ duties once annually, the increase in those duties must be related to the type of duties that the employee already performs. Moreover, the arbitrator explained that just because a person employed as an Account Clerk 1 knows how to change the oil on a school bus, this is not the type of increase in job duties that naturally flows from the Account Clerk 1 position.”
Therefore, the trial court erred by vacating the arbitrator’s decision, Judge Wright ruled.
Appellate judges Cynthia Westcott Rice and Diane V. Grendell concurred.
The case is cited Portage Cy. Bd. of Dev. Disabilities v. Portage Cty. Educators’ Assn. for Dev. Disabilities, 2017-Ohio-888.