Arbitrator Orders Back Pay for Skelly Violation

April 4, 2006 by Beeson Tayer & Bodine

In a public sector discharge case handled by Beeson, Tayer & Bodine attorney Sheila Sexton for AFSCME, Arbitrator Tom Angelo denied the grievant reinstatement, but ordered Valley Transit Authority to pay the grievant twelve months back pay for a Skelly violation. The state Supreme Court’s Skelly decision requires public sector employers to give employees certain pretermination due process guarantees, including the right to a reasonably impartial hearing officer. Arbitrator Angelo ruled that VTA violated the grievant’s Skelly rights by using as its Skelly hearing officer the same manager who had conducted the investigation into the grievant’s alleged misconduct. “Where, as here,” Angelo concluded, ”the recommending official has played a significant role in a disciplinary investigation that the official becomes the prosecutor, the jury and the judge, any semblance of impartiality disappears.” The Skelly rules apply to nonprobationary public-sector employees subjected to discharge or suspensions longer than ten days. Unions handling public sector disciplinary cases should contact our office with any questions about whether the employer has complied with the Skelly rules.

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