NAGE Arbitration Victory Puts Member Back to Work after Wrongful Termination
May 15, 2008
A member of Local 1985 in Atlanta has been reinstated to her job with full back pay, seniority, and benefits after an arbitrator found that her company, Early Childhood Development Co., terminated her without just cause.
NAGE attorney David Beall represented the member at arbitration.
The Early Childhood Development Co. is one of many agencies that administer the federally funded Head Start program, which prepares economically disadvantaged children for kindergarten. The grievant worked for the company as a Family Services Assistant, or FSA.
Throughout the year, FSA’s typically made occasional home visits to families who participated in Head Start through the company. On some visits, the FSA’s would deliver goods, such as construction paper, clothes, and activity books, which the preschool-aged children would use at home.
In June 2007, two FSA’s took goods from a storage closet at the company, which they later delivered to Head Start families on home visits they made that day. According to testimony at the arbitration, the two FSA’s had taken the goods prior to receiving permission to do so, and the grievant had knowledge of the action.
The company contended that the grievant should have alerted a supervisor to the actions of the two other FSA’s, and that her not doing so constituted a violation of company policy. The company terminated her for the alleged violation.
At arbitration, the grievant reported that she was unaware of any wrongdoing at the time she witnessed the actions of the two FSA’s, and that she saw nothing so unusual that she should have been alerted to report it.
In his decision and award, the arbitrator wrote that he found the grievant to be honest and credible in her testimony, and that the only wrongdoing he could see was the other two FSAs’ distribution of supplies to needy families without management’s permission.