With NAGE Arbitration Victory, SUPSHIP Gulf Coast Member Headed Back to Work
January 27, 2009
NAGE Attorney James Dever has won a significant case at arbitration, returning a Navy veteran and NAGE Local R5-190 member to work with full back pay.
The member, Willie Roberts, had worked for the Department of the Navy, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Gulf Coast (SUPSHIP) since 2002. Prior to his civilian employment, he completed a 22-year career in the Navy.
When Mr. Roberts received his “notice of removal” for alleged disrespectful conduct toward a co-worker, he brought the case to NAGE.
“The victory in this case was an example of a total team effort, which brought justice to a member and forced the Agency into a complete make-whole remedy,” said Attorney Dever. “We would not have been able to reach this stage without the efforts of Local R5-190 President Larry Clanton, the awesome discovery work of Glovena Holder in our D.C. office, and certainly, Mr. Roberts himself. Together, we were able to right a wrong.”
According to the Agency, Mr. Roberts’ notice of removal was prompted in part by allegations that he had used profane language toward a co-worker during a training class.
In the discovery phase of the case, NAGE found that an entire group of workers had received two separate emails from a supervisor indicating that they needed to “clean up their shop talk” and refrain from using profanity with one another. Thus, argued Attorney Dever, the incident involving Mr. Roberts reflected a department-wide problem, and the Agency was wrong to single out Mr. Roberts for punishment.
Moreover, claimed Dever, the Agency erred in its investigation into the alleged incident by conducting an interview with only one other person—the co-worker who claimed Mr. Roberts was disrespectful towards him. The Agency did not interview the training class instructors or any of the other participants in the class.
After NAGE presented its argument in defense of Mr. Roberts, the Agency offered a settlement in which Mr. Roberts would resign instead of being removed. Attorney Dever said, “no way,” and threatened to take the case all the way to an MSPB hearing.
According to Dever, once the Agency realized the union would not be backing down, they back downed. A settlement was signed that returned Mr. Roberts to work and made him whole under the Back Pay Act.