September, 2013 - Riverside Sheriffs' Association

Recommendations

Info

Secretary’s Corner Grievance And L.d.t. Cases Handled Since 2012 Pete Kurylowicz RSA Secretary Greetings to all our RSA members! It’s been a while since I’ve written an article for the APB. There’s been a lot going on with me. I’ve changed assignments and am now working at the Ben Clark Training Center, AOT Unit, and Traffic coordinator. I’ve settled in, and have started talking to the membership as they arrived for their classes. Not to mention speaking to the RSA members who work here at B.C.T.C. I’ve answered quite a few questions from them about the contract, pay rates, benefits, etc. One of the most asked questions is about legal coverage. So, I thought about it, and decided to write an article on the types of coverage the RSA has, and give you an insight into the amount of coverage the membership has utilized in the last eighteen months. Let’s start with “Grievances”. Grievances are handled on the RSA side by Labor Representative Artemese Evans. Grievances usually are violations of the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and are covered by the Legal Review Committee (L.R.C.). Since I have been a part of the Legal Defense Trust (LDT) for over 10 years, I am more familiar with the procedures of the LDT. I asked Artemese Evans for a hand in explaining the Grievance process. Take it away Artemese: The grievance process (MOU Article XI, pg. 43) works like this: 0. Pre-step: Contact the department to attempt to resolve the issue. If timelines are an issue, the grievance is filed to preserve timelines and a resolution/ settlement talk continues. 1. RSA has 15 working days (holidays do not count) to file a grievance from the date RSA reasonably should have known about the injury to the employee. 2. Within 15 working days of the grievance filing, a hearing has to occur between RSA and the respective Department (Probation or RSO) before an HR hearing officer. 3. The hearing officer has 15 working days from the hearing to render a decision upholding or denying the grievance. 4. If grievance is denied or the decision not received, we have 10 days after we received or should have received the decision to demand the issue be set for arbitration. After that there are no more deadlines and the case is set to go before the LRC to request coverage for advisory arbitration proceedings. If approved, the grievance is sent over to the attorneys who handle the ensuing arbitration or court action. Exceptions: • Some grievances are continuous because the injury happens over and over (continuous). This is rare and the remedy to the injury can be limited to the most recent instance of injury. • Deadlines can be extended if the parties agree, but is done only on rare occasions. Thank you Artemese for educating me, and I’m sure our members. Now that we have an understanding of how Grievances are processed, let’s look at the amount of Grievance cases handled over the last eighteen months. Let’s look into the Grievance coverages for January of 2012. In 2012 the L.R.C. provided coverage for twenty members whose rights were violated per the MOU. Since January of 2013 to date, (as we go to print) the L.R.C. covered another ten members. That’s a total of thirty members whose contract rights have been violated. The coverages run the gamut, ie denying the membership of a Catastrophic Time Bank, promotional process violations, evaluations, retaliation, standby duty/on call time premium pay, below expectations performance evaluations, grant related OT, denial of the 3% at 50 for persons hired before August 23, 2012 and transfer retaliations. Out of the thirty cases that the Legal Review Committee filed, we won 15, lost 1, 2 were withdrawn by members, 11 are still pending evaluations, Arbitrator’s decision or hearing dates, and 1 was forwarded the Legal Defense Trust to Handle. Since we looked at the Grievance coverages, let’s look into the stats for the last eighteen months of the Legal Defense Trust. In 2012 the Legal Defense Trust (L.D.T.) opened 287 cases for the members, and closed 222 cases. There are still 65 cases pending dispositions, ie Arbitrators decision or hearing dates. Here is a breakdown of the 2012 coverages. Cases won: 65 Cases lost: 13 Cases members did not contest or no appeal requested : 29 Cases where members did not give LDT any further info/time expired: 73 Members resigned retired: 7 Attorney conference: 5 Witnesses: 15 Referred to the L.R.C.: 2 Closed “Administrative Review” : 2 Reassigned: 1 Other: 3 In 2013, the L.D.T. opened 19 new cases, year to date for the Public Safety Unit, also known as Probation. And year to date closed 37 * cases. The LEU or Law Enforcement Unit had opened 152 cases and closed 247 * cases since January 2013. At the present time I do not have a break down of the cases. * Some cases have been opened since 2008 and closed in 2012 or 2013. Just a little bit about the Legal Defense Trust. When you hired on and came down to the RSA office for orientation on your medical, dental and vision coverage, you also spoke to someone from the L.D.T. about legal coverage. You were also provided a “green” book See Secretary on page 7 Page 6 • All Points Bulletin Issue 9, 2013
Vice President’s Corner Rsa Expands Its Influence In Sacramento Randy Thomas Vice President As some of you may or may not have known, RSA Secretary Pete Kurylowicz is a Commissioner with the California Peace Officer Standards and Training, or “POST”. Pete fulfills a deputy position on the Commission and provides a today’s aspect into policing standards and training to the rest of the Commission. This brings great pride not only to those front line deputies, but also to the Association in knowing challenges we face here in Riverside are addressed first hand, to those who can make a change. Pete has raised the bar even higher coming this October; Secretary Continued from page 6 titled “Summary Plan Description and Plan Document of the Legal Defense Trust.” Hopefully all of you took the time to read through the Plan Document as it describes the coverage provided to you. These words should stick in your mind, “Course and Scope”. What do these words mean? It means do the job you were trained to do, and you will always be covered. We were hired and received training for our positions. You were put through an academy if we were hired by the Sheriff’s Department, ie Deputy Sheriff Academy, Corrections Academy, Modular Academy or you put yourselves through the Sheriff’s Academy via the community college. Just remember we were trained to investigate crimes, not commit them. Now I’d like to say something about our membership and the coverage provided for them via the L.R.C. and the L.D.T. In doing the research for this Issue 9, 2013 article I found that the RSA & L.D.T. have provided coverage for well over 500 members! What I find disturbing is the fact that in 2012 alone, 73 members did not think their job or the discipline was important enough to them. They simply decided they did not want to give the L.D.T. /L.R.C. the information that was needed to win their cases or to provide the needed information in a timely manner so their appeal or writ could be filed to preserve their time status. Ladies and Gentlemen, these entities are here for you. They are here to preserve your rights in the work place. You pay dues for this coverage, PLEASE USE THEM and provide your Labor Rep and/or Attorney the needed information to work your cases. Thanks for your time and for reading. May God Bless you and keep you safe in your Job. Pete Kurylowicz Jr. RSA Recording Secretary LDT Chairman he was nominated and will begin severing as the Commission’s Chair. I’m proud of Pete’s professional accomplishments here in Riverside, but to serve as the Chair of the POST Commission is almost overwhelming, especially considering the rest of the Commission consists of Elected Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, DOJ Director and Sergeants from throughout California. I wish Pete well as he continues to make California the leader in providing the best trained peace officers in the world. Being a member of RSA is not just being a member of a local association, stopping at the county borders, but part of state-wide professional groups like “Big 11” (for the 11 largest police/sheriff associations in California). Another group is SoCal Association of Law Enforcement, or “SCALE”. SCALE is a Southern California regional group of law enforcement associations who keep abreast of current employment trends and promote the law enforcement profession. It’s within these organizations RSA’s influence on Sacramento doesn’t just extend with Pete, but also with President Robert Masson. Robert was recently elected to the Board of Directors for the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation by the other members of SCALE. I wish Robert well as he represents our interest in the Peace Officer Memorial and serves the Foundation. Not only does the Foundation recognize and honor California Peace Officers who gave their lives in “The Line of Duty,” but the Foundation provides support to the family members left behind. It saddens me a foundation like this is needed and I pray for the families and friends of those Robert will be meeting in his Directorship. Stay Safe! Surprise, Michael! At the Aug. 8 RSA Board meeting, Chapt. 5 Director Michael McQueeney received a surprise birthday wish as Office Administrator Judy Drott brought out cake (later enjoyed by all). Page 7 • All Points Bulletin
Page 1 and 2: The Official Publication of the Riv
Page 3 and 4: President’s Benefits Corner corne
Page 5: Scholars Continued from page 4 Cove
Page 9 and 10: Benefits Corner How To Choose The R
Page 11 and 12: Dahlia’s 42 USC § 1983 claim was
Page 13 and 14: Legal Continued from page 12 an out
Page 15 and 16: Benefits Feature Corner Ride & Run
Page 17 and 18: State Benefits Legislative Corner C
Page 19 and 20: State Legislative Corner BILL & AUT
Page 21 and 22: Benefits Health Corner Jennifer Lew
Page 23 and 24: Issue 9, 2013 Page 23 • All Point
Page 25 and 26: Member Benefits service Corner refe
Page 27 and 28: Benefits Corner In Remembrance “G
Page 29 and 30: Puzzlers Births September Word Sear
Page 31 and 32: RSA Benefits board and Corner staff

September, 2013 - Riverside Sheriffs' Association

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?