Arbitrator Rules That City of Boston Cannot Rely Upon Conjecture to Support Suspension

A neutral arbitrator affirmed that a supervisor's disclosure of an employee's sensitive or confidential information to other employees is a legitimate basis for discipline. But the same arbitrator agreed with Attorney Jillian Ryan that the City of Boston failed to establish that this supervisor engaged in this misconduct.

A supervisor represented by the Salaried Employees of North America, Local 9158, United Steelworkers was suspended one day for discussing sensitive and personal information about an employee in front of other employees he supervised. The Arbitrator ruled that the seriousness of the allegation did not allow the employer to avoid its obligation to produce sufficient evidence that the supervisor actually did what he was accused of.

The City "never actually interviewed [Employee] about his conversation with [the supervisor]. The Investigators simply assumed that this was
a confidential discussion between [them]. Discipline should not be premised upon assumptions and speculation. Specifically, [the Employee] never testified that his conversation with [the Supervisor] was confidential."

The Arbitrator ordered the City to rescind the discipline, make the Supervisor whole and remove the discipline from the Supervisor's personnel files.