City of Medford Finally Agrees to Comply with Fire Union Contract After Arbitration, Two Court Losses, And Contempt Proceeding
Nearly four years after IAFF Local 1032 filed a grievance, the City of Medford finally agrees to comply with the fire fighters' collective bargaining agreement about filling Deputy Chief vacancies. The case victory underscores the benefits of ceaseless enforcement of a union contract. In February 2014, Attorney Leah Barrault won an arbitration on the grievance. One of the state's most respected arbitrators held that the City improperly filled Deputy Chief overtime with a newly created Administrative Captain position. For years, Deputy Chief vacancies were filled by another Deputy Chief, or by a rotating group of Captains acting out of grade. The arbitrator ordered the City to stop violating the contract.
Rather than accept the award as "final and binding," the City of Medford challenged the decision in Superior Court. Actually, the City went to Superior Court to prevent the arbitration from happening, but never moved to stay or stop the hearing. After the hearing, the City failed to appeal the award in a timely fashion. The Superior Court dismissed the City's challenge, primarily because of its bizarre "litigational course." Not only did the Superior Court reject the City's appeal, it confirmed the award for the Union. Having lost the case twice, the City took its challenge to the Appeals Court. The Appeals Court handed the City its third consecutive loss, ruling that there was "no basis" for the City's legal theory and that the City waived its challenge to the award.
The City still refused to comply with the contract, despite violating it, losing the arbitration, and bungling the appeal. Then Attorney Ian Russell filed a complaint of contempt against the City and its Fire Chief for willfully ignoring the contract and court decisions. On the eve of a contempt hearing, the City finally agreed to provide necessary funding and staffing to comply with the arbitration decision. The City is restoring a sixth Deputy Captain and tenth Captain to the workforce.
