Attorney Tod Cochran Wins Reinstatement of Employee Terminated For Spilling Co-Worker's Coffee

An independent arbitrator has overturned the firing of a 25-year hotel employee who was terminated for alleged workplace violence. In this case, the employer, citing a zero tolerance workplace violence policy, terminated a veteran employee following an altercation with another employee's coffee cup. UNITE HERE Local 26, a union that represents hotel and restaurant employees in Massachusetts, grieved the termination.

Pyle Rome Ehrenberg, PC, partner Tod Cochran represented Local 26 at the hearing. Cochran was assisted by Associate Jillian Ryan. Cochran and Ryan persuaded the arbitrator that the discharged employee merely was engaging in horseplay, had no intention of harming the co-worker and spilled only a modest amount of coffee.

This case confirms the important principle an employer's zero tolerance workplace violence policy should not deter a union from challenging the assertion that the employee engaged in violence at all. The case also affirms the benefits of unions and collective action. But for Local 26 and the protections for just cause under the collective bargaining agreement, the employee likely would have no recourse to challenge an employer's erroneous conclusion that the employee engaged in workplace violence.