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EAA Wins Major Cases Against LAPD and the Bureau of Sanitation

EAA Wins UERP at Bureau of Sanitation (BuSan):

BuSan unilaterally changed its policy regarding mileage payments for employees who must provide their own vehicles. They stopped paying the long-standing automatic “10 miles per day whether the car was used or not”, but only paid the 10 miles if the supervisor specifically ordered the employee to bring the car on the day in question. In addition, they had the gall to claim that this was not a change but had always been the policy, based on a memo from the CAO’s office. Of course, they still expected the car to be available every day as a “term and condition” of employment, wanting to have it both ways at the same time.

EAA filed the UERP on behalf of all its members at BuSan and indicated that this was a violation of the Employee Relations Ordinance requirement to “meet and confer” on changes to the terms and conditions of employment affecting members.

EAA Staff Coordinator Angel Calvo pointed out that the CAO had specifically tried to negotiate this point during contract negotiations, thus demonstrating that they knew the nature of the long-standing policy. The CAO issued the memo in question despite this knowledge. Credible testimony was provided proving that the automatic payment policy had been in place as long as anyone could remember.

The hearing officer found in favor of EAA and its members. On July 28, 2008, the Employee Relations Board upheld the findings of the hearing officer. They ordered the BuSan to return to the long-standing policy and to provide back pay for all days that payments were denied. In addition, BuSan must post notices on its bulletin boards admitting that they committed a UERP.

Members at BuSan should ask their supervisors when they will receive their back pay and look for the posted notice. Members at any department that attempts to implement a similar change in policy should immediately contact their EAA labor representative.

EAA Gets Termination at LAPD Reversed:

This is the case that prompted EAA to mail a warning to all members at LAPD to steer clear of station funds as the funds could be used to set just about anyone up for a hard fall like this. While EAA and the member prevailed, it was a long, hard fight. Members are once again warned to be extremely careful as unscrupulous management will use anything they can to harm those they do not like.

A member employed at LAPD was accused of stealing a small amount of cash from the station fund at one of the member’s work sites. This fund is for providing drinks and snacks in a self-serve commissary arrangement. From the beginning, our member maintained complete innocence to all charges and indicated that any presence at the fund was to make a purchase or to make change. Our member was placed on administrative leave and LAPD filed criminal charges. When they later dropped the criminal charges, they terminated our member.

In the appeal hearing before a Civil Service Hearing Examiner, EAA labor representative Ben Pezzillo and our member proved that the primary videotape evidence in LAPD’s case was time-stamped 4 hours after the alleged theft. Additional evidence brought into question whether our member was even in the building at the time of the alleged theft. The LAPD had neglected to look for evidence proving our member’s innocence and had latched on to anything they could to try to punish an employee with 18 years of outstanding service to the City. LAPD witnesses further testified they kept no accounting records of the cash fund on a transaction by transaction basis in violation of the Department’s manual policy nor did the Department audit the funds to determine if a theft had actually occurred. EAA also demonstrated that several LAPD employees had a personal issue with our member.

The hearing examiner recommended reinstatement of our member with full back pay. The Civil Service Commission voted to support the hearing examiner’s report with a unanimous 5-0 vote. The member will receive approximately $100,000 in back pay plus back benefits.

At the conclusion of this episode, Ben Pezzillo stated “This is how LAPD treated one of its best employees. What the Department did to this person is shameful. The Union is thankful justice prevailed in this matter and that the Civil Service process worked at getting a great individual back to work after a horrible miscarriage of discipline. Our member showed a tremendous amount of courage in standing up to this outrage and, thankfully is back at work as of today.”