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A
5873-1583-01 - University of Michigan
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| Issue: | Termination - no call/no show. |
| Result: | The
grievant was employed as a night custodian. He was arrested and remanded
to jail. He did not notify the department of his absence; however, his sister
did call the department and reported that he would not be coming in that
night for "personal reasons." On the sixth day, he was terminated
for no-call, no-show. The Arbitrator found that the employer failed to give the grievant adequate consideration for the actions he and his family took to apprise management of his inability to report to work following his incarceration. The grievant, in jail, could only make collect calls. Hospital policy prohibited acceptance of such calls. The Arbitrator concluded, "this is not a case where an employee blatantly ignores a reporting requirement and abandons his job. His failure to report his absences is substantially mitigated by his effort to do so and his inability to contact dispatch or his supervisors because of the hospital's policy not to accept collect calls." The employer argued that his dismissal was justified because the communications that management did receive "…did not excuse his absence." The Arbitrator rejected this argument in that it was never cited as a basis for dismissal in the grievant's notice of discipline; it was never even cited during the arbitration hearing as a rationale for his dismissal. To consider as a basis for discipline new arguments never previously raised by management or communicated to the Union would seriously breach the grievant's due process rights." The grievance was sustained in part and denied in part. The grievant was awarded full back pay from the date of his dismissal to the date of his guilty plea. He was not reinstated. |
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