Page 10 - Work_Force_February_2018

Greene County workers get justice
Editor’s Note: The following article details our victory in a class-action grievance between CSEA and Greene County following the unlawful terminations of five CSEA Greene County Unit members. The Work Force also spoke with several of the affected workers about the case. Their stories are on these pages.
More than four years after being unfairly terminated by Greene County, five CSEA-represented county workers are seeing justice.
Our union, through our in-house Legal Department, litigated and fought to protect them from being unlawfully terminated beyond a probationary period of 26 weeks without disciplinary due process.
Led by CSEA Senior Associate Counsel Jennifer C. Zegarelli, the fight successfully ended with the grievants being reinstated to their previous Greene County positions, with back pay and benefits including retirement credit and reimbursement for health insurance premiums.
For the five county workers, it was
a long-awaited victory.
After the terminations, the
workers, led by Jessica Nero, turned to their union for help.
In May and October 2013, CSEA filed with Greene County a class- action grievance and a separate grievance
on behalf of employee Jessica Nero, alleging
that county
management
unilaterally
dismissed the
bargaining
unit members
after their
completion of
the 26-week
probationary period set forth in the parties’ collective bargaining agreement.
Nero and the four other bargaining unit members involved in the case were all terminated by Greene County between 26 and 52 weeks of employment.
Upon the filing of the grievances, Greene County attempted to prevent the matter from proceeding to arbitration by moving to stay the arbitration of the grievance in state court.
Through many efforts by the county to defeat the
issue from being arbitrated, including review by New
York State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, the issue was deemed to
have been properly negotiated. Greene County was ordered to proceed to arbitration.
The arbitration hearing, held in April 2016, involved
the testimony of all five grievants, then Greene County Unit President Judith Ganje and various Greene County officials and representatives.
The arbitrator found that Greene County violated the terms of our collective bargaining agreement,
and ordered that the five workers be reinstated with full back pay and benefits.
But it wasn’t yet over for the workers.
In yet another challenge to defeat the rights of these employees, in December 2016, Greene County filed an application with the state court to vacate the arbitration decision, which was denied. Afterward, Greene County filed an appeal of that decision, which it ultimately abandoned.
In January 2018, the five workers were finally awarded their lost
back pay and benefits. Two of the workers opted to return to county employment, while the remaining workers are now employed elsewhere.
“We are very relieved to see our represented workers finally made whole after several difficult years,” CSEA Capital Region President Ron Briggs said. “While it was a struggle for them to support themselves
and their families, they also had the power of our union and our services at hand to have their backs when they needed it the most.”
Coyne finds justi
CATSKILL — The circumstances surrounding Jeff Coyne’s termination from his job are eerily similar to Deb Sherman’s. (see right)
Coyne, also an
emergency services
dispatcher for Greene
County, was just three
months shy of what the
county considered his probationary period
when he received a letter from management asking him to meet.
“I thought I was doing a great job and I was looking forward to full-time work,” he said.
Instead, he was fired.
“I was in total shock and worried
about paying my bills,” Coyne said. He found another job and was working at that position when CSEA
“While it was a struggle for them to support themselves and their families, they also had the power of our union and our services at hand to have their backs when they needed it the most.”
Nero: ‘CSEA went above and beyond’
HUDSON — For lead grievant Jessica Nero, losing her
job at the Greene County Department of Social Services meant giving up on her dream
of being a caseworker.
Nero
forget the shock, confusion and anger she was forced to confront after a call into a meeting with her supervisors meant her job, and her dream, was over.
With no explanation, outside
of not being a “good fit,” and no previous disciplines or issues of any kind, Nero packed her desk and left.
“I felt like I had been hit by a bus,” she said. “I was devastated.” Nero immediately called her
husband. As a union member in
law enforcement, he knew that
her contractual rights had been violated. They also knew that her CSEA contract stated a probationary period of 26 weeks. Nero was fired outside of that window.
Nero contacted her then unit president, Judy Ganje, who reached
out to CSEA and the case was in motion.
More than four years later, Nero still feels the sting of that awful day, but is happy in another job in another county. “Things are going well,” said Nero, a mother of two children.
Nero said she appreciates CSEA’s multi-year effort on behalf of herself and her co-workers.
“Honestly, I am still kind of surprised,” she said. “I was done. I wasn’t even in the union any longer and CSEA went above and beyond for years to make sure that what happened to me doesn’t happen to others.”
— Therese Assalian
“Since I
was seven, I dreamed of having this job,” said Nero, who plans to pursue her master’s in social work. “I was comfortable working with my clients and thought things were going great.”
Like her co-workers who were also unfairly let go, Nero won’t soon
10 The Work Force
February 2018
Coyne
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