Employment: Wrongful Termination-CBA Grievance Procedure

Defendant fired Ryan Saunders for a workplace incident. Plaintiff filed a grievance on Saunders’ behalf. The parties proceeded to arbitration pursuant to their collective bargaining agreement, resulting in an award reinstating Saunders and ordering him to an employee-assistance program. Relying on a provision of the CBA, defendant’s city manager rejected the arbitration award and upheld Saunders’ firing. Plaintiff filed suit alleging breach of contract. The trial court granted summary judgment to plaintiff and ordered defendant to comply with the arbitration award.

Where the arbitrator’s decision to retain jurisdiction was a peripheral aspect of the award entered in favor of plaintiff, defendant lacked a basis under the parties’ CBA to reject the award in its entirety and should have instead stricken the improper provision of the award where defendant lacked a copy of the record to conclude that the arbitration award was against the weight of the evidence.

Judgment is affirmed.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 53 v. City of Independence (MLW No. 73884/Case No. WD82179 – 14 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Chapman, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Jackson County, Kanatzar, J. (Steven Mauer, Kansas City, MO, for appellant) (Scott Brown, Kansas City, KS and Brandon Wood, Kansas City, KS, for respondents)