Dept. of Cent. Mgt. Servs. v. Afscme

614 N.E.2d 513, 245 Ill. App. 3d 87, 185 Ill. Dec. 379
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 20, 1993
Docket4-92-0628
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 614 N.E.2d 513 (Dept. of Cent. Mgt. Servs. v. Afscme) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dept. of Cent. Mgt. Servs. v. Afscme, 614 N.E.2d 513, 245 Ill. App. 3d 87, 185 Ill. Dec. 379 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

614 N.E.2d 513 (1993)
245 Ill. App.3d 87
185 Ill.Dec. 379

The DEPARTMENT OF CENTRAL MANAGEMENT SERVICES and Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 4-92-0628.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

Argued February 17, 1993.
Decided May 20, 1993.

Gilbert Feldman Cornfield and Feldman (argued), Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Roland W. Burris, Atty. Gen., Rosalyn B. Kaplan, Sol. Gen., Jerald S. Post, Asst. Atty. Gen. (argued), for plaintiffs-appellees.

Justice KNECHT delivered the opinion of the court:

Mary Pat King (grievant) was discharged from her position as a child protective investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). This termination was challenged by defendant *514 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the exclusive bargaining representative for State child protective investigators. The parties eventually submitted the grievance to arbitration, where an arbitrator determined grievant should be reinstated. (Illinois Department of Central Management Services v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (Dec. 7, 1991), Arb. No. 1778 (62/XX-XXXX-XX(204997)) (Benn, arb.) (hereinafter arbitrator's award).) The circuit court of Sangamon County vacated this award, and AFSCME appeals. We affirm.

FACTS

The facts of this case, as determined by the arbitrator, are not in dispute. Grievant was hired by DCFS as a child protective investigator on September 23, 1988. A child protective investigator receives reports of abuse and investigates them to determine whether they are substantiated or unfounded. The present grievance centers around grievant's handling of a particular report of child abuse.

On or about February 16, 1990, grievant received a report of an alleged child abuse by a mother of her daughter. The report was initiated by the estranged father of the child. Grievant interviewed the child and the mother but did not interview the brother of the allegedly abused child, an apparent witness to the abuse. She fabricated an investigative report dated February 26, 1990, however, in which she claimed to have interviewed the brother at his school. The arbitrator's award quotes the following language from grievant's report regarding her interview with the brother:

"`I got marks on my face [and] so did Jenn. We were making cupcakes in kitchen at Bill's [and] Jenn was taking all the sprinkles. I grabbed them [and] we started fighting. Mom yelled at us then she grabbed my arm [and] her finger hit Jenn. Jenn started crying.
On the way home Jenn would not give me the book I wanted so I grabbed it [and] mom turned around and tried to push me away from Jenn. Her hand hit Jenn's face [and] my face but I didn't cry. Jenn did. Mom put us in our room for fighting and spanked us too. On the butt.
We visit Dad and Saturday [and] Sunday at Grandpa's house.'" Arbitrator's award, at 5.

Based on grievant's investigation of the case, she believed the case of abuse was unfounded and recommended the case not be written up, i.e., "not indicated." After speaking with the father of the allegedly abused child and receiving a tape recording and some pictures of the little girl, grievant's supervisor, Kathryn Bischoff, informed grievant the case should be "indicated" and instructed her to write the case up. The interview allegedly done by grievant with the brother had no impact on Bischoff's decision to reverse grievant's recommendation. Rather, she relied on the tape recording and pictures of the child. Ardis Cook, the DCFS child protection manager for the Rockford office, reviewed the case and, after speaking with the father, recommended the case be "indicated." The case was "indicated" at that point, and grievant's recommendation was rejected.

The mother later wrote a letter to DCFS requesting the indication of abuse be overturned. One of the reasons cited for the case being overturned was grievant had not interviewed the brother regarding the incident. Following receipt of the letter, Bischoff met with grievant and asked her if she had interviewed the brother. She also showed her a letter from the brother's teacher, indicating no one from DCFS had ever taken the child from the teacher's room to be interviewed. Grievant told Bischoff she could not remember any of the circumstances surrounding the interview, but after reviewing a calendar, later explained she did remember what happened and had interviewed the brother at his school on February 26, 1990.

At a predisciplinary meeting, Bischoff asserted she had spoken with the brother's principal and teacher, and both stated grievant had not visited the school to interview the brother on the day she stated she had. Because Bischoff believed grievant *515 falsified her report, she recommended grievant be discharged. Grievant was thereafter discharged effective May 29, 1991. Discharge was cited as the appropriate level of discipline because the falsification rendered her unsuitable for continuation in her current position, pursuant to personnel rules, section 302.700 of title 80 of the Illinois Administrative Code (Code) (80 Ill.Adm.Code § 302.700 (1991)). Grievant had not been disciplined prior to this incident.

The mother ultimately appealed the local determination of an indication of abuse. On appeal, Cook, who had previously reviewed the case and recommended it be indicated, reversed that determination and held the allegations were unfounded. This ruling was due to a discrepancy over the length of the mother's nails and, in part, the fact the brother had not been interviewed.

At all times relevant to the case, grievant was covered by a collective-bargaining agreement which was effective July 1, 1989, to June 30, 1991. Article V of this agreement provided for arbitration of certain disputes arising under the agreement. Article IX, section 1, provided:

"The Employer agrees with the tenets of progressive and corrective discipline. Disciplinary action or measures shall include only the following:
(a) Oral reprimand;
(b) Written reprimand;
(c) Suspension (notice to be given in writing); and
(d) Discharge (notice to be given in writing).

Disciplinary action may be imposed upon an employee only for just cause."

Pursuant to the collective-bargaining agreement, AFSCME filed a grievance challenging the discharge, alleging grievant was dismissed from her position without just cause as required under article IX of the collective-bargaining agreement. When the parties were unable to settle the grievance, it was submitted to arbitration.

Arbitrator Edwin H. Benn found the grievant did not interview the brother of the allegedly abused child and the investigative report had been falsified. He nevertheless held just cause did not exist for the discharge. In concluding just cause did not exist, the arbitrator examined the following series of inquiries:

"(1) As a matter of contract, does the high degree of public scrutiny that DCFS and its employees face require discharge in this case?
(2) If not, does that high degree of public scrutiny require discharge in terms of the application of the requirements of progressive discipline?

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Bluebook (online)
614 N.E.2d 513, 245 Ill. App. 3d 87, 185 Ill. Dec. 379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dept-of-cent-mgt-servs-v-afscme-illappct-1993.