Agenda - Council - 11/26/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

MEMORANDUM Date: November 26, 1996 To: Mgyor Hardin Councilmember Beahen Councilmember Beyer Councilmember Peterson Cotmcilmember Zimmerman CC: Ryan Schroeder From: Linda Waite Smith CaSe #2 on This Evening's Personnel Committee Agenda As you recall, Public Works Maintenance Worker Crregg E. Belsaas was discharged from City employment in Au~gust. The basis for termination was insubordination for leaving the work site immediately after being informed he had been selected for a random drag test as required by Federal legislation regulating employees whose jobs require a commercial drivers license (CDL). Mr. Belsaas was rePresented at his termination hearing by AFSCME Business Agent Luanne Koskinen. They mdmated at the conclusion of the hearing that they would be filing for arbitration. SubsecIuently, the City and Ms. Koskinen agreed on an arbitrator but Ms. Koskinen asked that we delay the actual arbitration until after the November 5, 1996 election because she was running for the ~State Legislature. Ms. Koskinen won election to the Legislature and decided to take a leave of absence from her AFSCME position, ~ffective November 21, 1996, through May, 1997. Ms. Koskinen contacted me on November 1 g with an offer to settle the matter without going to arbitration. Her offer was that in return for re,statement to his position in Public Works, Mr. Belsaas would forego any back pay, go for ~a drug/alcohol evaluation, and comply with whatever followup was recommended by the evaluator. In October, Mr. Bel~aas, Ms. Koskinen and I were present at an unemployment hearing during which I contested hi~ right to unemployment benefits. During that hearing, for the first time, I learned that Mr. Belsaas has a new version of his reason for refusing to submit a sample the day of the random drug test. Under oath, Mr. Belsaas told the hearing judge that the reason he left work that day was because he had been suffering from diarrhea all morning and at the very moment he was informed the technician was present, he had an accident in his pants. The unemployment judge appeared to be very sympathetic to Mr. Belsaas' situation and ruled in his favor. It is Ms. Koskinen's Opinion that the decision in the unemployment case is a precursor of what the City can expect at! arbitration. Having little experience in this area, I contacted the law firm