UT-AAUP Newsletter

Malevolence, not benevolence at UT

By Don Wedding, UT-AAUP Grievance Chair

Engineering detail

The following is the saga of a recently terminated CWA employee. This is published with the CWA employee's permission.

In December 2008, the CWA employee was nominated to run in the CWA election for White Collar Unit Director at The University of Toledo. After she accepted the nomination, the CWA leadership asked her to withdraw so that the incumbent CWA Director could run unopposed. However, she decided to run even though she did not have the support of the CWA leadership.

Also in December of 2008, UT Human Resources (HR) announced a new absenteeism policy to be effective January 2009. The policy requires CWA employees to bring a note from their doctor or dentist when they take sick leave of only two hours. This is contrary to the traditional policy and the new CWA contract that requires a note after one week of sick leave.

CWA employees and supervisors were invited by Connie Rubin of HR to a series of five or so meetings in December 2008 to discuss the new policy. The CWA employee took a vacation day and went to the HR meetings with a petition protesting the change in policy. More than 138 union members voluntarily signed the petition.

During the first week of January 2009, HR administrators Connie Rubin and Joe Klep required the CWA employee to come to the HR offices for an Investigatory Meeting. At the meeting she was accused of intimidating and coercing another union member to sign the petition. This was the only charge and it was later proven to be false. No other charges were given to the CWA employee. Ms. Rubin suspended the CWA employee from campus while the matter was investigated. She was completely barred from campus and could not access her UT email or go to the UT pharmacy or Credit Union without approval by HR.

During the investigation, HR added a list of false charges including solicitation of others during their work time to sign a petition, failure of good behavior, coercion, intimidation, willful and intentional dishonesty during an investigation, neglect of duty, violation of the terms and conditions of the suspension from campus, failure to follow a direct order given by the appointing authority, and improper use of state funds by interrupting employees on the clock. A pre-disciplinary hearing was held on January 30, 2009 before HR with the charges presented by Joe Klep, the former CWA President who is now in HR as an administrator. No witnesses were called. No evidence was presented. She was simply found guilty of the false charges and terminated.

The employee filed a grievance and HR VP Bill Logie held a hearing on the grievance in April 2009. Logie upheld the termination on grounds of soliciting and conducting union business during work hours and at the work location, interrupting employees during their work time, and coming to campus during the suspension on the day of the CWA Unit Director election. The employee had been given permission to come on campus to vote in the election, so it is not understood why this charge was made. Logie did concede the original charge of intimidating and coercing another union member was false.

Although the employee was a candidate in the CWA election, she had been forbidden by Rubin from campaigning on campus prior to the election and at the polling place on the day of the CWA election. Her opponent was able to campaign at the polling place all day. This opponent was elected and has remained as CWA White Collar Unit Director at $700 per month, although she retired two weeks after the election.

The CWA collective bargaining agreement provides for mediation. UT HR agreed to mediation. However, at the mediation hearing on May 27, 2009, Connie Rubin advised the mediator that UT would not under any circumstances rehire the terminated CWA employee.

The CWA then told the employee that it would go to arbitration. However, on June 22, 2009, the CWA told the employee that it would not arbitrate. The letter from the CWA repeats some of the bogus UT HR charges including statements made by Rubin during the mediation. The CWA letter states that while some of the violations separately may not warrant termination, they do have a cumulative effect. The CWA letter seemingly accepts the false charges as true even though none were ever proven.

The terminated CWA employee is a single mom now on food stamps and welfare. When she applied for unemployment benefits, she was opposed by Joe Klep and HR on the grounds that she was "wasting time and/or annoying other employees." Klep also resurrected the original false charge of intimidating and coercing a fellow employee. The CWA declined to help her fight for unemployment benefits, but others did assist her and she was awarded benefits on June 29, 2009 after contested hearings of almost three months. The Ohio Unemployment Bureau expressly rejected the false charge of intimidation and coercion.

Dr. Jacobs has repeatedly assured the UT community including the UT-AAUP members that he "operates from a default position of benevolence, not malevolence." The actions of the UT administration in many cases, including the above, suggest otherwise. Jacobs appears to act from a position of malevolence, not benevolence.

When one cuts through the many false and unsubstantiated charges, the bottom line is the UT employee was terminated for circulating a petition. As Crystal Dixon has learned, the First Amendment has definite limits at The University of Toledo - especially if one offends the UT administration.