California Teamsters Public, Professional and Medical Employees Union v. County of Solano

Opinion

LOW, P. J. In this case we must determine if the parties agreed to arbitrate a dispute involving the firing of a deputy public defender who is covered by a memorandum of understanding between his union and the county. We conclude that as an “at-will” employee his dismissal is not arbitrable.

Plaintiff, the California Teamsters Public, Professional and Medical Employees Union, Local 911A (the Union), is the exclusive bargaining agent for Solano County Bargaining Unit No. 1, which includes attorneys employed in the offices of the county counsel, district attorney and public defender. The Union and the county were parties to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which covered terms and conditions of employment for these attorneys. Section 22A of the MOU contained a five-step grievance procedure, which culminated in arbitration, for “any dispute which involves the interpretation or application of any provision of this [MOU] excluding, however, those provisions of this [MOU] which specifically provide that the decision of any County official shall be final, the interpretation or application of those provisions not being subject to the grievance procedure. Grievances must be filed within fifteen (15) calendar days of the incident or occurrence about which the employee claims to have a grievance.”

Section 22C(2) of the MOU provides that “[n]o Adjustment Board and no arbitrator shall entertain, hear, decide or make recommendations on any dispute . . . unless such dispute falls within the definition of a grievance as set forth in Section A.” Section 22C(4) permits the director of human resources or the adjustment board “[to] resolve a grievance which involves suspension or discharge, [to] . . . agree to payment for lost time or to reinstatement with or without payment for lost time, but in the event the dispute is referred to arbitration and the arbitrator finds that the County had the right to take the action complained of, the arbitrator may not substitute his/her judgment for the judgment of management and if he/she finds that the County had such right, he/she may not order reinstatement and may not assess any penalty upon the County.”

On May 18, 1990, a deputy public defender was fired from his job; no cause was stated for the firing in the notice of termination. The Union filed [501]a written grievance, protesting that the firing was without proper cause in violation of section 6 of the MOU. Section 6 of the MOU expressly incorporated the management rights of the county as set forth under article 2, section 3(a) of the Solano County Employer-Employee Relations Rules and Regulations. That section provides in part: