OFFENSE

EMPLOYER’S PENALTY

RESULT ON APPEAL

DESCRIPTION

CASE NAME

Excessive Force

Termination

Termination

Though Court concluded that videotape of car stop was ambiguous on issue of whether officer used excessive force in kneeing suspect, the Court determined that testimony of two other officers on the scene that officer used excessive force sufficed to sustain charge. Termination justified in part by prior sustained discipline for overreaction to situation where driver refused to obey order.

Peterson v. Civil Service Commission of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2005 WL 723993 (IowaApp. 2005).

Residency

Termination

Reinstatement With Full Back Pay

City failed to prove that firefighter was not complying with residency rule. Firefighter owned eight homes. The City’s investigator only saw the firefighter at a non-city residence four times in a 70-day period, and City ignored testimony of witnesses favorable to firefighter in lieu of relying on two neighbors who admittedly dislike the firefighter.

City of Barberton, Ohio, 120 LA 1268 (Goggin, 2004).

Unsatisfactory Performance

Transfer

Reversal Of Transfer

Because transfer was “personally-focused response to the conclusion that a lieutenant was unable to meet performance standards,” it was disciplinary in nature and required just cause. Fact that lieutenant lost no pay in transfer did not change disciplinary nature of transfer.

City of Portland, Maine, LAIG 6206 (Irvings, 2005).