Grievances involving union president headed to arbitration

By Kevin Boneske

Staff Writer

ASHWAUBENON – Two grievances filed on behalf of Ashwaubenon Public Safety Officers’ Association (APSOA) President Eric Paulowski are headed to arbitration.

The grievances were denied by the village board Jan. 28, after which the union filed for arbitration with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC), said Village Attorney Tony Wachewicz.

Eric Paulowski

Copies of those grievances from November were released by the village in response to an open records request by The Press Times.

According to a Nov. 5 grievance, Paulowski was notified by email from Lt. Wade Graul of the training division within the Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department about not being selected as a defense and arrest tactics (DAAT) instructor, for which he interviewed, without being provided an explanation as to why he wasn’t chosen.

The grievance states acting public safety director Randy Tews was provided a ranking list of candidates for the position.

There were three applicants and two would be selected to fill the vacant positions.

The ranking list provided to Tews had Paulowski ranked within the top two candidates, according to the grievance.

The APSOA requested management to abide by the ranking order from the selection committee members.

“The entire purpose of constructing an instructor (memorandum of understanding) MOU over the last year and a half with management was to limit management’s ability to handpick their candidates,” the grievance states. “We all have agreed in many meetings that the best qualified candidate should be selected for the position. Although the MOU gives the final approval at the sole discretion of the director, at no time does it give such authority for the director of training to handpick their candidates irrespective of the ranking order without just cause.”

Payroll activities

The grievance dated Nov. 18 relates to when the association met with acting chief Tom Rolling regarding several issues, including when Paulowski was served three days earlier with a written warning notice regarding payroll activities.

The grievance states Paulowski was never formally spoken to regarding payroll issues, and at no time was he ever verbally warned prior to a direct written warning notice being served.

The union requested a definition of what a written notice means in a personnel file.

It recommended correcting the grievance by having the written warning notice served Nov. 15 to Paulowski be issued as written counseling and not a written warning notice, because no previous formal warnings or counseling had been provided.

“The emails going back and forth between Paulowski and management show no indication of a formalized warning or counseling ever being presented; and are a common occurrence for day-to-day operations to occur,” the grievance states.

Both grievances have been assigned to WERC Arbitrator Raleigh Jones, who said no arbitration hearing has been scheduled on either.

An arbitration hearing involving the grievance of former Ashwaubenon public safety officer Shawn Wright, who is disputing the amount of his retirement payout for unused paid time off, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, April 9, at the village hall.

Another arbitration hearing was held Jan. 22 involving the grievance filed on behalf of officer Jamie Zynda, who had a letter of direction to review the village’s anti-harassment policy and dress code placed in his personnel file following his off-duty participation in a Fraternal Order of Police golf outing Aug. 3, 2018, when he was seen wearing a thong while teeing off at the Brown County Golf Course.

The hearing was conducted by Jones, who indicated he would be issuing a written ruling on the grievance after receiving post-hearing briefs due March 20 from attorneys representing the union and the village.