On January 6, 2012, Arbitrator Stanley Michelstetter issued an Arbitration Award in favor of AFSCME Local 995, overturning Columbia County’s termination of Highway Department employee Tommy Jones. Jones, a long-term employee of the County, had been fired for allegedly assisting other employees in taking wood from a County park for personal use and for not being honest with the County during its investigation of the September 2010 incident. Arbitrator Michelstetter held that the County did not have just cause to terminate Jones and reinstated him to his employment with full back-pay and benefits. The Arbitrator also overturned the County’s three-day suspension of Joe Arndt, another AFSCME Local 995 employee the County had accused of wrongdoing in connection with the incident in question.

Attorney Aaron Halstead of Hawks Quindel represented District Council 40, AFSCME, and AFSCME Local 995 in the arbitration proceedings. The Arbitrator’s Award can be found here.

Hawks Quindel, S.C.