CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board recently dismissed a charge of unfair labor practices filed against Clarion County by the United Mine Workers of America, AFL-CIO over the laying off of Dan McDonald, an IT employee, “in retaliation for his protected activity.”
McDonald was employed with Clarion County from June 9, 2014, until his position was eliminated on February 6, 2017.
In the hearing, Clarion County maintained that the position was eliminated, but the Teamsters claimed he was fired after joining the union when he learned his position might be eliminated.
An order executed on October 5, 2017, by Hearing Examiner John Pozniak, dismissed the unfair labor practices charge.
“First of all, the timing of the events here does not support an inference of unlawful motive,” wrote Pozniak. “While the union attempts to show that the decision to lay off McDonald came immediately after he signed a union authorization card on January 23, 2017, the record shows that the county was actually considering the elimination of a specific position as early as the spring of 2016.”
According to the findings, Clarion County created a budget that eliminated the position in budget planning as early as June or July 2016. McDonald’s position, along with many others, was included in the draft budget as cost-saving measures.
“This is all consistent with the credible testimony of Trish Douglas (Human Resources Director) who described how two of the newly elected commissioners had run for election on a cost-savings platform, which became their top priority upon taking office and began to immediately contemplate consolidating departments and cutting positions,” wrote Pozniak.
Tharan and Ed Heasley were elected as commissioners and started serving in January of 2016.
“Likewise, Tharan persuasively testified that the final decision regarding McDonald’s position occurred in November or December 2016, which was well before McDonald signed his union authorization card. The commissioners simply decided to wait until after the Christmas holiday and completion of the CAD Installation to finalize the layoff. As a result, I must conclude that the record contains no evidence of pretext or lack of an adequate explanation on behalf of the county.”
McDonald was originally classified as a Network Architect with 911 until he was reclassified as an IT Specialist in a reorganization that took place soon after Tharan and Heasley took office.
In a February 7, 2017, meeting Tharan said, “After discussing it with everybody in the IT Department and the commissioners, we did not have the work to justify three people.”
The complete ruling is available here.
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