The City of Tacoma violated collective bargaining rules with the police union when the city ordered a dozen officers to repay wages they earned while playing in on-duty basketball games for charity in 2005, 2008 and 2009, according to a state commission.
Washington’s Public Employees Relations Commission found the city committed an unfair labor practice because it “sought to negotiate repayment plans directly with employees to repay salary earned while playing the game …”
Such “direct dealing” – when an employer negotiates an action with a represented employee without the union’s knowledge – violates mandatory collective bargaining provisions, the commission found.
Tacoma now must restore the time off or the pay it docked from a dozen officers to recoup the amount in wages earned while playing in the games. With 12 percent compounded interest, the city’s reimbursements to the officers are valued at about $9,400.
“We should have this resolved by next week,” John Dryer, the city’s labor relations manager, told the Tacoma City Council on Tuesday.
The ruling, issued in June, was upheld in August after various appeals. The findings came to light Tuesday, when Dryer read aloud a required notice about the findings at the council meeting.
The commission’s findings and remedies appear to put to rest an embarrassing episode for the department.
Known as the Hilltop Challenge, the annual charity basketball game pitted city police officers against firefighters as part of a community outreach effort. The game, which dated to 2005 but is no longer held, raised money for the Hilltop Action Coalition, a nonprofit community group.
Following a whistleblower’s complaint and news reports in 2009 about officers playing while on city time, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell issued a directive that year forbidding officers from being paid to participate in charitable events.
The department also launched an internal investigation. A report released in 2010 found no wrongdoing by participating officers but determined 12 had been paid a total of $4,224 – a full day’s wages each – for playing in the 2009 game. The officers also had their uniforms paid for with $327 in department money. Expenses incurred for earlier games dating to 2005 totaled about $4,983.
The probe also found department decision-makers shouldn’t have approved pay for the officers. Lt. Corey Darlington, who lobbied for the payments, and Assistant Chief Bob Sheehan, who authorized them, received one-day suspensions.
Ramsdell also ordered reimbursements from officers who participated in games in 2005, 2008 and 2009. Eleven officers had their time-off banks reduced by four to 20 hours, while another officer opted to return $726 to the city.
In April 2010, Tacoma Police Union Local 6 filed a complaint with the state Public Employee Relations Commission that claimed, among other things, the city hadn’t properly notified union officials to negotiate the pay reductions.
“They should have contacted us,” said Detective Terry Krause, the union’s president. “If you take wages away from somebody, that’s discipline. And when you discipline someone, you have to go through the disciplinary process.”
Deputy City Attorney Michael Smith said Wednesday that the city believes it did give the union proper notice, but the commission found otherwise.
“We absolutely still believe that paying (officers) to play in a game for charity was wrong,” Smith added. “This ruling has nothing to do with that. This is about the way the city sought to recoup the money.”
While the union is happy with the result, the path to get there was regrettable, Krause said.
“I don’t think anyone wins when it takes so long to resolve something like this,” he said. “So much time has gone by now, it’s like opening old wounds.”
Lewis Kamb: 253-597-8542
lewis.kamb@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
@lewiskamb
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.