Arbitrator Vacates suspension based on county's "absurd" allegations
by Lance M. Davis

Melissa Shutta, a 19-year veteran with Sacramento County's Environmental Management Department, successfully appealed her Department's application of a nine-month step reduction in pay which adversely affected her retirement benefits. An arbitrator awarded the Environmental Management specialist back-pay and reimbursement of retirement benefits.

The Department had alleged that Shutta, whose duties included the inspections of restaurants and swimming pools within the County, exposed the Department to liability after she inadvertently missed a deadline for renewing her certification as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS)Shutta had conducted inspections and enforcement actions during the eight-month period in which her certification had lapsedThe Department contended that she had continually disregarded and missed deadlines for license renewals. State law requires REHS inspectors to renew their certification every two years.

Discipline Impacted Retirement Benefit

The County attempted to portray Shutta's oversight as a "very, very, very serious matter which should not be taken lightly by the Department." It contended Shutta had caused the Department to be vulnerable to State take-over. To justify the severity of the pay reduction, the County introduced a five-year-old memorandum notifying Shuttathat she needed to renew her certification. Shutta had promptly renewed after receiving that notice.

S. Edward Slabach of Mastagni, Holstedt and Amick argued in arbitration on Shutta's behalf that the nine-month step reduction in pay, approximately equal to a 10-day suspension, was an overly excessive penalty to give an employee who had never received discipline during her 19 years with the Department. He stressed the excessive harshness of the punishment was further compounded by the fact it negatively affected the calculation of her retirement benefits because the reduction impacted her final year of employment.

Arbitrator Found County's Claims "Absurd"

The Arbitrator, Richard C. Anthony, found "there were no adverse consequences to the Department or to any of the regulated community involved" due to Shutta unintentionally failing to renew her REHS certification. In fact, he determined there was no risk of liability for the Department. He further found "absurd" the County's contention the oversight had exposed the Department to a possible State take-over.

Anthony dismissed the County's assertion Shutta had continually disregarded renewal deadlines noting, she "forgot (to renew) and when reminded, she immediately sought" to remedy the oversightThe five-year old letter from the Department was only a reminder to renew and not a warning of possible discipline. "Reasonableness, observation of past practice, and recognition of the concept of progressive discipline require that the maximum penalty should only be a letter of reprimand," he wrote in his decisionThe Arbitrator directed the Department to rescind the discipline and to pay Shutta her lost income and retirement benefits.