The vast majority of citizen complaints and internal acts of employee misconduct encountered by public safety agencies are generated by a small number of problem individuals. It is crucial, therefore, that leaders can effectively discipline these few “bad apples” without their decisions being overturned by judges or arbitrators.

In other cases, disciplinary action is necessary to hold essentially good employees accountable for misconduct that threatens agency operations. In these cases, making discipline stick is actually in the interest of the employee, as it can serve as a much needed “wake up call” to an employee before performance issues become so serious that termination is required or public safety is threatened.

Unfortunately, research has revealed that when disciplinary actions are reviewed by an outside source (i.e., grievance arbitrator or civil service board), the employer’s discipline is overturned or reduced about half of the time.

This two hour webinar covers the findings of a DCG study of hundreds of public employee discipline cases that went to arbitration review. Attorney Matt Dolan will discuss the five most common reasons arbitrators give for overturning a public agency’s employee discipline. This information is utilized to provide practical steps leaders can take to ensure fairness in their disciplinary processes and significantly increase the likelihood that their disciplinary decisions are upheld.