Instrument technicians win out-of-class arbitration

Any employee who is required to perform the duties of a higher classification is considered to be working out-of-class and should be paid properly, an arbitrator recently decided, which is a huge win for the union.

Local 444 filed a grievance on May 6, 2016 on behalf of three instrument technicians who reported that they had been performing work of a higher paid job classification than the ones in which they were employed and paid. East Bay MUD management continued to deny our grievances, so we brought the case to arbitration, and we’re glad we did.

Each of the members had hard evidence that they had been performing work that fell under the classification of associate control system engineer. Each one of the members works in East Bay MUD’s wastewater treatment division. The district operates a main wastewater treatment plant in Oakland in close proximity to the Bay Bridge as well as five other treatment plants in the East Bay. The district also has a large number of monitoring stations located around the East Bay. So this was no small matter.

Throughout the arbitration process, we were successfully able to show that, according to our contract,

When an employee is assigned by a District supervisor to temporarily replace another employee in a higher classification or to perform the full range of duties required for a particular assignment of a higher classification, he/she shall be paid the lowest step of the higher classification or at least 5% whichever is greater for such work.

Read the full text of the arbitrator’s ruling to learn more.