Community College of Rhode Island et al.
v.
CCRI Educational Support Professional Association/NEARI.
Providence County Superior Court (PM 15-5315) Associate
Justice Netti C. Vogel
For
Plaintiffs: Jeffrey S. Michaelson, Esq.
For
Defendant: Carly Beauvais Iafrate, Esq.
Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and
Indeglia, JJ.
OPINION
FRANCIS X. FLAHERTY, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE
The
defendant, CCRI Educational Support Professional
Association/NEARI (the union), appeals to this Court after a
justice of the Superior Court vacated an arbitration award
that reinstated the grievant, Michael Crenshaw, to his
position as a Campus Police Officer for the plaintiff, the
Community College of Rhode Island. Significantly, Crenshaw
was allowed to continue in his employment for nearly a year
without completing the statutorily required police training
academy or receiving a waiver from having to do so. When his
application for a waiver eventually was not approved, the
college terminated his employment, precipitating a grievance
by the union, which ultimately prevailed at arbitration; the
college was ordered to reinstate Crenshaw to his position and
compensate him for lost time. The college petitioned the
Superior Court to vacate the award, and it did.
This
case came before the Supreme Court pursuant to an order
directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues
raised in this appeal should not summarily be decided. After
considering the parties' written and oral submissions and
after reviewing the record, we conclude that cause has not
been shown and that this case may be decided without further
briefing or argument. For the reasons set forth in this
opinion, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.
I.
Facts and Travel
A.
The Hiring and Firing
In July
2013, Michael Crenshaw applied for a position as a Campus
Police Officer at CCRI, a position that falls within the
Merit System, G.L. 1956 chapter 4 of title 36.[1] Before that,
after graduating from the Massachusetts Police Academy,
Crenshaw had been a police officer in the Southborough Police
Department. He was terminated from that position and applied
to CCRI a year and a half later.
On
November 8, 2013, CCRI extended an offer of employment to
Crenshaw, conditioned on his successful completion of the
Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy. The
collective bargaining agreement (CBA) then in effect between
the college and the union provided for a mandatory 130-day
probationary period for new hires, which entailed supervisor
evaluations every two months. During the probationary period,
an employee would serve at the pleasure of the college and he
could be terminated for any reason. However, the agreement
provides that if a probationary employee is not notified in
writing before the expiration of the 130-day period that his
services are no longer desired, the employee "shall be
continued in their employment." Significantly, at that
point in time, the CBA provides that employees can be
disciplined only for just cause.
When
Crenshaw began working on November 17, 2013, the condition of
his continued employment was that he complete the academy;
there was no mention in the conditional offer of the
possibility of a waiver from that requirement. Indeed, the
education and experience qualifications that were outlined in
the job description itself called for him to
"satisfactorily complete the * * * Academy curriculum *
* *." However, according to Crenshaw, when he
interviewed for the position, he was informed that the
college preferred applicants who had already completed a
training curriculum elsewhere, because that enabled the
employees to obtain a waiver from having to complete the
twenty-two-week academy.
The
procedure for obtaining such a waiver was set forth in the
Rhode Island Department of Public Safety's General Order
2.100, entitled "Basic Recruit Officers Program Waiver,
" which bore an effective date of July 15,
2013.[2] The General Order provided that,
"upon receiving a conditional offer of employment and
the sponsorship from a Rhode Island Law Enforcement agency[,
]" an out-of-state police officer "shall seek a
Basic Recruit Officers Program Waiver from the [Rhode Island
Police Officers Commission on Standards and Training] prior
to permanent employment as a police officer." The order
then goes on to state that the sponsoring agency-in
Crenshaw's case, the CCRI campus police department-shall
submit the waiver request in writing to the Executive
Director of the academy, along with the prospective waiver
candidate's previous training certification and other
relevant training documentation. The Executive Director then
notifies the Chairman of the commission of the waiver
request. The candidate himself must complete an application
for the waiver, and he must have completed all entry
standards required of academy candidates. Finally, the
Executive Director appoints academy staff to review the
submitted training materials and ensure compliance with all
requirements; if there is a shortcoming, a notification is
sent to the sponsoring agency.
Crenshaw
was presented with and signed a request for a waiver from the
academy on May 14, 2014. A mere three days later, May 17,
2014, his 130-day probationary period concluded. It is
noteworthy that, during his probation, Crenshaw received high
scores on three evaluations by his supervisor, Captain
Timothy Poulin. Captain Poulin also completed a background
investigation on Crenshaw, which he summarized in a May 30,
2014 report. That investigation uncovered that Crenshaw had
had his firearms license revoked in 2012 as a consequence of
his self-reported addiction to a controlled substance; that
Crenshaw had been deemed unfit for duty following a
psychological evaluation in 2012 while employed by the
Southborough Police Department; and that he had been arrested
in 1993 and received a traffic violation in 2005, both of
which had been dismissed. Nevertheless, apparently satisfied
by his discussions with Crenshaw, Capt. Poulin, on August 18,
2014-well after the expiration of Crenshaw's probationary
period-submitted the waiver request that Crenshaw had signed
months earlier.
The
Executive Director of the academy, Lieutenant Scott Raynes,
appointed the Department of Public Safety's General
Counsel, Lisa Holley, to review Crenshaw's application.
On October 21, 2014, Holley wrote to Lt. Raynes, stating that
"I would not recommend that you approve this Waiver * *
*. Nothing, however, shall preclude Officer Crenshaw from
reapplying once these issues are resolved to the satisfaction
of the Commission." The issues specified by Holley
largely mirrored those uncovered as a result of Capt.
Poulin's investigation. Holley delineated a number of
concerns as bases for her adverse recommendation: (1) there
was insufficient information in the application to determine
if Crenshaw's termination from the Southborough Police
Department in 2012 would result in his placement in the
National Decertification Index, [3] which would make him
ineligible for a waiver; (2) Crenshaw failed to list his
arrest and traffic violation on the waiver application, and
he also did not disclose the latter infraction to the
psychologist who interviewed him as part of the waiver
process; (3) Crenshaw's self-reported substance abuse and
psychological issues caused his license to carry a firearm to
be revoked in 2012, and he did not provide the waiver-process
psychologist with updated medical records; and (4) Crenshaw
received a below-average psychological rating, which would
not, in the absence of a specific ...