Grievance May Beget Lawsuit

Disputes between labor and management continued to multiply this week as part-time security officer Gary Comstock announced that he may file a lawsuit against Director of Security Keith James. Comstock filed a grievance against James in April of 1999 due to the fact that an officer with one year's experience was recently hired for a position he applied for, while he has been repeatedly passed over for promotion although he has seven years' experience and a clean work record. The grievance for unfair hiring practices is currently at the arbitration stage. While Comstock hopes the system will work for him, he has already contacted a lawyer, saying, "If I can't win in arbitration, I'm going right to a lawsuit."

Comstock has applied for promotions numerous times in his five years as a part-time officer at the College, but has been turned down in each instance. The reason James and Director of Human Resources Ruth Spencer gave for his failure to receive a promotion was his "poor interviewing skills." Comstock expressed exasperation with this justification, saying, "Since I've been at the College, I've probably spent 25 to 30 hours in interviews. At a certain point I have the attitude of 'what's the use?'"

"I'm really upset about it," said Comstock. "I've been working here part-time for five years. I have a clean record. I've been paying my dues long before Keith James got here."

The grievance was filed in conjunction with the Oberlin College Security Association Local 512, which is affiliated with the Office of Professional Employment International Union. There are four stages in the grievance process. The first step is a verbal complaint made to James by the aggrieved employee. Secondly, a written complaint is filed with James, to which he has five days to respond. Thirdly, if the employee is unsatisfied with James' response, he presents the complaint to the Department of Human Resources, which also has five days to respond. The fourth step is arbitration between the employee, James, Human Resources and the Union. Comstock's complaint is currently in the last stage of the grievance process, and will likely be decided in two to three months.

Comstock is not the first officer to file a grievance against James for unfair hiring practices. Dispatcher Mara Sluk and Officer George Locklear applied for full-time positions and were passed over in favor of applicants outside the College with far less experience. After their grievances reached the arbitration stage, the hires were determined illegal. Sluk and Locklear were instated in the full-time positions they had originally requested, but the Security Department had to create new and arguably unnecessary positions for the applicants they had originally hired.

"It was really traumatic," said Sluk, who at the time had been working as a Security dispatcher for three years. "I had been working full-time at part-time pay, and I was told I was not the most qualified person for the job. I was indeed qualified."

Locklear shared Sluk's lingering anger about the situation. "The pain that I went through was unbelievable," he said. "I'd rather not try to relive it."

In response to Comstock filing a similar complaint, Sluk said, "I can't believe what they've been doing to him." She was puzzled that the same issue had been allowed to come up again, and said she thought her and Locklear's victory would have discouraged James from repeating the same hiring procedure. "[Our grievance] was kind of a precedent."

"It doesn't surprise me at all," said Locklear. "But I think justice will prevail as it did with myself and Mara."