Case Title: In re Butler

Citation: 166 Vt. 423, 697 A.2d 659

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1997-05-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
In re Butler  (95-044); 166 Vt. 423; 697 A.2d 659

[Filed 23-May-1997]

       NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under
  V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont
  Reports.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
  Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of
  any errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes
  to press.

                            No. 95-044

In re Grievance of Deborah Butler            Supreme Court

                                             On Appeal from
                                             Labor Relations Board

                                             March Term, 1996

Charles H. McHugh, Chairman

       Samuel C. Palmisano, VSEA Legal Counsel, Montpelier, for appellee
  Deborah Butler

       Jeffrey L. Amestoy, Attorney General, and David K. Herlihy, Assistant
  Attorney General, Montpelier, for appellant State of Vermont Department of
  Public Safety

PRESENT:  Allen, C.J., Gibson, Dooley, Morse and Johnson, JJ.

       MORSE, J.   The State appeals a decision of the Vermont Labor
  Relations Board holding that the Department of Public Safety discriminated
  against grievant Deborah Butler on the basis of her gender, and ordering
  her reinstatement as a Vermont State Police officer.  Butler had been
  dismissed because she did not successfully complete her probationary period
  of employment.  The Board concluded that had she not been treated
  differently because of her sex, Butler would have become a permanent state
  trooper.  We affirm the decision of the Board.

       We emphasize at the outset the limited nature of our review.  The
  Board's decision is entitled to substantial deference.  In re Towle, 164
  Vt. 145, 148,