Opinion ID: 617237
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Ides of February

Text: The following events transpired between Sampson's February 13 job opening meeting with Balser and her February 20 punch in or start date.
On or around February 13, 2008, Union Business Agent Rick Casilli (Casilli) received a phone call from a union member expressing frustration that Balser either had been offered and/or accepted the recently posted Zyglo Sorter position. The union member, speaking on behalf of himself and other members, was upset that Balser, who at the time only had approximately seven months of service with GE, had been offered a position typically reserved for only the most senior employees. Because it is Local 201's duty to investigate how GE fills its positionsparticularly if a hiring might contradict the CBA or GE past practiceand to process grievances if it determines that a position was not filled according to CBA procedures or GE custom, the Union decided to investigate GE's possible hiring of Balser, a lack of work employee, for the Zyglo Sorter position. [7]
According to Casilli's deposition testimony, on receiving the February 13 call from the union member, he [i]mmediately contacted Sampson to investigate the possible hiring of Balser. Casilli informed Sampson as to the disgruntled rumblings from union members. Casilli asked Sampson how Balser, having only worked at the company for less than a year, could have been offered or hired for a position typically reserved for more senior-level employees. Casilli stated that Sampson told him he did not believe Balser's hire was due to upgradeas was generally the practice for such a seniority-preferred positionbut rather, lack of work. Casilli said he told Sampson during that conversation that [t]his could be a big problem because the Zyglo Sorter positions only had been posted as of February 12. Further, GE generally only posted jobs it intended to fill by upgrade, and it went against company practice to post an opening for a position only to fill it on a lack of work basis. Casilli testified that he informed Sampson he would need additional information concerning Balser's potential hiring as a Zyglo Sorter, including details about the postings, Balser's layoff, and the positions themselves, to assess whether Balser or another union member had a right to the position. Casilli stated he conferred with Sampson on Wednesday (February 13), Thursday (February 14), the following Tuesday (February 19), and the following Wednesday (February 20) regarding the matter. [8] According to the record, Casilli met with Sampson in person on February 14, 2008 and engaged in subsequent email correspondence with him that day. During these interactions, Casilli informed Sampson that Local 201 would not support the placement of a recently-hired employee in the Zyglo Sorter position. Casilli told Sampson that he intended to file a grievance on two accounts: (1) GE had not placed lack of work employees into high paid jobs, like the Zyglo Sorter position, in over ten years; and (2) it was accepted GE practice for posted piecework positions, like the Zyglo Sorter job, to be filled by upgrades, and not lack of work employees. Casilli additionally advised Sampson to fill the Zyglo Sorter positions by seniority among upgrades and to place Balser on a temporary IR 16 [9] for [Herbert] Sutherland's position. [10] Sampson, in turn, noted that he had advised Balser during their initial meeting of union members' discontent concerning GE's potential filling of a typically seniority-based position with a non-senior employee; that if she were hired for the Zyglo Sorter position, it might be grieved and she might not stay; and that despite this, Balser expressed an interest in continuing to work until informed otherwise. Casilli informed Sampson, also on February 14, that he would be writing the Grievance tomorrow if you placed her on a `permanent' position. If you placed her on a `temporary position' for Sutherland and are placing [other recommended seniorlevel employees] on [sic] other two jobs then you do not get the Grievance.
On February 13, 2008, Murciakone of the Zyglo Sorters whom GE initially believed was on the verge of retiring and for whom it generated the Requests for Help at issuecontacted Local 201 Executive Board Member Fred Merchant (Merchant). During this phone conversation, Murciak complained about GE's February 12 posting of the Zyglo Sorter positions because he feared it would interfere with the distribution of work among himself and the other Zyglo Sorters. Murciak's conversation with Merchant confirmed that he was not planning on retiring soon, contrary to GE's initial belief. Merchant promptly informed GE's Human Resources Manager, Matthew Scagnelli (Scagnelli) of this information. Based on this information, GE cancelled its Request for Help No. 11984A.