Suspended Norton {Ohio} officer wins grievance against city on First Amendment grounds
Source: Akron Beacon Journal
Suspended Norton officer wins grievance against city on First Amendment grounds
Alan Ashworth * Akron Beacon Journal
Published 6:15 a.m. ET Oct. 24, 2022 * Updated 6:58 a.m. ET Oct. 24, 2022
An arbitrator has sustained a grievance brought by a Norton police officer suspended earlier this year by the city. ... Jason Sams, a 22-year veteran of the police force, was suspended for two weeks in February, following an investigator's report issued Jan. 4. ... The report concluded Sams had violated department policy when he made comments about Police Chief John Dalessandro on July 2, 2021. The comments were secretly recorded by a private detective conducting his own investigation of a Barberton councilman.
"The only basis for Jason's discipline were his comments recorded on video where he says to (the investigator): 'Hey, did you hear what happened to our chief?' " Danielle M. Chaffin, general counsel for the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said in a recent phone interview. ... Sams went on to tell the private investigator about a 22-0 no-confidence vote on the chief that Norton officers had taken. The detective then replies that the chief would be facing trouble following the vote. ... " (N)ot when the mayor is his cousin," Sams responded.
The conversation took place while Sams was off-duty, but the investigator hired by Norton concluded he had violated several policies. An earlier Summit County Sheriff's Office investigation had determined last year that no laws had been violated. ... On Oct. 3, an arbitrator decided in Sams' favor, sustaining the grievance.
In the decision, arbitrator Robert M. Lustig writes that Sams' speech was protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution. ... "Even if (Sams) violated one or more of the policies, if the speech upon which the discipline is based is protected speech, discipline may not be imposed," the decision reads. ... Sams "shall be made whole for any pay and/or benefits not paid during the period from when he was placed on administrative leave in August until he was no longer being scheduled for work in October 2021," the decision concludes.
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Read more: https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2022/10/24/norton-officer-wins-grievance-against-city-in-first-amendment-ruling-arbitration-police-union/69579735007/
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I was expecting a hefty pile of NewsMax sh$t.... 