Thrusday, January 07, 1999
Dispatcher's return likely to stand
Shirey doesn't think city could win appeal of ruling
BY LISA DONOVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati City Manager John Shirey doesn't think the city can successfully appeal an arbitrator's order to reinstate a 911 employee fired last year after a delay in dispatching help the night two police officers were killed.
Mr. Shirey fired Eugenia Boiman and another 911 dispatcher last March for what he termed “egre gious” errors. But an arbitrator's decision released this week stated Ms. Boiman was used as a “scapegoat” in the case.
The city could appeal the reinstatement through Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, but Mr. Shirey said Wednesday it would be difficult to win.
He explained that the losing party in an arbitration can't appeal a decision simply because it disagrees with the ruling. City lawyers told him such an appeal would require the city to prove something improper about the arbitration itself.
Ms. Boiman will return to her job with full benefits and 10 months of back pay. She earns $36,325 annually, has 12 vacation and sick days and health and retirement benefits.
Examining the arbitrator's report, Mr. Shirey said he had no other grounds to discipline Ms. Boiman.
The firings of Ms. Boiman and fellow 911 dispatcher Angela Gibson came after the police division's Internal Investigations held the pair responsible for a 47-minute delay while Spc. Ronald Jeter and Officer Daniel Pope were dying Dec. 6, 1997, in a Clifton Heights apartment.
Ms. Boiman's union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, appealed.
Ms. Gibson's firing is also on appeal and after that ruling, by a different arbitrator, Mr. Shirey said he would have a better idea about whether the city could appeal.
Looking back, Mr. Shirey said he wouldn't have done anything differently, and he didn't think he was swept up in public sentiment to fire the two dispatchers.
“I was careful to take my time to make sure I wasn't responding to the emotion of the issue,” he said.
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