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Arbitrator Reinstates Officer Fired for Not Answering Questions Public Safety Labor News reports that while off-duty, an officer with the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida was involved in an altercation with her husband. At which time she shot and killed him. She was arrested, and while in custody at the City of Riviera Police Department, she told her Police Chief and Palm Beach County detectives that she was being beaten up, she feared for her life, and shot in self-defense. At that time, she was placed on administrative leave with pay. Four months later, a prosecutor charged her with the second-degree murder of her husband. The Department then activated an internal investigation and directed the officer to appear at an investigatory interview. The Department sent the officer a so-called “reverse Garrity warning” that ordered her to respond to questions, and provided that “if you do answer, neither your statements nor any information or evidence which is gained by reason of such statements can be used against you in any subsequent proceeding.” The Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association (PBA), which represented the officer, advised the Department that the officer would not appear for the interview, stating in part that the criminal charge is too serious and the stakes are too high to risk her liberty in order to attempt to keep her job.” The Department then terminated her for insubordination. A jury later found the officer not guilty of second-degree murder. An arbitrator then considered the PBA’s challenge to the officer’s termination. The Arbitrator found that while the officer definitely disobeyed a lawful order, she did so “reluctantly” while facing a “lose-lose dilemma. In fact, there would be universal agreement among reasonable persons that the officer had no choice in the circumstances she found herself in but to decline to answer potentially incriminating questions at the internal affairs interview.” The Arbitrator was clearly skeptical of the immunity provided under the Garrity rule. The Arbitrator observed that “like all rules, exceptions tend to emerge over time that have the unintended consequence of eroding the seeming ironclad protection of the rule.” The Arbitrator concluded that the City had no just cause to terminate the officer and ordered the officer’s reinstatement, with a limited back pay award. Source: Gary Lippmann, Attorney for the PBA and Labor Relations Information System (LRIS) Publications, May 2005 Issue
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