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Eggert v. Morton8/8/2001
DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY
This cause was heard upon the record in the trial court. Each error assigned has been reviewed and the following disposition is made:
Appellant Robert Eggert has appealed the judgment of the Summit County Common Pleas Court that adopted the decision of its magistrate. That adoption affirmed two separate decisions by the City of Hudson's Personnel Advisory and Appeals Board, which denied both of Eggert's grievances. This Court affirms.
I.
Appellant Robert Eggert began working for the City of Hudson (Hudson) during 1988 as a meter reader. He was soon promoted to senior lineman, a Level 8 pay scale classification, in Hudson's electric department. His duties primarily consisted of electric line maintenance, both overhead and underground, and, from time to time, he was required to climb utility poles to work on overhead lines. Several years later, during May 1997, Eggert submitted a letter to the City Manager, requesting a voluntary transfer to the service department as an equipment operator, a Level 5 pay scale classification. As an equipment operator, he would not have to climb utility poles. His letter did not indicate that he was seeking a transfer as the result of any physical condition.
Eggert's supervisor also sent a letter to the City Manager, recommending Eggert's transfer. The supervisor explained that Eggert lacked "confidence in performing some of the duties" of a lineman for "physical reasons." The letter also stated that Eggert's previous supervisor had made allowances for Eggert, but that the operating procedures of the department no longer permitted Eggert to avoid overhead line work. The "physical reasons" were never detailed. The City Manager approved the reassignment. As the result of this move, Eggert was reclassified at Level 5, down from Level 8, and he received a cut in pay.
Thereafter, a senior electrical technician in the electric department (Senior Technician) fell and suffered a serious head injury while on the job. Prior to his fall, this man's duties included electric system design, PCB transformer testing, EPA contacts, OSHA compliance, and purchasing and inventorying all the supplies and equipment for the electric department. As a direct result of his injury, Senior Technician was relieved of his purchasing and inventorying responsibilities and, instead, began reading meters twelve days a month. Purchasing and inventorying responsibilities and meter reading duties each fall into positions classified at Level 5. However, Senior Technician continued performing the balance of his previous duties, which were classified at a higher level. The City Manager reassigned another employee in the electric department, Jeff Fullerton, who had been reading meters, and gave him the responsibility of purchasing and inventory.
A. First Grievance
On January 15, 1999, Eggert, along with several others, filed a grievance with Hudson's Public Works Director, claiming that (1) Senior Technician and Fullerton had essentially switched or traded job positions and classifications without either position being posted pursuant to Hudson's Personnel Rules and Regulations, (2) Senior Technician took a lower pay scale position without accepting the corresponding decrease in pay scale classification, while Fullerton was promoted to a higher pay scale position and classification without following established procedures for promotion and, (3) if Senior Technician was permitted to reduce his duties without a corresponding decrease in his job classification and pay, the grievants should all have their previous pay scale classifications reinstated. Thus, the issue presented was whether Hudson
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