The City filed a petition challenging the arbitrability of the Union’s grievance alleging that DOHMH violated the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. The Union claimed that DOHMH failed to pay Grievant for time spent on leave awaiting the resolution of her appeal of the denial of her reasonable accommodation request to be exempt from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement. The City contended that the right to be paid for such time arose from a Memorandum of Agreement that was not in effect until after Grievant’s appeal had been resolved. The City thus argued that this grievance was not subject to arbitration because the Union failed to establish the necessary nexus between the subject matter of the grievance, the payment for time spent on leave, and the source of the alleged right, the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. The Board found that the Union established the requisite nexus. Accordingly, the petition challenging arbitrability was denied, and the request for arbitration was granted.

17-OCB2d-2-BCB-2024.pdf