State board rules police command officers should be paid lost wages

Toledo Law Director Adam Loukx said the city could appeal the state ruling.

The State Employment Relations Board on Monday ruled that the city must reimburse members of the Toledo Police Command Officers Association for wages lost after changes were made to the union contract in 2010.

The amount of money the city could be ordered to pay back was not immediately available, but several police sources indicated the figure is approximately $1.2 million.

Once the proposed remedy is accepted and made final in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, the city could appeal the ruling to the Sixth District Court of Appeals, said city Law Director Adam Loukx.

Toledo City Council, in March, 2010, declared “exigent circumstances” and ordered union members to pay the 10 percent share of their pension contribution and make contributions to their health-care costs, based on a sliding salary scale.

In May, 2010, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the city, with the state board ruling in the city's favor. The case has bounced between Lucas County Common Pleas Court, the Sixth District Court of Appeals, and the employment relations board in procedural nuances.

The county's ruling did not include remedies to the ruling in the union's favor, and remanded the case to the state.

“This order is not unexpected and … the city is likely to appeal it,” Mr. Loukx said. “... We're back where we were about a year ago.”

City Councilman D. Michael Collins and Dan Shultz, president of the command officers' association, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.