Two wardens, two very different calls – and an email folder that ended up in front of an arbitrator
A California appeals court has reinstated an arbitration win for a union steward, ruling internal manager emails proved anti-union animus behind her 60-workday suspension.
On May 15, the Third Appellate District reversed a lower court and ordered full confirmation of an arbitration award in favor of Tracylyn Lopez, a correctional officer and union steward at Salinas Valley State Prison. The decision is a useful case study for HR teams in unionized workplaces, particularly on how parallel discipline tracks can pull in different directions and on the danger of a manager's email folder.
The facts run back to 2017. Lopez, a job steward for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, was disciplined for using profanity about two co-workers and putting them on what she described as a hostile list. The matter ended with a letter of reprimand. In July 2018, she posted excerpts of those disciplinary materials on a union bulletin board near the prison's main entrance, redacting her own first name but leaving the other officers' surnames visible and highlighted.
The warden at the time asked her to remove the posting. She did, and he closed the matter without further discipline. He retired shortly afterward. His successor, Warden Tammy Foss, took a different view. She pushed for direct action without investigation, and Lopez received a 60-workday suspension in 2019.
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