March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Arbitrators say fired lawman has grounds for grievance

DOVER-FOXCROFT — A former investigator with the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department has grounds for a grievance on his discharge, according to a ruling issued by the state’s Board of Arbitration and Conciliation.

Sheriff John Goggin received notification Tuesday that the board ruled in favor of former Sgt. Larry Bickford regarding his discharge from employment with the sheriff’s department.

Bickford said Tuesday he is seeking to be reinstated. He declined to comment further.

Earlier this year, 18 employees of the department and jail signed a petition that expressed no confidence in Bickford’s demeanor and his attitude toward employees and the public.

After discussions with Goggin, Bickford allegedly agreed to resign voluntarily after a six-week medical leave and a two-week suspension. During his suspension, Bickford agreed to be demoted from sergeant to patrolman-investigator.

Under a written agreement with the department, Bickford could return to work for 75 days after his six-week medical leave and two weeks of suspension, and then would resign from the job voluntarily. Bickford’s benefit time covered the medical leave and the 75-day work period, according to Goggin.

Bickford filed a grievance alleging that the termination of his employment was constructively a discharge and as such, failed to meet the “just cause” standard specified by the bargaining agreement with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.

The county contended that Bickford resigned from his job, that no discharge occurred and that he had no arbitral rights because he was no longer a member of the bargaining unit.

From testimony given at a hearing on Oct. 27 in Dover-Foxcroft, the state arbitration board determined that Bickford was forced out.

“Though he had had a discussion with Sheriff John Goggin about his future employment in the department, we find no evidence in this case that Larry Bickford intended to resign when he met with the sheriff on April 18, 1995,” wrote G. Calvin Mackenzie, chairman of the Board of Arbitration and Concil- iation.

“Nothing in the facts of this case persuades us that this resignation was voluntary in any of the normal meanings of that concept,” Mackenzie’s statement continued. “Faced with the unveiled threat of discharge on that day, Bickford resigned to preserve benefits and accumulated sick and leave time. This was not a planned or voluntary resignation. Faced with two undesirable choices and forced to choose among them with no notice and little time to decide, he opted for what he regarded as the lesser of evils.”

The next step, according to those involved, is a second hearing to continue with Bickford’s grievance at a date yet to be set.

The former law officer said earlier this summer that he had been under stress and was under medical care. Bickford claimed he had not been formally evaluated since 1989. Had an evaluation been done, he said, any weaknesses in his performance could have been determined and perhaps corrected.

Bickford was represented in the matter by AFSCME, the same union that represented most of the 18 employees who signed the petition against him.

Marc Ayotte, legal council for the Board of Arbitration and Concilation, said Tuesday, “The first question is did he quit the job or was he required essentially to quit, did he have a choice?” Ayotte said the board found that he didn’t have a choice, that there was a constructive discharge. The second issue is did the employer have good or just cause or whatever the contract requires to force him to make that decision. The ruling was that there was no just cause.

Attorney Tom Johnston, who represents the county commissioners and Goggin, said Bickford signed the resignation and has been operating under the terms of that resignation. He said Bickford now complains that the resignation wasn’t valid because he was under duress to sign the document. “We think that’s not so. I think they reached the wrong conclusion,” he said.


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