Countywide : Union, Ex-Worker Told to Arbitrate

The union that represents the majority of county government workers has been ordered into arbitration to settle a claim by one of its former employees that she was harassed on the job.

Judge John J. Hunter, sitting in Superior Court, ruled this week that Jacqueline A. Ortega had followed proper procedures to force her case into binding arbitration. The Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County had opposed arbitration, saying the issue was moot because a written reprimand had been removed from Ortega’s personnel file.

Ortega, 46, of Ventura, who had been employed 10 years by the association, said her female supervisor at the union displayed “a pattern of unwarranted, discriminatory harassment” beginning in December, 1991, and continuing until last August, when an ulcer forced her to take medical leave.

Ortega filed her grievance after the supervisor reprimanded her in July, 1992.

A business agent who helped county employees file and pursue grievances over their working conditions, Ortega was terminated by the union last November, when she failed to return to work.

Barry L. Hammitt, the employee association’s executive director, said Wednesday he is not aware of any harassment of Ortega. He said he asked Ortega repeatedly to provide information of specific instances of harassment, but she did not.

Hunter ruled that Ortega cannot take several other issues to arbitration, including the denial of a merit pay increase in September and refusal to extend her medical leave for an on-the-job injury.

But Ralph M. Phillips, Ortega’s attorney, said he is pleased with Hunter’s ruling to mandate arbitration on the larger issue of harassment on the job.

Ortega said she has not received her $3,196 monthly salary since October. She recently qualified for workers’ compensation pay, she said.