## Facts

- American Medical Response (American Medical) employed an ambulance driver who was a member and steward of Teamsters Local 769 (the union).
- American Medical and the union were parties to a collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) addressing staffing, overtime, and discipline.
- The CBA authorized American Medical to require mandatory overtime and required American Medical to give notice at least one hour before the end of the employee’s scheduled shift if the employee would need to stay beyond the shift.
- By normal practice, the last 45 minutes of a shift were reserved for paperwork rather than additional ambulance calls.
- The CBA granted American Medical broad management rights, including the right to discharge immediately for insubordination.
- The CBA also limited the arbitrator’s remedial authority by stating that the arbitrator could not modify the level of discipline set by American Medical for an offense.
- On the day at issue, the driver’s scheduled shift ended at 6:00 p.m.
- At approximately 4:30 p.m., while the driver was on a call, a supervisor telephoned and requested that the driver take one more call expected to occur between 5:15 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
- The driver interpreted the overtime-notice provision as requiring notice one hour before the anticipated start of the additional call (5:15 p.m.), rather than one hour before the scheduled end of the shift (6:00 p.m.).
- The driver and a coworker refused to take the requested call based on their understanding of the CBA.
- American Medical discharged the driver for insubordination; the coworker received a warning letter.
- The union filed a grievance challenging the discharge under the CBA’s just-cause standard, and the dispute proceeded to labor arbitration.

## Issues

1. Whether the driver’s refusal to take the additional call constituted insubordination for which American Medical had just cause to discharge her.
2. Whether the refusal was excused because the driver claimed she did not receive a “direct order” and believed the overtime request violated the CBA’s notice requirement.
3. Whether the discharge lacked just cause because the coworker who also refused the call received lesser discipline.
4. If insubordination occurred, whether the CBA permitted the arbitrator to reduce the discharge as too severe.

## Decision

- The arbitrator denied the grievance and upheld the discharge.
- The arbitrator determined that the CBA’s overtime-notice requirement measured the one-hour period from the scheduled end of the shift, not from the expected start time of the additional call; the 4:30 p.m. notice was therefore timely for a 6:00 p.m. shift end.
- Because the assignment was within management’s contractual staffing authority and the notice requirement was satisfied, the driver’s refusal was treated as insubordination.
- The arbitrator rejected the union’s challenge based on the claim that no “direct order” was given, treating the supervisor’s instruction to take the call as a work directive the employee was not free to refuse on the spot.
- The arbitrator did not set aside the discharge based on the coworker’s lesser discipline.
- After finding insubordination, the arbitrator applied the CBA’s limitation on arbitral remedies and concluded the arbitrator could not substitute a lesser penalty for the discipline chosen by American Medical.

## Legal Principles

- Where a CBA requires notice “at least one hour before the end of the employee’s shift,” the timing is measured from the scheduled shift end time rather than the anticipated start time of the added work.
- A good-faith mistake about contract meaning does not automatically excuse a refusal to perform an assigned task when the directive is within management’s contractual authority.
- In labor arbitration, refusal to carry out a management work directive can constitute insubordination even when the employee frames the refusal as a contract objection.
- Disparate discipline arguments commonly turn on whether employees are similarly situated and whether management had a reasonable basis to impose different penalties; however, a CBA may limit the arbitrator’s ability to correct perceived penalty inequities.
- When a CBA explicitly bars an arbitrator from modifying the employer’s chosen level of discipline once an offense is found, the arbitrator’s authority to reduce a discharge as excessive may be contractually eliminated.

## Conclusion

In American Medical Response, the arbitrator upheld the discharge of an ambulance driver and union steward who refused an additional late-shift call, finding the overtime notice was timely under the CBA, the refusal constituted insubordination, and the CBA barred the arbitrator from reducing the penalty selected by management.


American Medical Response, 129 Lab. Arb. Rep. 1005 (2011)