Fourteen members of Local 1457 won an estimated total of over $12,000 under a grievance settlement between the union, the Dept. of Juvenile Justice and the city.

Local 1457 filed the out-of-title-work grievance because the department failed to increase the workers’ pay for nearly two months after formally notifying them of their promotions on Aug. 14, 1998.

“The settlement provides justice for a group of members who were improperly denied their pay increase on time,” said Alex Parker, president of Juvenile Center Employees Local 1457. Mr. Parker worked on the case with DC 37 Rep. Tyler Hemingway and Associate General Counsel Mary J. O’Connell.

The union filed the grievance on behalf of seven members promoted from Juvenile Counselor to Associate Juvenile Counselor Level 1 and another seven who went from AJC Level 1 to Level 2.

The back pay amounted to $840 to $890, exclusive of overtime, according to Moira Dolan of the DC 37 Research Dept. “The grievance and the outcome of it has been wonderful for all of the members,” said Christine Sanders, one of the Level 1 AJCs. Mr. Hemingway noted that some of the grievants felt frustrated by the lengthy process, which involved three steps before Local 1457 filed for arbitration. The union, the agency and the city avoided dragging the case out further by negotiating the settlement.

“We appreciate that members stuck with the process,” Mr. Hemingway said. “Justice may not always be swift. But we knew we had the facts in our favor.”