What Are Just Cause Standards?

By L. Spriggs

Just Cause Standards: How Unions Defend Their Members Against Unfair Discipline

Let’s say you’ve been through the process of being called to the principal’s office for some infraction, you’ve had a meeting with the administration, and the administration has decided to move forward with discipline, but the member, or union leadership, believes the discipline is unfair or unjust. What happens next?

At that point, the member or the union may decide to move forward with a grievance, or formal complaint, against the district.

The specific grievance process is outlined in our bargaining agreement. In brief, if the union and the administration cannot satisfactorily resolve a discipline issue informally, the union can submit the complaint to binding arbitration, which means a neutral, independent arbitrator will review the issue and decide whether the discipline was justified or not.

There are seven standards that arbitrators generally refer to when determining whether a particular disciplinary action was justified, and these are called the just-cause standards. They include prior notice, substantial evidence, progressive discipline, recent enforcement, consideration of mitigating or extenuating circumstances, equal treatment, and due process.

Whenever your union is tasked with defending you against unfair discipline, your representative should be familiar with how these just-cause standards might apply in your particular situation, and be able to help prepare your case for arbitration.