Arbitrator puts city employee Drew Porter back on Du Quoin payroll

A City of Du Quoin Water Department employee who was fired on July 8, 2013 for allegedly being intoxicated when he came to work overnight while on-call Tuesday, July 2, 2013 has won his arbitration case and could be returned to his job in the coming weeks.

Along the way, he will probably be awarded some back pay and possibly damages as attorneys sort out the conditions for his return to work.

The City of Du Quoin agreed to go to arbitration in September 2013 in the termination of water department employee Drew Porter after Porter and Laborers Local 773 challenged what Mayor Rex Duncan calls "the process" by which the city council fired him.

Porter was represented by the union and the city retained Metro East attorney Ivan Schrader to represent the city.

The case was heard by arbitrator Michelle Camden of Chicago.

On July 8, 2013, Porter's employment was terminated effective immediately "for cause." The termination followed an alleged drinking-related incident in the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 2 while Porter was on-call for the water department. City employees work in rotation to take after-hours calls.

Stories seem to agree that Porter had been drinking over the weekend before the Fourth of July and drove to the water department equipment building where a surveillance camera shows the trouble Porter had getting a city truck out of the building because of his condition. Duncan could not confirm nor deny the information because the issue is in arbitration.

One version suggests that Porter advised the department he had been drinking and was asked to go in to work anyway.

Porter and the union claimed there are steps to a termination according to the collective bargaining agreement which were not followed.

The ruling states that Porter's termination was "unjustified" and adds the "termination is vacated."

Camden's ruling invokes only a five-day suspension and orders that Porter be made "whole again."

It is not known whether the city's risk management insurer or the city itself is liable for any back pay or damages.

Porter worked within the water department where one of his primary responsibilities is reading the meters monthly across the city's large water system. He had been a city employee for more than two years.

Another issue is the employment of Cody Greenwood, who was hired to fill the Porter vacancy. That becomes another union personnel matter as to whether Greenwood can be bumped or will stay on the payroll.

Attorneys are expected to hammer out the conditions of Porter's return to work over the next three weeks.

A city spokesman said only that it is the arbitrator's decision and that the city "will live with it" and move forward.