By Chris Bristol
Yakima Herald-Republic
A Yakima police captain who was demoted to sergeant last year while pursuing a lawsuit against the city has been reinstated with back pay by an arbitrator.
Teamsters Local 760, which represents YPD lieutenants and captains, filed a grievance after Capt. Rod Light was demoted last July following an internal investigation that focused on his romantic relationships with two female sergeants.
After a hearing in March, arbitrator David P. Beauvais on Friday issued a ruling that found city officials had not proved allegations of sexual misconduct. That was partly because such relationships did not violate city policy.
The internal investigation had also touched on allegations that Light improperly removed a draft of his performance evaluation from the desk of then-Deputy Chief Kelly Rosenow and made a copy of it.
But Beauvais said a demotion by two pay grades for photocopying the draft was disproportionate and ordered Light reinstated to captain with back pay, minus a 30-day suspension.
In a statement, City Manager Dick Zais called the decision, which is binding on both parties, “seriously flawed and misguided.”
However, he stopped short of saying the city could appeal to Superior Court. The statement did not include a calculation of how much back pay Light is owed.
“In our view the 30-day suspension is a slap on the wrist,” Zais said, who accused Light of being “untrustworthy and unsuited for a senior command role.”
The attorney who handled the grievance for Teamsters could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The internal investigation was launched months after Light filed a lawsuit against the city and then-Chief Sam Granato, alleging he was the victim of retaliation for reporting misconduct at the Yakima Police Athletic League in 2005.
Light has since settled the lawsuit. It was one of three retaliation cases against Granato settled for a total of $160,000.
The arbitration decision did not explicitly make a link between Light’s lawsuit and the demotion. But attorney Bill Pickett, who brought the three cases against Granato, said Tuesday the timing was clear.
“He brought a claim against them, they concocted a filthy story to throw mud on him, and they have failed. Every one of them that took part in this ought to be ashamed of themselves,” Pickett said.
Although it was true that Light had intimate relationships with two subordinates, Beauvais noted neither the city of Yakima nor the Yakima police department had a written policy against personal relationships outside of work during much of the period in question.
Beauvais said evidence submitted by Light suggested Light told Granato and Rosenow that he was seeing the sergeants at different times in 2007 and 2008. Moreover, he said, the draft evaluation that Light surreptitiously photocopied proved that Granato and Rosenow knew about the relationships.
Beauvais also said that Zais’ handling of separate sexual harassment allegations against Granato betrayed a double standard.
“In terms of potential liability, the allegations against Chief Granato were every bit as serious as the possible fallout from the relationships between (Light) and the two sergeants,” Beauvais wrote.
“Yet Chief Granato received no formal discipline while (Light) was subject to serious and financially damaging disciplinary action.”
Granato, who retired in December after seven sometimes tumultuous years as chief, took exception to some of the arbitrator’s findings and noted that neither he nor Rosenow were called as witnesses in the grievance hearing.
He noted that one of the two sexual harassment complaints cited by the arbitrator was an incident in which he had kissed a surprised female city attorney.
The second complaint came in the form of a lawsuit by Officer Stacey Andrews. It was one of the three lawsuits, including Light’s, settled earlier this year by Pickett. The other was by one of the female sergeants Light dated.
An investigation by an Ellensburg labor-law attorney concluded Granato’s interactions with Andrews were troubling but did not cross the line into sexual harassment.
“The arbitrator got it all wrong, but that’s what happens when you’re not there to defend yourself,” said Granato, whose advice to city officials was not to appeal.
“You don’t call all your witnesses,” he said of the city, “you can’t complain about the results.”
Copyright 2011 Yakima Herald Republic