(A) Post-probationary employees shall be disciplined and/or discharged for just cause consistent with this agreement. The village agrees that any disciplinary action shall be taken in a timely fashion. However, with respect to the scheduling of suspensions, the Police Chief may consider the availability of other officers to cover the shifts during a disciplinary suspension of an individual officer, and schedule the suspension so as not to impede police operations.
(B) The village agrees with the tenets of progressive and corrective discipline. However, serious infractions of departmental rules and regulations, village ordinances, or state or federal laws may result in more serious discipline up to and including immediate discharge. Once the measure of discipline is determined and imposed, the village shall not increase it for the particular incident of misconduct unless new facts or circumstances become known.
(C) Disciplinary action will include the following:
(1) Oral warning or reprimand;
(2) Written reprimand;
(3) Suspension without pay up to three days;
(4) Suspension without pay for more than three days; and
(5) Suspension pending ultimate discharge.
(D) The village shall comply with the provisions of the state’s Uniform Peace Officers’ Disciplinary Act, being 50 ILCS 725/1 et seq. in conducting any formal investigation as defined in the Act.
(E) Oral warnings or reprimands may not be grieved. However, notice of the oral reprimand will be provided to the union and should further disciplinary action be taken based, in part, on the previous oral reprimand or warning, the union may dispute the just cause for the oral reprimand or warning in the process of grieving another level of disciplinary action taken against that employee. All other forms of discipline may be grieved.
(F) All discipline may be grieved. Any oral reprimand shall be removed from the employee’s record, if, from the date of the last reprimand, 12 months have passed without the employee receiving an additional oral reprimand or other discipline for the same or substantially similar offenses. Written reprimands will remain a part of the officer’s permanent personnel file. However, when an officer has completed two years without any additional written reprimand, previous written reprimands will not be considered for purposes of progressive discipline.
(Ord. 2014-07, passed 5-20-2014)