NAGE Assistant Regional Counsel Sarah Suszczyk has won another significant case at arbitration, resulting in a member at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, NJ, receiving six years of higher-rate differential back pay.

The grievant, Local R2-84 President William Cole, brought the case to NAGE in July 2008, alleging that for many years he had been performing the duties of a WG-11 Test Mechanic, but had been receiving pay at the WG-10 Mechanic level. Attorney Suszczyk successfully argued that Mr. Cole should have been granted a temporary promotion for the time period covering his increased duties and responsibilities.

“I’m obviously very pleased with the outcome of this case and believe that Mr. Cole is finally getting the payment he deserved for the work he did over so many years,” said Attorney Suszczyk.

Mr. Cole says that the issue with his pay first arose almost 15 years ago, when his direct supervisor, a WG-11 Test Mechanic, retired. At the time, Mr. Cole was a WG-10 Mechanic whose job entailed testing cables that are used to launch and arrest aircraft on takeoff and landing from an aircraft carrier.

After his supervisor retired, the Agency stalled in filling the position, and Mr. Cole quickly found himself taking on more duties and greater responsibilities, with his everyday job soon approaching the role of a WG-11 Test Mechanic. For more than a decade, Mr. Cole essentially did the work of his supervisor without the commensurate pay.

In November 2007, Mr. Cole had finally had enough of the stalling and requested a desk audit of his position that would support his claim that he had been working at the higher grade for years. Seven months after Mr. Cole’s request for the desk audit, he still had no answer from the Agency, so NAGE filed a grievance on his behalf seeking back pay for the period he had been performing higher graded duties. Within one week, the Agency had transferred him to a new position, and several months after that, the Agency finally performed its desk audit.

When the Agency repeatedly denied his grievance, NAGE filed for arbitration and Attorney Suszczyk argued the case before an arbitrator. In her decision, the arbitrator found that Mr. Cole had been entitled to a temporary promotion for performing the duties of the higher-graded WG-11 Test Mechanic position. Although Mr. Cole had been performing the WG-11 duties since approximately 1994, the federal Back Pay Act limits differential pay recovery to six years. Therefore the arbitrator awarded him differential back pay for the period July 2002 to July 2008.