Nov 14, 2019 5 min read

A grievance filed by a former North Franklin Township police officer was denied by the labor arbitrator in a decision that was released last week.

The grievance, filed in July 2018, claimed that the township should not have given former Sgt. Jerry Cavanaugh a 30-day suspension for violating the department’s sexual harassment policy. It demanded that he be reinstated, receive lost wages and benefits and that the discipline be removed from his personnel file. The department was disbanded in December 2018.

After multiple hearings on the grievance in March and June of this year, the arbitrator, Jane Desimone, from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, explained in her Nov. 7 decision that “the evidence overwhelmingly establishes that this discipline was reasonable under the circumstances.”

Those circumstances were detailed in her decision, which includes the testimony of the female officer. The female officer sued the township for sexual harassment in May 2018, and the case was settled through the township’s insurance carrier, costing taxpayers more than $28,000 in attorney fees and insurance deductibles.

According to the arbitration decision issued on Cavanaugh’s grievance, another officer, Rodney Bush, began sexually harassing the female officer in February 2018, just a few months after she was hired as a part-time employee.

The female officer testified during a March arbitration hearing that Bush made inappropriate comments to her. On one occasion, she testified, he moaned at her and said, “let me see that body.”

On another occasion, she testified, Bush called her and told her to report to the station at 3 a.m. When she got there, he had a movie for them to watch and a box was covering the surveillance camera, she said. He then asked her what it would take “to get in your pants,” according to the March testimony recorded in the decision. She said she was “shocked” and tried to leave, but he grabbed her and kissed her cheek.

In early March 2018, she reported the incidents to Cavanaugh, who “did nothing to correct the problem,” according to Desimone’s decision. Instead, Cavanaugh “attempted to make light of the situation” by mimicking Bush’s comment, saying, “girl, what you do to me,” back to her as a joke, according to court documents.

In Cavanaugh’s testimony, he said he didn’t make those comments “maliciously,” and that they were “part of a friendly exchange” between the two of them. He also testified that he didn’t report Bush’s conduct because she had told him about the incidents “in confidence” and “as friends.” But later in his testimony, as Desimone noted in her decision, Cavanaugh maintained that his relationship with the female officer was strictly professional.

On multiple occasions, according to the decision, Bush allegedly harassed the female officer to show him her chest, and later that month, harassed her during two different traffic stops.

On April 6, 2018, she reported Bush’s comments to former Sgt. Dean Urbanic, who advised her to provide a written statement. Two days later, she had a meeting with Urbanic and then-Chief Ronald Fox. She agreed to have the matter resolved internally because she wanted to “maintain a good working relationship with Chief Fox and her co-workers,” according to court documents. Due to her filing the complaint, Fox allegedly “indicated” that she wouldn’t be recommended for full-time status, according to court documents.

The internal resolution called for Bush to apologize to her and to agree to act professionally and treat her like any other officer. Within a week she was scheduled to work with him, according to court documents.

She testified that on April 21, 2018, she was working with Cavanaugh when he allegedly said to her, “I told you you’re going to be known as a whore, you’re not fat and ugly.” He also allegedly told her to watch her back and to “grow some thicker skin,” she testified.

Cavanaugh denied during his testimony that he made those comments.

On April 25, the female officer submitted her resignation, detailing the harassment to township Supervisor Bob Sabot. Supervisors placed Cavanaugh, Fox and Bush on suspension with pay. Following an investigation, Fox was given a letter of reprimand, Bush was given a 30-day unpaid suspension with one-year probation, and Cavanaugh was given a 30-day unpaid suspension with six months of probation.

The police union, which filed the grievance on Cavanaugh’s behalf, argued during arbitration that Cavanaugh was “being inappropriately disciplined for his blunt style of communication rather than actual misconduct.” The union also argued that Cavanaugh didn’t report the sexual harassment immediately because the township’s policy on how to report it was confusing.

Desimone’s decision states that the policy was clear: “… he was to affirmatively assure (the female officer) that Officer Bush’s behavior was inappropriate and would not be tolerated, and to report the matter to the chairman of the township board or designee.”

The arbitrator’s decision can be appealed though county court.

Cavanaugh, an 18-year member of the North Franklin Police Department, now works for the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. Bush, a 13-year member, works for the Donegal Township Police Department.

Sabot said Tuesday during a township meeting that the police union has filed another grievance arguing that police are owed vacation days for 2019, even though the department was disbanded in December 2018. Sabot said the township is expecting an arbitration decision on that grievance in January.