Judge Upholds Order

An Athens County (Ohio) judge has upheld an arbitrator’s decision that the county must re-hire former dispatcher Warren Ferguson, who the county had fired in Nov. 2005 because they said he arrived at work intoxicated and sexually harassed a female co-worker. The arbitrator ruled Ferguson was suffering serious health problems and was taking medication for chronic pain, therefore qualifying him as a “troubled employee” who was “entitled to special consideration.” The county declined to reinstate Ferguson, even under the arbitrator’s conditions of drug testing and counseling, and appealed to the judge. The ruling pointed to previous Ohio cases that allow the arbitrator to take into account the involved person’s previous history, and if the incident was an isolated case not likely to reoccur.