Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 627 v. Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

APPELLATE REVIEW/CIVIL – JURISDICTION – SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY – SUMMARY JUDGMENT – R.C. 2744.02: An appellate court is without jurisdiction to review an order that does not qualify as a final appealable order under R.C. 2744.02(C): the trial court's order allowing plaintiffs to amend their complaint against defendant political subdivision and its employee to include allegations of recklessness did not foreclose the political subdivision's ability to demonstrate alleged immunity, and therefore, it was not a final order. The trial court did not err in denying summary judgment to an employee of a political subdivision where genuine issues of material fact as to whether the employee acted recklessly precluded summary judgment. The trial court did not err in denying summary judgment to a political subdivision where the political subdivision did not meet its burden on summary judgment to establish affirmative defenses to an exception to the general grant of immunity to reinstate sovereign immunity.

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE – COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING AGREEMENT – UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE – WRONGFUL DISCHARGE – DISCRIMINATION – JURISDICTION: The State Employment Relations Board has exclusive jurisdiction over a wrongful-discharge claim brought against a public employer by an employee subject to a collective-bargaining agreement. Pursuant to R.C. 4117.11(B)(6), the State Employment Relations Board has exclusive jurisdiction over claim against a union for a breach of the duty to fairly represent a public employee. R.C. Chapter 4117 does not provide the exclusive remedy for a claim of disparate-treatment discrimination, which does not arise from or depend on a collective-bargaining agreement.

Arbitration—Labor relations—Ohio has no dominant and well-defined public policy that renders unlawful an arbitration award reinstating a safety-sensitive employee who was terminated for testing positive for a controlled substance.