Find Legal Information

No. 5-98-0093

January 7, 1999

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT

____________________________________________________________ ________

JUSTICE CHAPMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

The petitioner, the Sheriff of Jackson County (Sheriff), appeals from a final decision by the Illinois State Labor Relations Board (the Board) that required him to remove the current appointee to the jail lieutenant position and to promote Linda Brown to that position with back pay. The petitioner asserts that: (1) the action of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) should have been time barred, (2) the administrative law judge's finding of discrimination is against the manifest weight of the evidence, and (3) the Board's remedy is improper. For the following reasons, we affirm.

In 1986, the FOP filed a representation petition with the Board to include sergeants in the existing bargaining unit. The Sheriff opposed the petition and argued that sergeants were supervisors under section 3(r) of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 48, par. 1603 (now see 5 ILCS 315/3 (West 1996))) and were therefore not entitled to engage in collective bargaining. At a hearing on the petition, Linda Brown testified under FOP subpoena about her duties as a communications sergeant. The Board ruled that sergeants were not supervisors and could be included in the bargaining unit.

In June of 1993, Linda Brown, now a jail sergeant at the Jackson County jail, applied for a promotion to the vacant jail lieutenant position in that facility. Brown and two other jail sergeants were found qualified for the position by the Jackson County Merit Commission. The Sheriff did not hire any of the three but decided to wait to make his decision. Each of the three applicants assisted the Sheriff in performing the duties of jail lieutenant while the position remained open.

In late 1993, Earl Jacquot, a patrol officer with the department, applied for the jail lieutenant position. The merit commission waived the assessment-panel component of the promotional exam for Jacquot and certified him as qualified for the position. Jacquot interviewed with the Sheriff in the spring of 1994 and gave oral answers to questions the other applicants had been required to answer in writing.

The standard promotion procedure in the department was to fill a vacancy with a qualified person in the rank just below the open position. The position just below jail lieutenant was jail sergeant. The Sheriff promoted Jacquot, the patrol officer, over Brown and the other two jail sergeants.

Brown filed suit against the Sheriff in federal court under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C.A.