Second Chance Hero Scores
AFSCME Grievance Victory

Two weeks before the world celebrated Barack Obama’s inauguration as America’s first African American president, D.C. was in a frenzy, preparing for the historic occasion – in chocolate city style.

But not Shamica Lewis; she had the inaugural blues.

You’re Fired!

Lewis, a Local 2776 member who then worked in the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue as a clerical assistant, was fired last Jan. 7th. Why? She allegedly lied on her employment application in 2006 about a prior brush with the law.

So in the dead of winter, with the economy in a tailspin, this young working mother of four children (ages 4 – 15 years old) was forced to make ends meet without a job.

But Shamica was not without allies. Local 2776 officers and Council 20 leaders sprung to action, immediately filing a Step 4 grievance to win back her job and to stop her family’s suffering.

Lawrence Brown, president of AFSCME Local 2776, said, “We had no hesitation about standing up for Shamica. She had been completely honest and cooperative every step of the way.”

In fact, Lewis immediately and thoroughly disclosed her past on her very first day at work in April 2007, when she realized that she had initially made a misstatement about her criminal background on her employment application.

No Defense Offered for Firing

Even though Lewis was a probationary employee at the time, OFCO took no immediate disciplinary action. Instead, OFCO allowed 15 months to pass (yes, fifteen months!) before notifying Lewis that she was about to be fired for her unintentional error. In fact, management offered no explanation for her delayed punishment.

Ironically, Lewis had received three solid performance evaluations as well as a promotion by December 2007. Even the arbitrator in her case recognized her stellar character:

“If [the] Grievant had intended to deliberately deceive the OCFO, it would be anticipated that the deception/misrepresentation would have continued and [the] Grievant would not have revealed her criminal record on her first day of work.”

But Shamica was upfront from the get-go. Consequently, the arbitrator ruled, “by doing so corrected by her own action the misinformation on the DC 2000 Employment Application.”

Justice Eventually Prevails

Finally, on Aug. 28th the arbitrator rescinded Lewis’s termination and ordered that she be reinstated with back pay to her position with OFCO. On Sept. 14th, Shamica returned to work, where she was greeted warmly with hugs and smiles from her friends and co-workers who were pulling for her throughout the whole ordeal.

Council 20 staff representative Stephen White, who filed the grievance on Lewis’s behalf, praised the tenacity of Local 2776 President Lawrence Brown. “Lawrence was the driving force behind making sure her case went to arbitration,” White said, adding, “That says a lot about Shamica.”

But this is more than a happy ending to a personal nightmare for Lewis and her children. It is the celebration of a “second chance hero,” a determined woman who refused to let a mistake in her youth destroy her ambition to be a good mother and to be able to provide as a working parent.

Although Lewis is happy about getting her job back, memories of the hardships she and her family went through during the eight months she was unemployed still linger. As the bills piled up, she said, “I was upset because I had no income to provide for my kids.”

Thankfully, with the help of family, friends co-workers, Lewis, a life-long District resident, got by. But she still felt bad when she couldn’t buy new clothes for her children when they returned to D.C. schools in August.

Fortunately, Lewis is back on her feet again, with the backing of her union. In a total vindication of Shamica and AFSCME’s air-tight case on her behalf, the arbitrator awarded her full back pay, including in-grade raises or promotions. Her annual and sick leave must also be restored and all references to the disciplinary action and termination must be permanently removed from her record.

A Lesson…and a Message

Council 20 Executive Director Geo T. Johnson said, “Shamica’s slam dunk victory sends a clear, strong message to other managers in the District government:  If you harm any of our members, we will fight like hell for them; if you violate our contract, we will enforce it – down to the last dotted ‘i’.”