ACE union at YSU files 2 grievances over pay reduction

By Harold Gwin

The employee union is accusing the university of breach of contract.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University has made good on its plan to reduce the pay of the president of its Association of Classified Employees union to bring it in line with a state job classification plan.

The 380-member union has challenged the action with two labor grievances.

ACE had warned that a unilateral change of the contract by the university would result in a quick response from the employee group.

The university reduced the pay grade for Ivan Maldonado, a payroll specialist 2, from a pay grade of 36 to a pay grade of 31 effective with the Jan. 2 payroll, said Christine Domhoff, the union’s interim grievance chairman.

The move cuts $21,000 from Maldonado’s annual salary of $82,613.

The pay period covered by that payroll ran from Dec. 7 to Dec. 20, Domhoff said.

Maldonado had been notified earlier that the cut was coming, and the union filed its two grievances over the issue at the end of December, she said.

Both allege breach of contract on the part of the university, she said, adding that no hearing dates on the dispute have been scheduled.

The first grievance is specifically on Maldonado’s behalf regarding the reduction in pay, and the second is on behalf of the entire union, claiming the university unilaterally changed the contract, Domhoff said.

YSU President David C. Sweet notified the university’s board of trustees in early December that the university intended to recover both the back pay and the increase that it believes Maldonado has incorrectly received since May.

Domhoff said the university has so far just gone after Maldonado’s current pay grade and has made no move to recover funds paid to him earlier.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.