Seipler wins - again!

How many rounds have there been in this fight? Has everyone lost count? I'll bet the taxpayers have lost count of the dollars wasted; that's for sure. Or maybe they never knew the total.

The Appellate Court of Illinois, 2nd District, has ruled. It's short and sweet. "The arbitrator's award did not violate public policy or exceed the scope of authority; affirmed."

What's this all about? Remember Deputy Zane Seipler? That's Deputy Zane Seipler of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. The deputy that Sheriff Keith Nygren fired, when he had merely disciplined another deputy for three days' off for similar actions.

Seipler was a whistleblower. Bosses don't like whistleblowers. I happen to like whistleblowers. So when Zane complained about racial profiling in the Department, Nygren used the other "action" as his reason for firing Seipler.

Seipler says he did. Nygren says he didn't. However, Nygren's attorney told Judge Mahoney in Federal Court that the reason Seipler was fired was for complaining about racial profiling. It's right in the transcript. I'm not making that up. That's what the Sheriff's attorney said in court - Nygren's attorney.

Nygren had fired Seipler. The termination went to arbitration, under the union contract rules. The arbitrator ruled that Seipler should not have been fired, but a three-day suspension without pay would have been adequate.

Nygren didn't like that, so he appealed in McHenry County Circuit Court. Judge Meyer ruled that the arbitrator was right (and that Nygren was wrong).

Nygren didn't like that, so he appealed to the Appellate Court. The case probably should have been over in March or April, but it dragged on (and, I'm sure, the County's legal fees mounted), and yesterday the judges ruled that the arbitrator was right - and Nygren was wrong, again.

The ruling by the Appellate Court makes very interesting reading. Perhaps I'll dissect it in a future article.

So how much has this fiasco cost McHenry County? Estimates, anyone? $200,000? $300,000 in legal fees? Not counting, of course, the back pay and benefits that Zane Seipler will receive.

Now, how fast will Sheriff Nygren restore Zane Seipler to active duty status? How fast will the Department calculate the monies owed to Seipler and pay him? Hopefully, the Department won't lose the cord to the calculator and won't require the inordinate amount of time it took to settle up with another deputy. As a matter of fact, the Department and the County should have been calculating the amount it owes Zane on a daily basis for quite some time. Now it's just a matter of drawing the line and writing the check.

CONGRATULATIONS, ZANE!!!