Supreme Court orders police officer reinstated.

Byline: Barbara L. Jones

In an opinion with implications for all public employees, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a Richfield police officer will regain his job. Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and upheld an arbitration award reinstating him after he was fired for failure to report his use of force.

The unanimous Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, Feb. 13 in City of Richfield v. Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc., that enforcing the arbitration award does not violate a well-defined and dominant public policy. Justice Anne McKeig wrote the opinion.

"The factual findings of the arbitrator, findings that we give deference to, do not support overturning the arbitration award on the basis of a rarely used public-policy exception," McKeig wrote.

Use of force reporting

Nathan Kinsey was discharged for failing to report his use of force and violating other policies. He had been disciplined about reporting use of force in previous years.

Kinsey pushed and slapped a Somali driver in October 2015 in an incident that was recorded. Kinsey omitted the physical encounter in his notes about the incident, and his supervisors weren't aware of it until the video circulated online.

He was not criminally charged, but he was fired in 2016 after an internal investigation found he violated departmental procedure, and had been counseled before about reporting issues related to use of force.

A Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation resulted in no charges but an internal investigation showed a violation of department policies, and Kinsey was fired effective April 14, 2016.

The union challenged the discharge under its collective bargaining agreement.

An arbitrator directed that he be reinstated, though with a three-shift unpaid suspension, saying his failure to report the shove was a lapse in judgment and not meant to conceal anything. Kinsey remained off the force while the city appealed.

The District Court upheld the arbitration award but the Court of Appeals reversed. It held that reinstating Kinsey would interfere with a public policy in favor of police officers demonstrating self-regulation by being transparent and properly reporting their use of force.

The Court of Appeals also held that "the arbitration award interferes with the public policy against police officers using excessive force" because cities and police departments need to be able to "review occasions involving the use of force" to effectively prevent such...

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