Broward County School Board

Delerick Easter (plaintiff) was a school-bus driver for the Broward County School Board (board) (defendant). In 2002, management officials asked Easter to perform different functions, which required him to transport documents and other materials around the county. Easter’s personnel file did not reflect this change, and his paystubs reflected that Easter was still classified as a bus driver. In 2009, Easter returned to performing school-bus-driver duties. Easter then filed a grievance that claimed he had been underpaid during the preceding seven years because he was working as a mail-delivery driver, a position that received more pay than a bus driver. According to a job description, mail-delivery drivers sorted mail by delivery route and did not pick up items from schools. Easter, however, did not sort mail by delivery route and did pick up items from school. There was no job description for truck drivers, although that position received higher pay than bus operators and lower pay than mail-delivery drivers. Under an agreement between the board and a union (plaintiff), employees on temporary assignments were entitled to higher compensation. The union and Easter claimed that Easter was entitled to seven years of back pay at the rate of a mail-delivery driver. The board responded that there was a binding past practice of having bus drivers perform delivery services. The board also claimed that Easter did not perform the services of a mail-delivery driver and that there was no job description for the services he performed, so he was not entitled to any additional compensation. Finally, the board argued that Easter waived his claim by failing to bring it for seven years. After the board and the union could not reach an agreement, the union brought the matter to arbitration.