OMAHA -- The Omaha Police Department mishandled an internal investigation that led to the firing of Capt. Kathy Belcastro-Gonzalez, an arbitrator concluded in a decision that has led to her partial reinstatement.
The arbitrator found that the city violated its labor contract with the Omaha Police Officers Association by not giving Belcastro-Gonzalez proper notice before police interviewed her as part of the investigation last year.
As a result of the decision, the city has vacated Police Chief Todd Schmaderer's firing of Belcastro-Gonzalez in 2022, while she was suing the city in federal court. She eventually prevailed in her court case in September when a federal jury found that Schmaderer had passed her over for promotion to deputy chef in retaliation for her having filed a gender discrimination and harassment complaint with the Mayor's Office in the past. The city is expected to appeal that ruling.
The arbitrator's decision, issued earlier this month, does not mean that Belcastro-Gonzalez is back to work on the police force. She is back on paid administrative leave, the same status she held last year during the botched investigation. And Schmaderer might fire her again.
"The arbitrator determined that we could not consider the two interviews of Katherine Belcastro-Gonzalez that took place in February of 2022," Deputy City Attorney Bernard in den Bosch said by email. "When a party is the subject of an internal investigation for inappropriate conduct, we believe that it is important to give that person an opportunity to respond to the allegations. The police department intends to re-interview her on the allegations of her inappropriate conduct. After that interview, the chief will consider the interview and the rest of the investigation and make a decision."
An attorney for Belcastro-Gonzalez, Ted Boecker, said that there is no merit to the city's claims and that he hopes the city will "just allow her to return to her position without any further harassment."
"We think that this entire process is retaliatory," Boecker said. "Any further investigation from our perspective would seem to us to be in retaliation for the verdict that Kathy obtained against the city and Chief Schmaderer."
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It's unclear if Belcastro-Gonzalez would want to return to actively work for the Police Department. She is currently working as associate director for security at Creighton University, a job she took in May. She could not be reached for comment for this article.
Belcastro-Gonzalez was put on administrative leave in January 2022 because of an internal affairs investigation regarding alleged violations that the Police Department did not disclose at the time. According to court documents, the city alleged that Belcastro-Gonzalez forwarded emails, containing confidential personnel information, from her city email account to her personal email account. Â
Schmaderer recommended in May that Belcastro-Gonzalez be fired. Her termination took effect in July.
As a member of the Omaha Police Officers Association, Belcastro-Gonzalez was covered by that union's collective bargaining agreement with the city. She filed a grievance alleging that her rights under the contract had been violated.
The arbitrator ruled that the city violated certain provisions of the collective bargaining agreement in the interview process. The city failed to give Belcastro-Gonzalez specific information about the allegations against her in its notice to her to appear to be interviewed. The city also did not give her notice that another person, the city labor relations director, would be present during the interview.
The arbitrator concluded that because of the violations, it was as if the interview never happened, and "the city must start over in their investigation," Boecker wrote in a subsequent lawsuit.
The arbitrator's decision left the door open for the city to take disciplinary action against Belcastro-Gonzalez. The police union's contract with the city requires that any disciplinary action must be imposed within 100 days after the alleged violation. But the arbitrator ruled that the time between the February 2022 interview and the arbitrator's decision should not count toward the 100 days.
"So there's another opportunity to properly notice her in and to re-do the interview," in den Bosch said.
Boecker filed a lawsuit in Douglas County District Court this week challenging the arbitrator's decision about the 100-day time period.