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WARREN -- An arbitrator ruled in September that language in the collective bargaining agreement covering Warren police detectives was never fully enforced during its 28 years on the books and was not a good reason to uphold a police detective grievance.
The grievance was mentioned in a letter former Warren police Chief Eric Merkel filed with the Warren Civil Service Commission Sept. 1 when Merkel asked the commission to reinstate him to his position as police chief. Earlier this week, the commission voted 3-0 against reinstating Merkel.
Merkel's Sept. 1 letter stated that the city relied on a complaint from Warren police officer Frank Tempesta about Merkel texting Tempesta a racist image and Merkel being paid for hours Merkel did not work as the basis for forcing Merkel to resign in July.
In the letter, Merkel called Tempesta a "disgruntled former detective who was upset over my lack of unconditional support for a grievance (Tempesta) filed in January of 2026, which could have a significant financial impact to the city when the arbitrator delivers his ruling in the coming weeks."
The Sept. 15 arbitrator ruling states that Tempesta filed a grievance Jan. 1, 2026, over longstanding language in the collective bargaining agreement that called for Warren police detectives to be paid at half of their hourly rate up to four hours when they were assigned to be on "stand-by," meaning available to be called out to work in the event of a significant crime.
The Ohio Patrolman's Benevolent Association, which represents the officers, argued that Tempesta's grievance should be upheld because the language in the contract for the last 28 years was clear in requiring the city to pay stand-by wages to detectives.
The reason they deserved it is because being on stand-by required that the officer be "restricted as to where they may go or what they may do in order that they may return to duty upon call," the union argued.
Upholding the grievance would have required the city to start giving detectives stand-by pay. No detective had ever been given stand-by pay during the 28 years that provision was in the contract, the ruling states.
The testimony of Merkel and other top Warren police officials proved that the stand-by policy as written was never fully enforced, the arbitrator ruled.
The language in the contract is clear in requiring stand-by pay in situations where the detective's movements were restricted. But no detective was ever reprimanded for failing to respond on stand-by, the arbitrator stated.
When Capt. Rob Massucci was asked during the arbitration hearing if he ever would have had a conversation with Tempesta if Tempesta failed to answer the phone while on stand-by, Massucci stated, "No." Massucci explained that he never felt that failing to respond on stand-by "became a problem." He would just call another detective to respond, he said.
But "if I ran out of people and I was coming out, yeah, that's going to be a problem," Massucci said. Failing to respond happens about 25% of the time, the ruling states.
"No evidence was presented to confirm that any detective had ever been disciplined for not answering a call regardless of their name being on the (stand-by) calendar or not," the ruling states.
For 28 years, no person in the Warren Police Department "took the formal position that a detective being placed on call was the same as being placed under stand-by-time restriction" until Tempesta challenged it, the ruling states.
The ruling addressed an allegation Tempesta made in his testimony that older detectives feared they would face repercussions for requesting stand-by pay such as being transferred from detective to road patrol or not having a take-home police car.
The ruling states that such fears were "never substantiated as anything more than speculation." Tempesta alleged during the hearing that Merkel retaliated against Tempesta and his union representatives for filing the grievance over the stand-by pay.
Tempesta said the retaliation against him took the form of Merkel having a conversation with Massucci about whether Tempesta should continue to work at OVI checkpoints, the ruling states. But no evidence was presented that Tempesta's ability to work OVI checkpoints was reduced.
As to Merkel taking away a take-home car, there was no evidence presented to show that a detective ever had his take-home car removed, only examples where a detective was removed from his job as detective, the ruling states. Tempesta asked to return to road patrol from the detective division, the ruling states.
The report discusses the expectations that are typically expressed to new detectives regarding their responsibility to respond to crime scenes while off duty.
Testimony indicated that "being on call applied to every detective at any time, whether their names were on the (stand-by) calendar or not," the ruling states. Detectives also were permitted to work outside of the police department to earn extra money while on stand-by, and "No consequences were ever inflicted upon detectives if they failed to answer when called," the ruling stated.