Firing of janitor who brought gun onto RIC's campus upheld
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Superior Court judge has upheld the decision by Rhode Island College administrators to fire a longtime janitor after he brought a loaded gun onto the school's Providence campus and lost it.
The Providence Journal reports Judge Luis Matos ruled that RIC had just cause to terminate Robert Panciocco from his position as housekeeper at Whipple Hall and that an arbitrator was wrong to reinstate him.
In his decision, Matos wrote that the arbitrator's decision was wrong because it "rendered RIC powerless" to fire an employee who exposed the community to the security risks of bringing a loaded gun onto campus.
Panciocco was accused of violating two of RIC's policies on workplace violence when he accidentally brought his .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol to work in July 2013 and lost it.
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