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By Timothy Kudo

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Christopher Ivanyi may become a household name among UCLA employees.

That’s because this summer, Ivanyi won a grievance filed against the university challenging his status as a “casual employee,” and in some ways challenging everyone’s status.

“It’s a precedent-setting case that we think, based on that, we can file a grievance for as many as a few thousand employees across the state,” said Sean Leyf, an organizer for the University Professional and Technical Employees union which filed the grievance for Ivanyi.

Recently, union organizers have rallied to end long-term casual employment in which employees work for 364 days a year, are fired for a day, and then rehired for another 364 days so that they are not eligible for benefits.

In some cases, the employees work eight hours a day and have been at UCLA for many years.

Though Ivanyi won his case, it does not set a precedent in the legal sense, but rather shows an increased likelihood for similar rulings to be handed down in related cases, both union and UC officials said.

In labor relations, when a union feels a contract violation has occurred, meetings are held and then if the two parties don’t arrive at a resolution, the matter goes before an arbitrator from the Public Employment Relations Board, the state body governing such disputes.

Barry Winograd, arbitrator of the grievance, declined to comment on the implications of the ruling, but university officials said although it’s too soon for either side to make claims, the decision could be significant.

“The arbitrator who hears the big case will definitely pay attention to the Ivanyi case,” said Bill Candella, who handled the arbitration for the university. “However, he doesn’t have to follow it.”

Currently, the union is looking to file a group grievance on behalf of other employees unless the university will grant other casual employees career status without legal intervention, Leyf said.

Additionally, after the UC finishes revising its labor policies, long-term casual employment could become a non-issue, Candella said.

“Certainly if they raised an issue which we didn’t think we could dispute, we’d try to resolve it short of going to a full-on grievance,” said Lynne Thompson, manager of human resources at UCLA.

The university, in recent contract negotiations, has offered to end the possibility of casual employment by changing its policies, union organizers said.

But organizers are still looking for retroactive benefits for casual employees, because simply getting career status now will not account for past years worked, which can determine future benefits, like retirement.