The Iowa Public Employment Relations Board last week suspended arbitrator John Sandy for six months over the mishandling of a case involving fired Administrative Law Judge Susan Ackerman. Ackerman’s case involved accusations of wrongdoing in the Branstad administration, the Associated Press reported in an article carried by The Des Moines Register. Sandy, a Spirit Lake attorney, has been a state arbitrator since 1998. The Iowa Public Employment Relations Board will remove Sandy from the roster of arbitrators who hear complaints between unions and government agencies. The board accused Sandy of issuing a sloppy and erroneous decision that upheld the firing of Ackerman, who was dismissed in 2015 months after telling lawmakers that Iowa Workforce Development leaders, now out office, were pressuring judges to favor employers over workers and creating a hostile work environment.