Recent Developments

18 January, 2024

The lawyers and staff of Pyle Rome are proud to announce that, on January 18, 2024, Pyle Rome partner Jillian Bertrand was sworn in as a member of the Advisory Council for the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations. She was appointed to the position by Governor Maura Healey on January 12. The Advisory Council advises the DLR concerning policies, practices and other matters that may assist the DLR in discharging its labor relations duties.

30 December, 2023

A neutral arbitrator recently ordered the reinstatement of a cannabis worker who had been fired from the cultivation center where he worked. The case was brought by UFCW, Local 1445 and alleged that the company failed to follow due process principles when it fired the employee without giving him notice of its expectations or an opportunity to address the allegations against him. Pyle Rome attorneys Al Gordon O'Connell and Ian Russell represented the Union.

14 December, 2023

The publishers of the MLC Reporter, which collects and reports the cases handed down by the Department of Labor Relations and the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board, have asked Pyle Rome partner Jillian Bertrand to become the featured labor commentator for their quarterly publication -- offering the union perspective on new decisions from the DLR and the CERB.  Attorney Bertrand's first column appears in the July-September edition of the MLC Reporter and discusses the dividing line between unlawful strikes and permissible work actions as well as recent decisions regarding the obligatio

8 August, 2023

On August 4, 2023, the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB) reversed the findings of an investigator and ordered a hearing on allegations that the Town of Acushnet denied wage increases to an entire bargaining unit of employees in retaliation for their seeking union representation. Pyle Rome attorney Jill Bertrand is handling the case for the union.

23 June, 2023

On June 23, 2023, a neutral arbitrator handed SENA, Local 9158 another in an unbroken string of arbitration victories going back more than three years. The victory came in a dispute over out-of-grade pay -- a kind of case the Union has not lost in arbitration since at least 2016. Pyle Rome attorney Al Gordon O'Connell prosecuted the case for the Union.

9 June, 2023

After more than five years of litigation, a neutral arbitrator has remedied the City of Boston's violation of contract language concerning detail rates paid to Boston police officers. The Arbitrator's remedial award, as recommended by Attorney Patrick Bryant, results in increases of $10-to-$21 per hour based upon rank, and represents the first increase in compensation since 2019.

8 June, 2023

On June 8, 2023, a neutral arbitrator handed a solid victory to SENA, Local 9158 in a dispute with the City of Boston about third-party overtime opportunities. Pyle Rome attorney Jillian M. Bertrand represented the Union in the successful arbitration.

1 June, 2023

Some employers apparently think they can dilute the strength of a bargaining unit, and avoid their legal obligations to a union, simply by creating a new title to perform duties or functions long performed by a bargaining unit position. The attached arbitration Award involving the United Steelworkers Local 9427 affirms that regardless of how you name a new position, if it walks like a bargaining unit position and talks like a bargaining unit position, it's a bargaining unit position.

29 May, 2023

What happens when an employer changes a long-standing past practice that is not covered by the collective bargaining agreement? You can certainly file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging that the employer failed to bargain in good faith, but sometimes you can also succeed in arbitrating a grievance over the matter.

22 May, 2023

On May 16, 2023, an arbitrator awarded a solid victory to UFCW, Local 1445 in a case regarding an employee whose transfer to a career-advancing position was unfairly and inappropriately scuttled by her supervisor. The case was argued for the Union by Pyle Rome attorney Al Gordon O'Connell.