Attorney Ryan Convinces Labor Agency Judge That City of Haverhill Violated Duty To IAFF Local 1011

A hearing officer of the Department of Labor Relations agreed with Attorney Jillian Ryan that the City of Haverhill unlawfully changed how fire fighters comply with the state ethics law. This case is an important reminder that obligations imposed by state law on municipalities do not relieve these public employers from negotiating with unions about how to comply with the law. Attorney Ryan represented Haverhill Fire fighters Local 1011, IAFF in this unfair labor practice proceeeding.

Massachusetts law requires public employees to complete ethics training every two years. The law does not specify how employees must complete the training, such as whether on duty or in the presence of a supervisor. During the first year of implementation, the City's Human Resources Department issued a memo that allowed all employees to take the training on or off duty. The City merely required employees to produce a copy of the completion certificate by a certain date.

During the second round of training, the City sent out a memo confirming that employees could use the same method of compliance as the first round. However, after several firefighters already completed training a second time, the Chief demanded that all firefighters complete the training under the supervision of the training officer. This requirement had never been imposed before.

The Hearing Officer agreed that while the training is required by state law, the City nonetheless must, when requested, bargain with a union about the method of compliance.

The City defended its actions by arguing that the Union waived its right to bargain because it never bargained in the past. The Hearing Officer easily rejected this claim. She also rejected the argument that the human resources memo establishing the past practice was invalid because it was not within the Fire Department's chain of command. She noted that the Fire Department is merely a subdivision of the City that must comply with human resources policies and procedures.

She ordered the City to post a notice acknowledging that it violated the law and to restore the past practice about compliance with ethics obligations.