Recent Developments

A collective bargaining agreement typically sets forth how much vacation employees earn and how they can use it. Thanks to union bargaining power, union-represented employees generally have a right to use vacation when they want, so long as the employer has sufficient coverage and more senior employees are not seeking to take time off at the same time. Here, the Commonwealth's Department of Children & Families denied a vacation request initially made one year in advance as a form of punishment. Her supervisor instructed her to file the request closer to the actual scheduled vacation.

The Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB), the state agency that administers collective bargaining law for Massachusetts public employees, agreed with Attorney Jillian Ryan that the City of Haverhill unlawfully changed requirements for ethics training of fire fighters. The City required that fire fighters represented by

A neutral arbitrator agreed with Attorney James Hykel and
1199SEIU United Health Care Workers East that on-call employees of Tobey Hospital are entitled to be paid from the time they are paged to report to work.

The collective bargaining agreement negotiated by 1199SEIU and Tobey Hospital provides, "[A]ny worker called in to the Hospital to work for such on-call status shall be paid [1.5] times his/her regular hourly rate of pay for all such hours worked (but in no event less than two

Unions occasionally face the conundrum of discovering a great contractual benefit at the same time they discover that the benefit that has not been awarded consistently to members. Sometimes a consistent past practice against employees discourages the Union from enforcing it. This arbitration case showcases when the enforcement of previously-unenforced contract language can be successful. Attorney James Hykel, assisted by Attorney Leah Barrault, successfully represented the Haverhill Fire Fighters, Local 1011, IAFF here.

The Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that, in certain circumstances, it is unconstitutional to scrap the pension of a public employee convicted of a crime. Attorneys Ian Russell and Patrick Bryant filed briefs on behalf of Massachusetts Coalition of Police, IUPA, AFL-CIO to support the right of police officers and public employees to retain earned pension benefits.

When a collective bargaining agreement has been violated, Arbitrators direct the employer to "make whole" the employees harmed. Most unions and employers can agree to the specific amount necessary to accomplish this result. In rare cases, the parties back to the arbitrator if they can't agree. This case involved an employer, City of Malden, not merely disputing the amount of the remedy. Rather, Malden refused to provide any remedy, even though previous arbitration awards established how to calculate damages in this very instance.

The eight-member U.S. Supreme Court split evenly on whether to reverse longstanding precedent allowing unions to charge public employees their fair share of costs associated with collective bargaining. The Court deadlocked on the request to gut public sector unions by business-funded litigants. As a result of the split vote of the Highest Court, the 9th Circuit's Court of Appeals' decision is affirmed. The 9th Circuit's decision affirmed longstanding precedent.

Spurred by a letter from Attorney James Hykel, the Commonwealth's Department of Labor Standards identified multiple unsafe, risky and hazardous conditions in a station of the City of Everett Fire Department.

Police Officer Ferruccio Romeo served the people of Winthrop with distinction for nearly 20 years and as a Union President for nearly a dozen of those years. He was known for being aggressive in his union advocacy and for being truthful in all his dealings with the Town, its officials and its residents. As an attorney, he was familiar with the need for candor and honesty in all facets of his life. He had never been disciplined for any reason.

Several months after laying them off, the City of Fall River conditioned reinstatement of four fire fighters upon a physical examination and a drug test. Drug tests and physical exams are not required in any other situation for fire fighters, including fire fighters on extended leave.