Recent Developments

SEIU Local 509 took one step closer toward being recognized as the official and exclusive bargaining representative of front-line service workers at CLASS, Inc. in Merrimack Valley. Attorneys Kate Shea and Patrick Bryant represented Local 509 in this process.

Under Massachusetts law, a heart problem that permanently disables a firefighter or police officer from his or her job is presumed to be work related. By contrast, Massachusetts law, as interpreted by the courts, also provides that a heart problem that temporarily disables a firefighter or police officer from working is NOT presumed to be work related.

In Massachusetts, the Joint Labor Management Committee appoints an interest arbitration panel to settle stalled contract negotiations between municipalities and public safety locals. Once the panel issues an award determining wages and other disputed terms and conditions of employment, a City is required to submit the award for funding to City Council within 30 days and to vigorously support the funding request.

The following letter to the editor from Attorney Patrick N. Bryant was submitted to, and unpublished by, The Boston Globe.

Employees generally cannot disobey an order of a superior. Insubordination is a well-accepted ground for discipline and, in certain cases, termination. One exception is when the order presents a health or safety risk to the employee or co-workers. Here, the Civil Service Commission determined that public safety officers cannot necessarily rely upon this exception.

Well-established national standards demand that fire departments respond to fire scenes with at least three person crews. This protocol enables at least one fire fighter to staff the apparatus, while at least two firefighters can enter the burning structure. These standards, vetted by experts, indicate that firefighters should not enter a burning structure by themselves because they will place themselves at risk. Despite these clear and accepted standards, many communities routinely put their firefighters sand residents at risk by operating two-person fire crews.

Attorneys Tod Cochran and Warren Pyle represented a group of female employees of a North Short nightclub. An Essex Superior Court Judge recently approved the settlement last week.

Prior to returning to practice in Massachusetts as a partner with Pyle Rome Ehrenberg, PC, Attorney Patrick Bryant was a partner at McKanna Bishop Joffe, LLP, a union-side law firm in Portland Oregon, representing Oregon Education Association, United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 555, and several other private and public sector unions. One of Bryant’s final Oregon-based cases involved a challenge to the termination of a beloved rural agriculture/vocational teacher.

The Boston Police Department has a history of wrongfully bypassing police officer candidates based upon questionable psychological evaluations. This faulty decsionmaking led to numerous decisions being reversed by the Civil Service Commission and culminated in the Supreme Judicial Court’s 2012 decision, BPD v. Kavaleski.

It is unlawful for a private sector employer to discriminate against employees based upon their membership in or support for a union. This rule applies to all phases of employment – hiring, assignment, transfer, evaluation, promotion, discipline and termination.