Recent Developments

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.

An employer may promise to treat employees fairly and apply a progressive discipline policy. But without a union, employees have little recourse if an employer fails to abide by its own written policy. This case involving a terminated hotel worker illustrates the importance of having a union, especially UNITE HERE Local 26, to ensure the employer keeps its promises.

Boston School Police, despite what the name might suggest, are not armed law enforcement. Although they are charged with protecting the school children and routinely encounter persons carrying dangerous or lethal weapons, Boston School Police carry no weapons.

For many years, School Police Officers were permitted to carry OC Spray, a mild non-lethal weapon that provides some ability to repel physical threats. This device was used sparingly over the years - perhaps only three times in a 15-year period. But, for years, the School Police had no policy governing OC Spray.

An analysis by
Bloomberg BNA
has established that more more workers are voting Union Yes! under new election rules implemented by the National Labor Relations Board. In 2015, the NLRB revised longstanding rules on elections to make it harder for employers drag out an election through costly litigation.

In a unanimous opinion authored by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a complaint led by an anti-union group against the right of daycare workers to be represented by SEIU Local 509.

In 2013, Malden fire fighters starting receiving Longevity/Education and EMT stipends in their base pay, instead of in bi-annual lump sums. This change, which included increases to the stipends, also resulted in a long-sought increase by Malden Firefighters Union, Local 902 IAFF in the fire fighter’s hourly rate. However, when a lieutenant retired soon after this change, he only received the pro-rated amount of his stipends.

In 2013, workers of NuPath, a residential care agency for people with developmental disabilities, elected to form a union in order to improve their working conditions, with the aid of SEIU Local 509. A collective bargaining agreement negotiated by workers and Local 509 guaranteed that they would be protected from discharge unless NuPath proved it had “just cause.” Attorney Jillian Ryan persuaded a respected arbitrator that NuPath lacked just cause for termination of a respected direct care specialist with no history of discipline or performance problems.

On January 14, 2016, an arbitrator issued an award granting backpay to a MassDOT garage foreman who was denied a lateral transfer to a different location despite having more seniority than the employee who was granted the position. The grievant has since retired, so the more junior employee will be allowed to remain in the position while the grievant gets a backpay remedy.

Thanks to collective bargaining agreements negotiated by unions, employers cannot treat employees at will and discipline or discharge them upon whim or suspicion. Just cause language in most union contracts requires an employer to establish the employee knew what s/he was supposed to do (or refrain from doing), that the employer conducted a diligent and fair investigation into the allegations, and the discipline resulting from the investigation was consistent with the disciplinary records of the employee and of other employees found to have engaged in similar conduct.