Recent Developments

On November 10, 2015, the Vermont Employment Security Board upheld the right of striking FairPoint workers in Vermont to receive unemployment benefits for their four-month strike. In a case argued by Attorney Al Gordon O'Connell on behalf of the IBEW claimants, the Vermont unemployment agency affirmed the decision of an Administrative Law Judge that hundreds of striking union members were entitled to benefits because FairPoint failed to establish that the labor dispute led to a "substantial curtailment" of operations such that benefits should be denied.

The City of Boston Police Department violated state law, specifically Chapter 150E, when it refused the Boston Police Superior Officer Federation's request for a sexual harassment complaint against a member. That is what a hearing officer of the Department of Labor Relations ruled in a case prosecuted by Federation Attorney Jill Ryan.

The Hearing Officer ruled that the BPD violated its legal obligation to provide relevant information requested by a labor organization, even if the request extends to a sexual harassment complaint during an ongoing investigation.

The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), which enforces various federal anti-discrimination laws, interprets the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) to prohibit termination of employees who, for medical reasons, fail to return to work with a certain period of time. In fact, the EEOC sued corporate parent of Shaw's Supermarket for maintaining such a policy. The ADA requires to treat requests for reasonable accommodations by workers with serious medical conditions on an individual basis, rather by reference to blanket policies.

This past Monday, residents at the Town Meeting of Framingham, voted almost unanimously, to fund the modest wage increases awarded by an arbitration panel that included PFFM District Vice President Richard MacKinnon earlier this month. The vote caps a long battle by Attorney Leah Barrault and Local 1652, IAFF to stave off concessions demanded by the financially stable Town.

For months, the Town of Framingham promised Local 1652, IAFF, that it would ask Fall Town Meeting to fund an arbitration award that provided for modest cost of living increases for fire fighters. Without any advance notice, Town Manager Robert Halpin worked to remove the funding request from Town Meeting, and providing several inconsistent explanations for his actions. Attorneys Leah Barrault and Ian Russell have filed charges in superior court and with the Department of Labor Relations to enforce the Town's bargaining obligations.

A public employer is required to bargain with the employees' representative prior to changing conditions at work. For decades, the entity now known as the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board has held that this obligation extends to the process for promotions. The attached case, arising out of the Town of Arlington and decided a few weeks ago, applies this analysis to the Town's decision to use an assessment center for promotions instead of typical written examination.

New federal election rules require that Employers produce all available contact information, within two days, for workers eligible to vote in a union election, even if the information must be obtained through several different lists or database.

Attorney Al Gordon O'Connell persuaded a neutral arbitrator to allow United Steel Workers, Local 9360 to require that the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority distribute overtime in a fair and equitable manner.

Attorney James Hykel persuaded the Department of Labor Relations to issue a complaint after the Town of Foxborough, for the second year in a row, to refuse cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to wages of employees newly represented by the United Steelworkers.

Attorney Patrick Bryant persuaded an investigator of the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations that the City of Fall River violated state law by conditioning reinstatement on fire fighters' submission to a City-appointed physician and a drug test.