Recent Developments

As hotels and universities reopen in the wake of the COVID pandemic, UNITE HERE Local 26 has been battling against unilateral changes that employers are blaming on the pandemic.  Pyle Rome partner Jim Hykel recently won two significant arbitration decisions pushing back against these changes.

In a case involving the Town of Scituate, the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board has affirmed that public employers must bargain about the decisions involving the safety of fire fighters. It is the first such ruling by the CERB in decades. Attorney Patrick Bryant represented the Scituate fire local during the hearing.

Judge Denise Casper of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that the City of Boston’s mandatory psychiatric exams of police officers returning from extended leave (six months or more) violates the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Attorney Patrick Bryant represented the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, one of three union parties to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was largely guided by counsel for the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association.

The partners of Pyle Rome are thrilled to announce that Jill (Ryan) Bertrand rejoined the Firm on March 1, 2022. Jill first worked as an intern for Pyle Rome while in law school and so impressed the partners the she was invited to join the firm as an associate upon her graduation. She remained at the firm until 2020, when she left to become Chief Counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations, where she advised the Department on legal matters and represented the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board before the state Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court.

Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston cannot mandate certain Boston employees be vaccinated as a condition of employment until strong legal claims by unions, including the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation are resolved, according to a thoughtful and independent analysis by Justice Sabita Singh of the Appeals Court. Attorney Patrick Bryant represented the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, one of only three unions to seek an injunction against the mandate.

On December 20, 2021, Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston announced a new policy requiring that all city employees verify COVID-19 vaccination as of January 15 or face discipline, up to and including termination. The Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, represented by Attorney Patrick Bryant, immediately filed a demand to bargain, as did unions representing police detectives and firefighters. At least 83 percent of sworn supervisors represented by the Federation are vaccinated.

A nearly 40-year dispute about the minimum detail rates applicable to Boston Police Supervisors finally was resolved by a neutral arbitrator. The 1979-1981 collective bargaining agreement between the City of Boston and the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation set forth hourly rates for when outside parties hire police to work details, with different rates for Sergeants, Lieutenants and Captains.

On October 21, 2021, a neutral arbitrator ordered Eversource to cease and desist from assigning contractors to perform critical valve replacement work that had traditionally been performed by bargaining unit employees. Pyle Rome attorney Al Gordon O'Connell represented USW Local 12004 in the successful arbitration case.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends that a company of at least four personnel respond to a fire alarm. Many public employers unfortunately staff their front-line apparatus, such as engines and ladders, with much less. The Town of Scituate went to the lowest possible level in 2018 when it reduced staffing on Engine-1 to a single firefighter.

A hearing officer of the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations agreed with the New Bedford Firefighters, Local 841, IAFF, that the City of New Bedford unlawfully decommissioned Engine 11 without first bargaining to impasse or resolution about the impacts of this decision. The City did not appeal this decision.