The voters of the City of Crowley, Louisiana approved a sales tax proposition authorizing the City to levy and collect a sales tax of one-half of one percent whose proceeds are to be used for the purpose of City employees’ salary increase, with one-third of the levy proceeds paid to all fire personnel. Under Louisiana […]
A police officer working for the Township of Upper Providence, Pennsylvania was injured on duty for the second half of 2007. As a result, the officer was unable to use 212 hours of vacation time he had available in 2007. The officer requested that he cash out for the unused vacation time. When the Township […]
Robert and Scarlett Paterson are Los Angeles police officers, married to each other. In December 2004, Robert called in sick. A lieutenant instructed Sergeant Adrian Legaspi to go to the Paterson home to find out if Robert was abusing sick leave. Legaspi spoke to both Robert and Scarlett. Subsequently, the Department initiated an investigation into […]
There exists a significant racial disparity between the population of the City of New York and the makeup of the Fire Department of New York. In 2002, 25 percent of the city’s residents were black, and 27 percent were Hispanic. At the same time, 2.6 percent of FDNY firefighters were black, and 3.7 percent were […]
Carey Faulkner was employed by the City of Bartlett, Tennessee as a police officer beginning in 1999. On August 18, 2007, Faulkner held a party at her home which was attended by neighbors and police officer trainees. Drinking and nude swimming took place at the party, and Faulkner’s husband was subsequently charged with sexually assaulting […]
Michael Brown was employed as a corrections officer by Monmouth County, New Jersey for 17 years. On July 13, 2004, Brown was randomly selected for a drug test pursuant to the County’s policy. When the test was reported as positive for marijuana use and the County announced its intention to terminate Brown, a hearing was […]
Florida is one of many states with a statewide law enforcement officers bill of rights. A part of the Bill of Rights, Section 112.533, specifies that the system of investigation mandated by the Bill of Rights “shall be the exclusive procedure used by law enforcement and correctional agencies for investigation of complaints against law enforcement […]
Local 252 of the International Association of Fire Fighters represents members of the Piqua, Ohio Fire Department. When a vacancy occurred in the position of “assistant chief on shift,” the Department filled the vacancy by transferring Assistant Chief Mike Rindler, who had held the position of assistant chief for Fire Prevention. Local 252 filed a […]
John Matthews was a commander with the Chicago Police Department. In 2006, Matthews’ son was arrested, and despite being injured, was not promptly offered medical attention for his injuries. Following his son’s arrest, Matthews filed a complaint in an effort to initiate an investigation of the arresting officers. Subsequent to Matthews filing that complaint, a […]
In 2001, Cincinnati voters passed a charter amendment that removed guaranteed Civil Service Commission appeal protections for assistant police chiefs and allowed them to be appointed by the City Manager. In 2004 and 2005, the City and Lodge 69 of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the assistant chiefs, negotiated a new collective bargaining […]
The reverberations from the Supreme Court’s decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), are still being felt. In Garcetti, the Supreme Court held that to receive First Amendment protection, a public employee must speak “as a citizen on a matter of concern.” The Court ruled that speech arising out of an employee’s job […]
Robert Martin has been employed for over 34 years by the Fire and Rescue Department of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida. For the past 21 years, he has held the rank of lieutenant. The collective bargaining agreement between the City and Martin’s labor organization, Local 747 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, requires […]
