This article appears in the November 2020 issue of our monthly newsletter, Public Safety Labor News. Corporal Brendon Johnson works as a corrections corporal in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. On May 8, 2016, Johnson responded to a call involving a female inmate with a known history of noncompliance. The inmate had flooded her cell by intentionally […]
Cody Lane served as a patrol officer in the Marion County Oregon Sheriff’s Office for over ten years. On the evening of November 24, 2017, Lane worked the graveyard shift while his girlfriend celebrated her birthday at a local bar. In the early hours of November 25, 2017, Lane’s girlfriend asked Lane to follow her […]
The City of Newton, Massachusetts and the Newton Police Association are parties to a collective bargaining agreement. When a dispute broke out between them as to whether officers should receive “cancellation fees” when paid details were cancelled on a last-minute basis, the Association challenged the City’s position in arbitration. An arbitrator sided with the Association, […]
The City of Newark, New Jersey and the Newark Police Superior Officers’ Association (SOA) are parties to a collective bargaining agreement. The SOA represents officers in the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant, and captain. In 2013, the SOA filed a grievance with the City’s then-Police Director Samuel DeMaio alleging that the City had incorrectly calculated the […]
Rule 60CC-4.002 of the Florida Administrative Code requires the contract ratification votes of unions to be conducted either at a ratification meeting or by mail. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, for health and safety reasons the Florida PBA filed an emergency petition with Florida’s Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC). The petition sought to […]
Shane Streater, a Camden, New Jersey firefighter, applied for an accidental disability retirement pension in 2009 following two on-the-job accidents in 2007 and 2008. Streater submitted reports from two doctors, John Gaffney and Ralph Cataldo, in support of the application, and the Board of Trustees of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System had Streater evaluated […]
Eric Hiller was a police officer with the Rehoboth Beach Police Department in Delaware. In July 2018, Hiller was advised that he must complete a computer voice stress analyzer exam (CVSA) so that the Department might examine the truthfulness of Hiller’s statements made during his initial interview involving the events of a prisoner transport. A […]
The City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Police Supervisors’ Organization are parties to a collective bargaining agreement covering sergeants. On May 1, 2019, a police sergeant received written notice from the Department that he would be interviewed on May 14, 2019 as part of an internal investigation concerning his alleged negligent driving. The notice […]
Justin Chaplin, James Michels, and Frank Schonig are firefighters with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In April 2014, they and four other candidates applied to be interviewed for three fire captain positions that had become available. Before the interviews, a battalion chief surreptitiously texted information to Chaplin, Michels and Schonig about the […]
David Figueroa is a police officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD). After being absent from work for an extended period due to injury, Figueroa was assigned to a re-acclimation program where he performed his duties using a standard patrol car. Upon completion of the re-acclimation program, Figueroa was set to resume his […]
In February 2017, the City of Brook Park, Ohio, passed an ordinance calling for the City to pay $100 per month for the hospitalization and/or medical insurance benefits for a group of retired employees. Lodge 15 of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the City’s police officers, filed a grievance challenging the ordinance. The […]
On August 2, 2017, Dane Smothers, Jr., a newly hired District of Columbia firefighter, was struck by a ladder truck while he was attending his first fire. He sustained serious injuries in the accident and filed federal claims against Jon Dyson and Patrick Carey, the operators of the truck, in their official capacities as D.C. […]
Corporal Brendon Johnson works as a corrections corporal in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. On May 8, 2016, Johnson responded to a call involving a female inmate with a known history of noncompliance. The inmate had flooded her cell by intentionally clogging her toilet and causing it to overflow. Johnson ordered the inmate to come down from […]
A Manchester, N.H. Police Officer Was Fired In 2018 For Reported Racist Comments. An Arbitrator Says He Should Still Have His Job. A Manchester, N.H. police officer was fired back in 2018 over racist remarks he made targeting Black people. But an arbitrator has since ruled that the city shouldn’t have fired Aaron Brown, who […]
