David Meadows is a police officer with the City of North Bay Village in Florida. In January 2017, Meadows sat for the sergeant’s examination and placed second on the promotional list. The City uses a rule of three. Under the collective bargaining agreement between the City and the FOP, the police chief has discretion in his promotional decisions, except that he must select from the top three ranked candidates….
Hosea Word is a sergeant and aspiring lieutenant in the Chicago Police Department. When he took the departmental lieutenants’ exam in 2006, he was ranked 150th of all candidates. The sergeants ranked 1 through 149 all received promotions. Sergeant Word was the highest-scoring candidate who did not. In 2015, when Word next took the exam, his ranking fell to 280th. He was passed over a second time. Word sued,…
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department rescinded the probationary promotion of Thomas Conger to lieutenant based on investigatory findings that Conger had failed to report a use of force several months earlier. Conger challenged the action through the California state court system. The California Court of Appeals upheld the Department’s decision. The key issue for the Court was whether Conger had suffered a demotion or a somewhat late “denial…
From FloridaQuestion: Does being informed that the employee is a witness in an investigation negate the witness from asking for representation under Weingarten? He reasonably believed that as a witness, he may be subjected to discipline. The employer did not inform or assure the employee that he wouldn’t be, just stated that as a witness, he was not entitled to representation. Does being called a witness cancel the right…
John Walker is a lieutenant in the Pocatello Police Department in Idaho. Walker sued the City, contending his due process rights were violated when Police Chief Scott Marchand and Mayor Brian Blad failed to deliver on Blad’s promise to promote Walker to captain. The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Walker’s lawsuit. The Court’s terse opinion began: “Walker’s due process claim is premised on his contention that he…
In 2014, the New Orleans Civil Service Commission voted to adopt a package of rule amendments submitted by the City under its Great Place to Work Initiative. One of the goals of the initiative was to “eliminate the falsely objective rankings based on exams” and “allow managers to interview all the Civil Service Department certified eligible candidates and hire the best qualified one.” On April 20, 2016, Civil Service…
Chicago Police Officer Cleveland Hardy served for three years as a driver for former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. When the Department announced openings for the sergeant position, McCarthy and Hardy discussed the possibility of Hardy applying. Command staff below the rank of deputy superintendent could nominate a candidate for the promotion as long as the candidate had passed an exam administered in 2006. Though Hardy failed the exam, McCarthy,…
A group of corrections officers employed by the Hawaii Department of Public Safety applied for promotion to open supervisory positions. Each was informed by Department letter that his or her application had been denied. The letters noted that a background check revealed the applicants had violated the Department’s standards of conduct and had been suspended, sometimes for as little as one day. According to the letters, the Department deemed…
In October 2011, Hanover, Massachusetts Police Officer Kristin Malloch took a promotional examination for police sergeant and received a score of 86. In April 2012, when the Town needed to fill two vacancies for sergeant, she was ranked first on the list of certified eligible candidates. The other officers on the list – Timothy Kane, Karl Buzalski, and Derek Richards – were ranked second, third, and fourth, respectively. Buzalski…
Since 2000, Kevin Tully has been employed with the Wilmington, North Carolina Police Department. Tully obtained the rank of Corporal in June 2007. In 2008, Tully was assigned to the Department’s Violent Crimes Section, where he worked on more than 50 homicide cases with a 100 percent clearance rate. He was named Wilmington Police Officer of the Year, and, in 2014, he was awarded the “Public Safety Officer Medal…
The City of Lockport, New York and the Lockport Professional Firefighters Association are parties to a collective bargaining agreement that defines a grievance as including “all claimed violations of any contract existing between the City and the employees covered by” the CBA. After the City’s Civil Service Commission created a new Municipal Training Officer position within the Fire Department, the City and the Association negotiated the terms and conditions…
You know it’s probably going to be messy when a federal appeals court starts off its opinion by commenting that “the parties have been litigating this case with remarkable vigor and venom since 2008. After two trials and multiple appeals, the parties remain unwilling to settle their differences.” “This case” is a multi-faceted challenge to the 2004 Akron Fire Department promotional examinations. One set of unsuccessful promotional candidates alleged…
Philadelphia firefighters are represented by Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, and are subject to Philadelphia’s Civil Service Regulations, which set forth the procedures for hiring and promotion in the City in accord with the Home Rule Charter. The Home Rule Charter directs that Civil Service Regulations “shall provide for” promotions which “give appropriate consideration to the applicant’s qualifications, record of performance, seniority and conduct.” Moreover,…
Andrew Thomas Giamberini was initially certified as a firefighter in Florida in 1996. At the time, Florida’s Department of Financial Services, which certifies firefighters in Florida, was aware that Giamberini had pleaded no contest to a felony charge of aggravated battery without a firearm in 1993. The criminal court withheld adjudication of guilt and sentenced Giamberini to probation. Under Florida’s statutes, Giamberini’s 1993 plea to the felony charge did…
From Minnesota Question: Our chief is proposing to the Civil Service board to change the promotion process for sergeant. Currently it’s a test, interview and in-basket assessment. He wants to change it to just 100% interview. He has already done this for lieutenant, commander and also to become a patrol officer. Is there any research on the processes being strictly interview and any pros/cons to it? Answer: We’re not…
Gayle McMullin is a lieutenant with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. For years, she served on and off as a training officer in several patrol schools at the Patrol’s Training Division. In that capacity, McMullin trained cadets in various disciplines such as driving, firearms, and physical fitness. In 2000, McMullin was transferred to the Training Division full time, and in 2006, was assigned to be a full-time training…
Bruce Polkowitz and Michael Formica were two of three candidates considered for promotion to the position of captain in the Edison Township, New Jersey Police Department. The Township is a non-civil service municipality, and has enacted code provisions setting the criteria for promotions. The provisions involve a command staff review, which is required to consider seniority, job performance, attendance, and a review of each candidate’s personnel file. Each member…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit in April 2012 alleging that the process used by the City of Jacksonville, Florida to promote certain ranks of firefighters discriminated against African-Americans. Among the allegations, the DOJ claimed that the 2004 and 2008 testing processes used to promote fire suppression captains were discriminatory. When the City scheduled a new promotions test for fire suppression captains for November 18, 2013, the…
Dominick Landolfi works for the Melbourne, Florida Fire Department, and is a reservist with the United States Air Force. Landolfi sued the City, alleging that it discriminated against him because of his military service when it failed to promote him to Battalion Chief in 2006, 2008, and 2010, and to Assistant Chief of Administration in 2010. The federal Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Landolfi’s lawsuit. The Court agreed…
A group of firefighters brought a class action lawsuit against the City of Atlanta alleging that the City breached its employment contracts with the firefighters as well as an obligation under state law to provide a fair and impartial promotional process by failing to prevent cheating on a fire lieutenant promotional exam. After a jury returned a verdict in favor of the firefighters finding that the exam had been…
Over the years, the M.O.C.H.A. Society of Buffalo, Inc., a fraternal organization of African American firefighters in Buffalo, New York, has brought a number of race discrimination lawsuits against the City of Buffalo. The latest lawsuit involved a fairly unique question: Can an employer show that promotional examinations having a disparate impact on a protected class are job related and supported by business necessity when the job analysis that…
Thomas Brown, a sergeant in the Cook County, Illinois Sheriff’s Office, was passed over for promotion to lieutenant. Brown sued, contending that he was passed over because he was a Republican, and because he did not contribute to the campaign of the then-Sheriff, Democrat Michael Sheahan. The federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals turned away Brown’s suit. In an opinion penned by Judge Richard Posner, widely regarded as one…
A provision of Ohio state law states that a public safety employer “may appoint to a vacant position any one of the three highest scorers on the eligible list for a promotional examination.” The Boardman Township civil service rules, on the other hand, call for the promotion of the highest-ranking individual on the list: “If there is a valid eligibility list, the Commission shall, where there is a vacancy,…
Lieutenant Miguel Hervis has been serving as a police officer with the City of Miami, Florida since 1988. He is currently a Commander in the Domestic Violence Unit. In 2004, Hervis was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and shortly thereafter, symptoms of his condition became evident to his coworkers and superiors, including Chief John Timoney. Although Timoney realized that Hervis’ motor skills were impaired, he did not know that Hervis…
James Finley works as a corrections officer for Camden County, New Jersey. Finley brought a reverse discrimination against the County, arguing that in several rounds of promotions, the County declined to promote him because he was Caucasian. Finley argued that the County systematically promoted less-qualified non-Caucasian candidates. A federal trial court examined the evidence and dismissed Finley’s claim. Starting with promotions that occurred in March 2006 and March 2007,…
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