Paul Bryson was a firefighter for the Brownsburg, Indiana Fire Territory. In 2008 and 2009, Bryson suffered a series of three injuries while working. On May 21, 2008, Bryson and other Brownsburg firefighters were attempting to reattach the firehouse bay door. Bryson stood on top of a ladder and “resisted the force of a commercial…
The Iron Horsemen is a nationwide outlaw motorcycle gang that has been based in Cincinnati for about 40 years. The gang deals in drugs, weapons, and prostitution. In the 1980s, threats and tension between the Iron Horsemen and the Cincinnati police were prevalent. One of the members of the Iron Horsemen had created a 12-gauge…
From Arizona Question: Under current DOL rules and court cases can an agency tell/order an officer or civilian employee to use comp time to get below what policy says is the maximum allowed, which is far below what the FLSA prescribes? Answer: In Christensen v. Harris County, Texas, 529 U.S. 576 (2000), the Supreme Court…
A topic that finds the opinion of arbitrators fractured is whether a past practice can change the clear terms of a contract. The most often cited reference works on past practice are a 1961 law review article by Arbitrator Richard Mittenthal, and the basic treatise on labor arbitration, How Arbitration Works by Frank and Edna…
The United States Supreme Court recently made headlines with its ruling in United States v. Jones, a criminal case involving the use of a GPS locator on a criminal defendant’s car. The case started in 2004, when Antoine Jones, owner and operator of a nightclub in the District of Columbia, came under suspicion of trafficking…
Rodney Hicok was a sergeant with the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Hicok’s troubles started in January 2009, when he received an email entitled “FW: The new fashion statement for mug shots!” The email featured 15 mug shots of suspects wearing various versions of tee-shirts in support of President Barack Obama. Twelve of the 15…
By Doug Hass, Chris Johlie and Amy Zdravecky (Editor’s note: Even though the NLRB does not cover public sector labor organizations, many state labor boards and courts turn to the NLRB’s decisions for guidance on how to interpret state law issues. The NLRB has been extremely active on the topic of an employer’s ability to…
In Mullins v. City of New York, the canary in a coal mine for a lot of other litigation involving the same issue, the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals squarely faced the question of whether to defer to the Department of Labor on whether mid-level public safety supervisors were exempt from overtime under the…
California’s County Employees Retirement Law provides: “Sworn statements and individual records of members shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed to anyone except insofar as may be necessary for the administration of this chapter or upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or upon written authorization by the member.” When the Sacramento Bee…
Rory Cuiellette is a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. After several years on the job, Cuiellette was injured and placed on disability leave. After his workers’ compensation claim resolved with a finding of 100% disability, the City accepted his request to return to work in May 2003. He worked less than five…
While there has been much focus on the drama that produced Wisconsin’s changes in its public employees collective bargaining law, even more substantial changes have occurred in Ohio. The political dynamics in the two states are the same – newly-elected Republican majorities in both houses of the legislature, and a Republican governor. Unlike Wisconsin’s law,…
It would seem like a simple question. If a public employee wants to use compensatory time off on a particular day, does the employer have to grant the day off? As straightforward as that question might seem, courts have tangled with the issue, and the Department of Labor (DOL) has recently withdrawn a proposed regulation…
On March 1, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employer may be liable for the discriminatory motives of a supervisor who influences but does not make the ultimate employment decision. The Court’s ruling will impact employment discrimination claims where multiple individuals are claimed to have made, caused, or influenced the ultimate employment decision.…
Proponents of the right to privacy collectively exhaled when the Supreme Court decided National Aeronautic and Space Administration v. Nelson in January 2011. More than 30 years ago, the Court referred broadly to a constitutional privacy “interest in avoiding disclosure of personal matters.” Whalen v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589 (1977); Nixon v. Administrator of General…
