Jacqueline Canovas works for the Miami-Dade County Police Department as a Police Station Specialist in the Training Bureau and is a member of the Professional Law Enforcement Association (PLEA). Canovas’s direct supervisor was Sergeant Audino, who in turn reported to Lieutenant Artime. When Audino was out of the office, Canovas reported directly to Artime. As…
The Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local No. 105 represents corrections officers working for the New Jersey Department of Corrections. The Department ordered corrections Jared Smith and Ivan Rivera to meet with Major Scott Abbott. Stuart Alterman, the PBA’s counsel, learned of the meeting before it occurred. Alterman wrote to Major Brian Labonne, “I understand that you…
The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association represents corrections officers working at correctional facilities for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Jeremiah Campbell and Amanda Witiak are Corrections Criminal Investigators for the DOC, responsible for conducting criminal and administrative investigations of wrongdoing within the purview of the DOC. On June 29, 2020, Daniel Moser was working his shift…
Waukesha County, Wisconsin is party to a collective bargaining agreement with the Waukesha Deputy Sheriffs Labor Union. On December 5, 2019, Steven Miksch, who is a member of the Union, was directed to meet with Nick Ollinger and Chad Niles, both of whom were supervisors. Niles and Ollinger each reviewed a work report with Miksch…
Deputy Taylor Weiss works for the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department in Wisconsin. On December 13, 2019, Weiss forgot she had agreed to work an extra shift and went home. After her absence was reported to Lieutenant Marc Moonen, he called Weiss at her home to ask why she was not working and whether she could…
The Fraternal Order of Transit Police (FOTP) and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) are parties to a collective bargaining agreement. Mark Byrne had been a police officer at SEPTA for approximately two-and-a-half years when in December 2017, Byrne responded to a radio call concerning a man on a train station platform with four other…
The 22 police officers in the Oakdale Police Department in California are represented by the Oakdale Police Officer’s Association. The Department’s officers wear body cameras. On March 26, 2018, a lieutenant approached Police Chief Scott Heller to discuss concerns over how certain video files were indexed. After logging into the Department’s system to understand the…
Maylee Bardelas is a police officer with the City of Doral, Florida. Bardelas was accused by Sergeant Eric Fernandez of “intentionally driving away from an active shooter scene” and was charged by the Department with “cowardice.” Eventually, the investigation determined that “there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a finding that Bardelas was the officer observed…
Officers with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections are represented by the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association. In April 2018, Lieutenant Brian Taylor of the Department’s Bureau of Investigations and Intelligence began an investigation into an allegation that an inmate did not receive any food for several days. One of the targets of his investigation was…
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,…
Adam Lasad is a college security officer for the San Bernardino Community College District Police Department in California. Sergeant Chris Tamayo began questioning Lasad regarding his whereabouts during his work shift. Lasad, after answering some of Tamayo’s questions, requested a representative from his union, the California School Employees Association (CSEA). Tamayo contacted his own boss,…
A recent Illinois case analyzed the options available to an employer once an employee who is being interviewed asserts the right to representation under the Weingarten rule. The case involved Elgin Community College police officer Lorie Hermesdorf, who was a member of a bargaining unit represented by the Metropolitan Alliance of Police (MAP). Hermesdorf was…
In early 2014, Senior Investigator Donald Oliver of the Office of Special Investigation of the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) began investigating an incident involving the throwing of food by at least one corrections officer at a civilian employee. On January 28, 2014, Oliver questioned the security staff who had been…
An employee’s right to representation by a labor union arises when the employee reasonably believes that discipline could result from questioning by the employer. There are cases holding that when an employer gives an employee a “Garrity order” – an order to answer questions or discipline will result – Weingarten rights are automatically triggered. A…
The City of New Haven, Connecticut and Local 825 of the International Association of Fire Fighters are parties to a collective bargaining agreement. In September 2010, Patrick Egan, the president of Local 825, was promoted to Assistant Chief of Administration, a position outside the bargaining unit. Egan was succeeded as president by Lieutenant James Kottage.…
In July 2009, the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) of the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) was investigating allegations of misbehavior against a PSP member. As part of that investigation, IAD interviewed Corporal Edmund Fret. At the outset of the interview, the IAD representative gave Fret a “reverse-Garrity” warning. In the warning, PSP ordered Fret to answer…
The right to union representation in an investigatory interview generally derives from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in NLRB v. Weingarten, 420 U.S. 251 (1975), the seminal case regarding private-sector employee representation rights. In Weingarten, the Court found that Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) granted private-sector employees the right to…
From Arizona Question: Is it legal to require police officers to participate in physical fitness testing with age- and gender-biased standards in order to be eligible for desirable assignments? While the scores of such tests are said not to affect promotion oppurtunity, they are listed on promotion applications and passing the tests is required for…
Unlike most populous states, Texas has no mandatory statewide collective bargaining law. Though local jurisdictions can choose to adopt collective bargaining, most have not. Section 101.001 of the Texas Labor Code does allow employees the right to form “unions and other organizations,” and provides that “all persons engaged in any kind of labor may associate…
In a case that will likely have less impact than would ordinarily seem to be the case, New York’s highest court has held that Weingarten rights do not exist by function of state collective bargaining law. In a case involving the New York City Transit Authority, the Court drew a distinction between the National Labor…
In 1975, the United States Supreme Court held in National Labor Relations Board v. J. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U.S. 251, that under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), a union employee enjoys the right to have a union representative join him or her during an investigatory interview the employee reasonably believes may result in discipline.…
