Labor In The News, Sandulli Grace In The News

Attorney Joseph Sandulli To Again Teach At The Labor Guild

Alan Shapiro
Alan Shapiro August 22, 2010

As he has for many years, Atty. Sandulli will be teaching a course at the Labor Guild’s School of Labor Relations. Classes run in two sessions on Monday evenings from September 13 through November 15, from 7:00 – 9:30 p.m. in Weymouth.

Joe’s class, entitled “Labor Strategies,” focuses on how to coordinate legal action, political action, public relations and negotiations to deal effectively on the range of labor-management issues in both public and private sectors.  The class will also feature guest speakers who are actively involved in these respective endeavors.

The Labor Guild is a longstanding program of the Boston Archdiocese to educate “men and women members of unions, management, and others who are interested in furthering sound labor-management relations.” In addition to Atty. Sandulli’s course, there are a number of other valuable offerings in the upcoming fall period.

Joseph Sandulli was the 2008 winner of the prestigious Cushing-Gavin Award for his nearly four decades of outstanding service on behalf of labor unions to the labor-management community.

For more information, please go to the Guild’s web site or call 781-340-7887.

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Sandulli Grace and MassCOP win confirmation of arbitration award reinstating officer fired for running out of leave, and holding that FMLA benefits are a floor of rights which can be improved in negotiations

Sandulli Grace Staff July 26, 2010

Officer Tyrone Patruno was injured off the job, and then fired when he ran out of his paid time off and his unpaid FMLA leave.  The Barre Patrol Officers’ Union, MCOP Local 340, AFL-CIO, was represented by Attorney Leigh Panettiere of Sandulli Grace, P.C.  The Arbitrator agreed with the Union’s argument and found that there was a practice of offering light duty to officers injured off the job, and further that there was no justification for the Town to refuse to Patruno’s request for extended unpaid leave to recover from his injury.

The Town appealed the arbitrator’s award, arguing that the arbitrator exceeded his powers by requiring the Town to give more than the three months of leave guaranteed by the Family and Medical Leave Act.  The court rejected the Town’s argument (as did the arbitrator) on the basis that the FMLA is a floor of benefits and the parties are free to negotiate a greater benefit in their contract.  Patruno was ordered reinstated to light duty pending a doctor’s decision that he is fit for full duty, with back pay to the date his doctor cleared him to work light duty.

Public employers cannot unilaterally impose FMLA policies, because they impact availability of paid and unpaid leave, as well as compensation and job security — all mandatory subjects of bargaining.  Based upon this rule of collective bargaining law that was reaffirmed in the Barre case, Sandulli Grace advises its clients to watch for new FMLA policies, and contact their union representative if they believe an employer has imposed a policy without bargaining.

Download the decision…

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Mashpee Quinn Bill Case Update: Judge Denies Town’s Attempt To Muddy Case – Plaintiffs Will File For Summary Judgment In Their Favor

Sandulli Grace Staff July 26, 2010

Barnstable Superior Court Justice Gary Nickerson has rejected the Town of Mashpee’s attempt to forcibly join the Mashpee police Union to the lawsuit brought by several Mashpee Police Officers who contend that the Town violated the law when it cut their Quinn Benefits. The Officers, represented by Sandulli Grace, successfully argued that the case involved a violation of the law by the Town, and that their union was not a proper party. “The Town was trying to muddy the issue in the case by seeking to join the Union as a party. We’re pleased that Judge Nickerson rejected this attempt, as we can now move forward to seek a ruling on the merits,” said Sandulli Grace Partner Bryan Decker, lead counsel on the case.

In the suit, the officers contend that the Town of Mashpee violated the Quinn Bill (found at G.L. c. 41, §108L) when it reduced Quinn payments to officers. The Town reduced the payments due to the state’s cutting of Quinn funding to municipalities. “The Quinn bill is a wage law that guarantees certain level of pay to officers who better themselves and their departments by seeking education. This is no different than if the Town sought to pay officers less than minimum wage. I certainly feel for the cities and towns that have suffered a back door local aid cut via the state’s underfunding of the Quinn program. However, that doesn’t allow those cities and towns to cut the pay of officers. Two wrongs most certainly do not make a right,” said Decker.

It should be noted that while the Union was properly found to NOT be a proper party to the suit, the plaintiffs’ union, the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, is fully supporting its members in their attempt to be paid all of the wages the law guarantees to them – including their Quinn Bill wages.

Labor In The News, Sandulli Grace In The News

Bppa Members Paid $2.23 Million In Damages For City’s Unilateral Implementation Of Flsa Pay Period Sandulli Grace Successfully Argues Case At Mass Supreme Judicial Court

Sandulli Grace Staff July 26, 2010

After a seven year battle, the City of Boston has finally paid Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association (BPPA) members damages relating to the unlawful unilateral implementation of a 28 day/ 171 hour Fair Labor Standards Act pay period in 2002. In total, 1765 officers received $1,781,091.11 in damages plus $449,628.44 in statutory interest, for a total damages payment of $2,230,719.55. Because the BPPA refused to bow to the City’s change in 2002, BPPA members are the only BPD sworn personnel benefitting from the shorter pay period.

This case had its origins in the 2000 lawsuit brought by over 800 patrolmen (represented by Sandulli Grace attorneys Bryan Decker and John Becker and with the support of the BPPA) alleging violations of the FLSA due to the City’s failure to include Quinn Bill and night shift differential in the calculation of FLSA overtime. In fact, it turned out that the City wasn’t even calculating FLSA overtime, and in 2004, the officers were awarded over $750,000 in damages and attorney fees. Attempting to cut its losses, in spring 2002 the City announced that it wanted to implement a longer FLSA pay period. A longer pay period allows the employer to stretch its overtime liability, resulting in lower payments to officers. Because the issue implicated officers’ pay, the BPPA demanded to bargain. The City refused, and unilaterally implemented the change at the start of July, 2002.

The BPPA challenged that unilateral change by filing an unfair labor practice charge with the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission. The City contended that it did not need to bargain the change with the union, and the BPPA was the only union to challenge the change. Sandulli Grace attorneys Bryan Decker and Patrick Bryant represented the union before the LRC, which ruled in the union’s favor in 2006, finding that the decision to change the FLSA pay period was a mandatory subject of bargaining, and ordered the City to restore the traditional 7 day/40 hour pay period. Rather than comply, the City appealed the case, and the state’s Supreme Judicial Court took the appeal. Bryan Decker argued the case before the high court, and in 2009 the Court upheld the finding in the Union’s favor.

Following the SJC decision, the City finally agreed to implement the 7day / 40 hour work period. BPPA members have been receiving FLSA overtime on a weekly basis since late last summer. The City then undertook to calculate damages for the period from 2002 until 2009, which resulted in the $2.23 million dollar payout this summer.

(A longer, more detailed report on this case appears in this month’s Pax Centurion, the BPPA’s Official Newspaper).

Labor In The News

MCOP to support Teamsters’ boycott of Dunkin Donuts

Sandulli Grace Staff July 23, 2010

In a show of solidarity with the members of Teamsters Local 25, Sandulli Grace client Massachusetts Coalition of Police (MCOP) has joined in the boycott of Dunkin Donuts. The Teamsters organized the workers of DCP company, the largest distributor for Dunkin Donuts in the northeast, in 2009. Despite meeting three times per month since, the company has refused to agree to a fair contract for its workers. The Teamsters have therefore called for a boycott of Dunkin Donuts, and MCOP has answered the call.

As the MCOP announcement notes, “When the police needed the Teamsters in our fight against “flaggers,” they were there… It’s our turn to support the Teamsters. Please join all Mass.C.O.P. members in boycotting Dunkin Donuts until Teamsters Local 25 reaches a fair agreement.” (Click here to view the MCOP announcement).

Sandulli Grace In The News

Sandulli Grace Attorney Alan Shapiro To Speak At American Arbitration Association Conference

Alan Shapiro
Alan Shapiro June 1, 2010

Attorney Alan Shapiro will be speaking on June 2, 2010, at a conference at the Boston office of the American Arbitration Association on the subject of Brief Writing and Closing Arguments.  The program flyer is available here.

Attorney Shapiro, whose clients include  the Massachusetts Coalition of Police and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, has been representing labor unions in arbitration hearings, for more than 25 years.

Atty. Shapiro said, “I am honored to be invited by the AAA to speak at their program.  I hope I can help other practitioners by sharing what I have learned from practicing in this field for more than a quarter of a decade.”

Labor In The News, Sandulli Grace In The News

Sandulli Grace Partner Amy Davidson Appears On WGBH To Challenge Legislation To Let Municipalities Unilaterally Change Their Employee’s Health Benefits

Alan Shapiro
Alan Shapiro May 30, 2010

On Thursday, May 27, Sandulli Grace attorney Amy Laura Davidson appeared on the WGBH show “Greater Boston” to discuss municipal health insurance and collective bargaining with Geoff Beckwith of the Mass Municipal Association. Atty. Davidson is a recognized expert in dealing with health insurance issues on behalf of her clients, including the Massachusetts Coalition of Police (MCOP) and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association.

On the show, she vigorously defended municipal unions against the blanket accusation that they are deaf to the pleas of cities and towns that they are being overwhelmed by health insurance costs. The shibboleth of the “$5 Co-Pay” was held out as the norm in the public sector. Atty. Davidson spoke the truth: unions in dozens of municipalities have made significant concessions in health care negotiations, including significant increases in co-pays and deductibles. Contrary to public perception fed by ill-informed media, the $5 co-pay is an “anomaly,” Atty. Davidson explained. She argued, forcefully but intelligently, against the MMA bill currently pending at the Legislature which would eliminate bargaining over health plan design and allow municipalities to unilaterally change health benefits. As Ms. Davidson eloquently stated: “Health insurance essentially is wages.” If employers can just unilaterally make employees pay more to go to a doctor or hospital without having to negotiate with their unions, we might as well just let them reduce employees’ wages without bargaining.

Those who watch the show will note one bogus argument advanced by Mr. Beckwith: that there is something unique about the requirement that cities and towns in Massachusetts bargain with unions over the structure of the health insurance plans that cover their employees. While it is true that Massachusetts state employees and federal employees do not have the right to negotiate over their health insurance plans, those workers make up a very small percentage of the total workforce. In fact, the more than 7,000,000 workers in private sector unions throughout the country have virtually exactly the same collective bargaining rights as Massachusetts municipal employees: to bargain over the design of their health insurance plans.

Here’s a link to the show:

http://www.wgbh.org/greater_boston/index.cfm

Labor In The News, Sandulli Grace In The News

37th Annual Workshop for Public Sector Labor Relations Specialists

Amy Laura Davidson
Amy Laura Davidson April 27, 2010

On Saturday May 1st, the Boston Bar Association will be holding its 37th Annual Workshop for Public Sector Labor Relations Specialists at Langdell Hall, Harvard Law School. The program is designed to familiarize lay people and attorneys who specialize in labor relations with current trends in collective bargaining and other issues affecting public employees. This year’s program features newly appointed Secretary of Labor Joanne Goldstein as well as members of the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board and the Director of the Division of Labor Relations. A second panel deals with the recent reorganization of the transportation agencies. The conference is co-chaired by Amy Laura Davidson of Sandulli Grace, P. C., Peter J. Berry, of Deutsch, Williams, Brooks, DeRensis & Holland, P. C., and Suffolk University Professor of Law Marc Greenbaum.

Click here for further details and registration form.

Sandulli Grace In The News

Governor Patrick Appoints Amy Laura Davidson Chair Of The Advisory Council To The Division Of Labor Relations

Amy Laura Davidson
Amy Laura Davidson April 22, 2010

Amy Davidson has been appointed as Chair of the Division of Labor Relations Advisory Council. The Division of Labor Relations is the agency charged with jurisdiction over unfair labor practice cases, arbitrations and mediation and interest arbitration under the Joint Labor Management Committee. Early in her career, Amy worked as a hearing officer for the Labor Relations Commission, the predecessor to the Division of Labor Relations. In 2007, Amy chaired a Mass Bar Association committee that was involved in discussions with the Secretary of Labor which ultimately lead to the reorganization of the agency to the Division of Labor Relations .

The Advisory Council is charged with responsibility for advising the Division of Labor Relations concerning policies and practices that it might implement to better discharge its labor relations duties. It is comprised of thirteen members including five representatives of public sector unions, five representatives of public sector management and three non-affiliated members. The Director of Labor, the Chair of the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board and the Director of the Division of Labor Relations will all serve as non-voting members of the Advisory Council.

Amy has been serving as a labor representative on the Advisory Council since 2008 when she was first appointed to that position by the governor. Initially, she participated with other members of the Council in interviews of candidates for appointment to the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board and the Director of the Division of Labor Relations. More recently, Amy has participated in discussions about the revision of regulations governing the Division. On April 21, 2010, Amy was sworn in as Chair of the Council. She will serve in that position for two years.

Read The Appointment letter…