Sandulli Grace, PC, client the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association increased the primary detail rate for Boston police officers by 12 percent under an agreement reached with the City of Boston, from $33 to $37.
The settlement caps a decade of litigation regarding the City’s unlawful changes to the detail system. In 1996, the City changed the detail system to prioritize certain assignments and did so without fulfilling its legal obligation to provide notice and an opportunity to bargain with the Union. The Union, with the assistance of Sandulli Grace, PC, charged the City with violating state labor laws. The Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission agreed with the BPPA. In a published decision, the Commission ruled that while the City has the right to set priorities for detail assignments, it must negotiate the implementation of such priorities with the BPPA. Furthermore, the Commission ruled, the City must negotiate any changes in the context of ongoing successor negotiations, if the Union so requests.

The pact establishes two detail rates. The priority rate, $37, applies to all critical details including those on major routes. The second rate, $33, applies to all other details. The BPPA’s research indicates that the far majority of details will use the higher rate.

In addition to agreeing to the higher rate, the City also agreed to eliminate the monthly work (320 hours) cap, Instead, the parties agreed to limit maximum number of weekly number of hours that a police officer may work to 90. This limit applies only to hours actually worked and does not include paid leave, for instance.

BPPA President Tom Nee told the Boston Globe, ”I think the real story here [is that] ‘the city and the union were able to get something done without pointing bazookas at each other."

Base pay for patrol officers was about $46,000 at this time last year, but detail work and overtime pushed numerous salaries to more than $100,000. Unlike in other states, cities in Massachusetts routinely require that police officers direct traffic at construction sites.

As part of the deal, the union also agreed to settle three other smaller pending labor grievances.

Chief justice of the appeals court orders Boston Police Department not to collect officer information on racial profiling forms pending resolution of union’s challenge. Sandulli Grace, P.C. secured another important victory for police officers and their unions today when Chief Justice Christopher Armstrong of the Massachusetts Appeal Court issued an order preventing the Boston Police Department from collecting officer identification information as part of information gathering under a 2000 statute designed to gather information regarding race and traffic stops.

The case arose in August, when the Boston Police Patrolmens Association, represented by Sandulli Grace, challenged the Department’s intention to require officers to include their identification numbers when filling out the new Traffic Stop Data Collection Form. The BPPA filed suit based on the language of the Racial Profiling Data Collection Act, which states that “data acquired under this section … may not contain information that may reveal the identity of… any individual who is stopped or any law enforcement officer.” In September, a Superior Court judge denied the BPPA’s request for an injunction. On October 7, a single justice of the Appeals Court noted that the BPPA’s position had merit, and suggested that the BPPA appeal and seek a stay against the City pending that appeal.

Today, Chief Justice Armstrong issued that stay, and also ordered that the appeal be heard in December, much sooner than a typical appeal. Copies of the Appeal Court stay and the earlier decision by Judge Laurence of the Appeals Court are attached. If your police department is requiring you to fill out the Traffic Stop Data Collection Form and include any information identifying you, this order from the Appeals Court should provide a basis to stop your department from including your name or other identifying information in the form. You should, however, always consult your union or legal counsel before taking unilateral action.

• stayorder1.pdf
• singlejusticeinjorder1.pdf

Sandulli Grace partners Joseph Sandulli and Alan Shapiro named Massachusetts Super Lawyers in the field of Labor and Employment Law. They are featured in the November 2005 edition of Boston Magazine, and also at Superlawyer.com. They join their colleague Bryan Decker, who was named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer Rising Star in June.