LABOR, THE LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE…
In a decision issued October 12, 2007, the Labor Relations Commission resolved a year-long election dispute in favor of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police over the objection of the incumbent union. Last July, MassCOP filed a petition to represent police…
A federal trial court in Georgia has ruled that the police department violated the First Amendment when its internal affairs division inquired the union’s alleged involvement in firing the current Chief, where such alleged off-duty activities had no relation to…
In Olsen v. Teachers Retirement Board (Oct. 9, 2007), the Brockton Education Association and the Brockton school committee agreed to increase the percentage of health insurance premiums paid by employees by five percent in exchange for a stipend paid to…
In the latest decision concerning the application of Fair Labor Standards Act to Massachusetts public safety officers, Judge Stearns of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled on which payments must be added to the overtime rate;…
On September 27, 2007, Governor Patrick signed legislation that will require covered employers to recognize a union based on a showing that a majority of employees want to form a union. In doing so, Massachusetts joined a handful of states…
On July 16, 2007, the Massachusetts legislature amended the law to enable cities and towns to more easily join the Group Insurance Commission for the provision of health insurance to municipal employees. The Group Insurance Commission (GIC) is the entity…
SJC Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (later a U.S. Supreme Court Justice) once famously quipped in an 1892 case by a terminated New Bedford police officer against the Mayor: “The petitioner may have a constitutional right to talk politics, but he…
