LRIS on 07/12/2024

Not Discrimination When Firefighter Who Exposed Himself Was Not Promoted

Jeremy Clawson is a black firefighter in the City of Albany, New York. He began his career with the Albany Fire Department (AFD) in 1993, was promoted to lieutenant in 2005, and to captain in 2010. In 2019, Clawson was offered a provisional promotion to battalion chief, the third highest-ranking pos

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LRIS on 07/12/2024

Transgender CO’s Harassment Sufficient To Establish Hostile Work Environment

Tyler Copeland is a transgender man who began working for the Georgia De­partment of Corrections around 2014. At the time, he identified as female, which was his assigned gender at birth. A year after beginning his career with the De­partment, Copeland was transferred to Rogers State Prison (RSP), a

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LRIS on 07/12/2024

$10M Punitive Damage Award Upheld For CO Forced Into Early Retirement

Shelley Pritchett began her career as a Corrections Officer at the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Center (JJC) in 2006. In June 2011, she broke up a fight between two inmates, resulting in significant injuries to her back, knee, and neck. Pritchett went on Workers’ Compensation leave and began med­ical

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LRIS on 07/12/2024

No First Amendment Right For Officer To Impersonate U.S. Marshal

Logan Malik was a police officer in Washingtonville, Ohio who was con­victed of falsely portraying himself as a U.S. Marshal to several members of the public over the course of one evening. First, he told a store employee at a Macy’s jewelry counter in Boardman, Ohio that he was part of a fugitive t

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LRIS on 07/12/2024

Mandatory DEI Training Did Not Create Unlawful Hostile Work Environment

Joshua Young was a corrections sergeant at the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC). In or around 2020, the Department implemented mandatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training for its em­ployees, consisting of several online modules to be completed on employ­ees’ personal computers.

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LRIS on 07/12/2024

Correctional Facility Cited For Systemic Hostility Toward Union Representatives

The Pennsylvania State Correc­tions Officers Association (PSCOA) is the exclusive bargaining representative for correctional officers employed by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC). Maximilian Kauert is a corrections officer at a state prison (Somerset) and served in several official u

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LRIS on 07/12/2024

County Lawfully Reassigned Unvaccinated Deputy Sheriffs

Albany County, New York negotiat­ed a series of one-year contracts with the New York State Unified Court System to provide security services through its sheriff’s department for the county courthouse. In early September 2021, the County received a notice from the Office of Court Administration (OCA)

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LRIS on 07/12/2024

Q & A

From Indiana:Question: In the city where I am employed, when an officer accepts a promotion to sergeant, or a sergeant accepts a promotion to lieutenant, they lose all of their seniority rights (vacation bidding, shift preference, forced overtime details). The fire department in the same city does n

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LRIS on 06/07/2024

No Back Pay Where Reinstated Correctional Officer Failed To Mitigate Damages

David Foriska is a correctional officer working at Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania. Foriska was terminated for alleged misconduct, and reinstated on September 16, 2018, pursuant to an arbitrator’s order. The award also provided that Foriska “shall be made whole for any and all losses, includin

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LRIS on 06/07/2024

Court Enforces Settlement Agreement Over Firefighters’ Longevity Pay

In December 2022, firefighters for the City of Biloxi, Mississippi sued the City for withheld longevity payments in violation of the FLSA. In May 2023, the parties reached a tentative settlement agreement that the City would reinstate longevity payments to all City firefighters beginning on October

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LRIS on 06/07/2024

City Wrongly Offered OT Shifts To Patrol Officers Before Patrol Sergeants

The Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) is the exclusive bargaining representative for captains and sergeants in the City of Parma Heights, Ohio. The City’s patrol officers are in a separate bargaining unit and represented by a different union. The PBA and the City bargained a contract spa

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LRIS on 06/07/2024

Trial Court Improperly Dismissed Terminated Police Officer’s Retaliation Claim

Zachary Leonard was hired as a police officer in Burkburnett, Texas in 2005. He was a founding member of the Burkburnett Police Association and served multiple terms as an executive board member. In 2018, the Association identified morale issues and problems of leadership in the police department. L

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LRIS on 06/07/2024

Legal Holidays Compensable For WV Firefighters

In June 2019, 54 current and former firefighters employed by the City of Morgantown, West Virginia sued the City regarding their compensation for legal holidays under § 10a of West Virginia Code. The Legislature adopted § 10a to provide firefighters with “enhanced benefits.” It provides that if a fi

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LRIS on 06/07/2024

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Officers Challenge To Placement On Giglio List

Manuel Adams had an 18-year career with the Hanrahan Police Department (HPD) in Hanrahan, Louisiana, eventually reaching the rank of captain. He had an unblemished disciplinary record during his tenure with HPD. But that changed in October 2019, when HPD Chief of Police Robert Walker determined that

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LRIS on 06/07/2024

City Lawfully Refused To Turn Over Documents During Contract Negotiations

On September 1, 2021, Geoffrey Stone, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 319, sent a request for information to Patrick Hopkins, a business administrator for the City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On behalf of the Union, which represented the City’s 74 fire bureau emplo

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LRIS on 05/10/2024

Officers Were Not Speaking On Matter Of Public Concern In Joining Privacy Lawsuit

James Taylor and Sheldon Scott were police officers in South Bend, Indiana. Taylor began in 1993 and was promoted to detective in 2005. He received numerous disciplinary actions, warnings, and reprimands throughout his career for an assortment of issues – mostly report writing. Scott began working a

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LRIS on 05/10/2024

Arbitration Award Upheld, Granting Disability Benefits To CO

Justin Kerschner began working as a Corrections Officer in 2012, most recently at the State Correctional Institution at Frackville, Pennsylvania (SCI-Frackville). Kerschner was a member of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA), which maintained a collective bargaining agree

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