In a decision that could upend any plans to disrupt the opening of school across Massachusetts, the state labor relations board ruled on Tuesday, September 8, 2020, that Andover teachers engaged in an unlawful strike when they refused to enter school buildings last week for training. The decision affirmed the Andover School Committee's position that [...]
An Employer May Refuse To Bargain Where There Is Ambiguity As To The Identity Of Bargaining Representatives As we continue to see a trend of Unions calling for Union observers to come in and pack the bargaining sessions, Employers should know that, absent ground rules to indicate otherwise, Unions cannot insist on having silent observers [...]
The Department of Labor Relations (DLR) got it right in finding no bargaining obligations where an employer sought to maintain cleanliness at the workplace. In City of Boston, 45 MLC 126 (March 15, 2019), the City implemented new food guidelines in the operations room without prior notice to the Union. The Union filed a charge [...]
In Springfield School Committee, 44 MLC 129 (February 16, 2018), a bargaining unit member working under a voluntary resignation agreement that restricted her to working in the reference library and warned her she would be dismissed for insubordination, charged the Committee with interfering with her right to seek mutual aid and protection from the Union when the Principal further [...]
A Presentation to the Massachusetts Municipal Association Annual Meeting January 19, 2018 By Philip Collins, Esquire JLMC: Process, Substance, Success A. Process Issues: What Gets Certified for Arbitration On vs. Off The Record . . . Topics vs. Proposal B. Substantive Issues: Keys To Success At Arbitration Settle Other Units Know The Landscape Of [...]
Failure to Ask Questions Deprived Employer of Discretion To Deny Personal Leave Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations Arbitrator Tim Hatfield arguably substituted his judgement for that of a School Superintendent in finding that a School District violated the collective bargaining agreement by denying a psychologist’s request to use three consecutive personal days. In Spencer-East Brookfield [...]
Can a firefighter call in “sick” while on vacation, and thus preserve another vacation day? What if there is medical documentation? Veteran readers might wonder, what is the parties’ practice? And if the “practice” is that a grand total of two firefighters had done this – in 1992, but not before or since – that [...]
In a Town of Arlington case (41 MLC 272 (2015) recently decided by a hearing officer at the Department of Labor Relations (DLR), the Town was deemed to have an obligation to bargain with the Arlington Police Patrolmen’s Association about its decision to use an assessment center as the tool for ranking candidates for promotion [...]
The Department of Labor Relations (DLR) recently issued a ruling that the City of Springfield could not install GPS devices in city owned trucks without bargaining with the union. City of Springfield, 41 MLC 383 (2015). The GPS trackers record location, idle time, distance driven, stops and speeding events, and give the employer access to [...]
In City of Woburn, a Department of Labor Relations (DLR) arbitration decision, a DLR arbitrator upheld the four month suspension of a police officer for deliberate violation of an order to stay away from his girlfriend, who was facing trial for distribution of oxycodone. But, the Mayor’s order that the officer apologize to the Mayor [...]