August 1, 2016
By Jim Cline and Erica Shelley Nelson
This article is the 4th in a multiple part series covering the rights your injured and disabled members have and how you, as a union or guild representative, can best assist them. Over the next two to three months, we’ll be publishing, in various segments, information on how state and federal laws protect your members who are hurt or otherwise unable to work. We’ll cover topics including disability discrimination law, the FMLA, job protection rights under the CBA, workers compensation, disability benefits, and the right to bring a civil lawsuit.
Filed Under: Disability, Legal Protections, Workers Compensation
July 8, 2016
By Jim Cline and Erica Shelley Nelson
As we indicated in another recent blog, LEOFF II personnel retain their right to sue their own employer for harm caused by employer negligence. This is one subject among many concerning Washington’s public safety personnel for which there is a significant lack of accurate information. It is in the face of that breach of knowledge that we’re releasing our upcoming “Helping the Injured or Disabled Member: A Guidebook for the Washington Law Enforcement Union Representative.” More on that book and the free training we are providing with the book’s roll-out later this year.
Filed Under: Disability Discrimination
July 8, 2016
By Jim Cline and Erica Shelley Nelson
This article is the 2nd in a multiple part series covering the rights your injured and disabled members have and how you, as a union or guild representative, can best assist them. Over the next two to three months, we’ll be publishing, in various segments, information on how state and federal laws protect your members who are hurt or otherwise unable to work. We’ll cover topics including disability discrimination law, the FMLA, job protection rights under the CBA, workers compensation, disability benefits, and the right to bring a civil lawsuit.
Filed Under: Disability Discrimination, Workers Compensation
July 1, 2016
By Jim Cline and Erica Shelley Nelson
This article is the 1st in a multiple part series covering the rights your injured and disabled members have and how you, as a union or guild representative, can best assist them. Over the next two to three months, we’ll be publishing, in various segments, information on how state and federal laws protect your members who are hurt or otherwise unable to work. We’ll cover topics including disability discrimination law, the FMLA, job protection rights under the CBA, workers compensation, disability benefits, and the right to bring a civil lawsuit.
Filed Under: Disability Discrimination, Workers Compensation
July 1, 2016
By Jim Cline and Erica Shelley Nelson
We have often said, “Knowledge is Power” and seemingly nowhere is that more true than in connection with the rights you and your members have when they are injured and disabled. Our experience in representing public safety labor organizations throughout the state is that there is a shortage of thorough or even accurate information about the rights of injured or disabled officers.
Filed Under: Disability Discrimination, Workers Compensation
June 3, 2016
By Erica Shelley Nelson and Sarah Burke
In Plancich v. County of Skagit, a Skagit County deputy sheriff was discharged for abuse of authority after he participated in a traffic stop that recovered property stolen from his relatives. The deputy alleged that the investigation into this conduct was retaliation for his support of an opponent in a Sheriff’s election and filed a First Amendment claim. The Federal District Judge Robert Lasnick found that the deputy had a triable issue because the investigation and his support of the opposing candidate occurred closely together and the Department had a history of discriminatory treatment for officers who supported the losing Sheriff’s candidate. But the Court dismissed the First Amendment claim, accepting the County’s argument that an intervening arbitration decision finding just cause for the discharge which also held that there was no retaliatory claim precluded the First Amendment lawsuit under the doctrine of “collateral estoppel.”
Filed Under: Free Speech Rights
June 3, 2016
By Erica Shelley Nelson and Sarah Burke
In a precedent setting case, in Kitsap County v. Kitsap Cty. Corr. Officers’ Guild Inc., the Court of Appeals held that the County committed an unfair labor practice when it laid off two corrections officers without negotiations with the Kitsap County Corrections Guild. Facing the Guild’s demand to bargain, the County refused to bargain over the decision, asserting that the layoffs were not a mandatory subject of bargaining The Court held that negotiations must precede the lay off decision.
Filed Under: Duty to Bargain
April 28, 2016
By Erica Shelley Nelson and Sarah Burke
In Celis v. City of Lakewood, a Hispanic officer alleged that he was constructively discharged after he resigned pending a disciplinary determination after his Loudermill hearing. The Court found that the officer’s fear of potential termination and decommission was not enough to amount to constructive discharge and granted the City’s motion for summary judgment.
Filed Under: Discrimination and Retaliation
April 15, 2016
By Jordan Jones
In King County (Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 587), PERC held that ATU Local 587 committed a ULP when it submitted a permissive subject of bargaining to interest arbitration. Examiner De La Rosa found that King County’s decision to move the Millwrights from the Vehicle Maintenance Section to the Power & Facilities Section was a managerial prerogative and therefore a permissive subject of bargaining.
Filed Under: Bad Faith Bargaining
April 15, 2016
By Jordan Jones
In City of Walla Walla, PERC held that the Walla Walla Police Guild did not waive by inaction its right to bargain a department policy change.
