Labor Law

Nine members of IAFF Local 3217, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Professional Firefighters, have filed suit against the Authority and three chief officers seeking an injunction to prevent retaliation against them for trying to bring to light safety related staffing concerns. The nine firefighters are the elected officers and executive board of the local.

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A Minnesota city that eliminated all five of its career firefighters as part of a restructuring in 2015, has agreed to pay those firefighters $3.9 million in damages. The City of Brainerd’s agreement to compensate the firefighters brings to a close a seven-year legal-saga.

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The president of a Wisconsin International Association of Firefighters local was terminated last week over a social media post that criticized understaffing over the Memorial Day weekend. Spencer Nett, president of IAFF Local 5026, was terminated by the Dells-Delton EMS Commission on August 4, 2022.

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In the episode of Fire Law Roundup for June 13, 2022, Brad and Curt discuss a sexual harassment case involving a volunteer fire department; a collective bargaining case on military leave; a discrimination suit by a firefighter over an interracial marriage; a unilateral change to a COVID sick leave policy; and the settlement of a LODD suit brought against the manufacturer of gas piping that ruptured starting a fire.

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The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court has ruled that the City of Newark must comply with an arbitrator’s ruling requiring the city to continue military leave benefits to deployed firefighters. That ruling essentially restores the city’s past practice that was put in place after 9-11.

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A Houston firefighter who was accused of making a racially disparaging remark about black women, and retaliated against when it was discovered he was married to black woman, has filed suit alleging race discrimination and discrimination on account of his interracial marriage. Nicholas Dahl filed suit against the city and Houston Professional Firefighters.

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Youngstown Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 312, has filed suit against the City of Youngstown seeking an order compelling the city to arbitrate implementation of a change to quarantine procedures for COVID 19 exposures. The suit follows three years of labor-management discord resulting in over 45 grievances, and three unfair labor practices charges against the city.

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The former treasurer for Detroit Firefighters IAFF Local 344 has been sentenced to serve one year in federal prison following her guilty plea to embezzling over $200,000. Verdine Day was also ordered to pay restitution of $220,043 to Local 344, and will be on supervised release once her prison term is complete.

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A US Magistrate judge has recommend that a union free-speech lawsuit filed by six Port Houston firefighters be dismissed. The firefighters were disciplined in 2020 following an external investigation into allegations of harassment.

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The City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Firefighters IAFF Local 1 have reached a compromise on ending a residency requirement for firefighters. The residency requirement was incorporated into the city charter in 2013 for firefighters and police officers.

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A Jamaica firefighter who held a one-man protest over a change in shifts has been suspended. Sergeant Leo Bennett held the protest yesterday, claiming that most of the firefighters in Jamaica prefer to continue working the 24-hour shifts they have been working since COVID began.

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A lawsuit filed by five members of the New Haven Fire Department claiming the city failed to comply with an MOU on promotions, has been dismissed. Harry Bosley, Ernest Jones, Josue Vega, Jr., Christian Cordero, and Ian Cordero claimed the city was not complying with promotional timelines specified in a 2017 memorandum of understanding between IAFF Local 825 and the city.

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An Idaho fire district has filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that would block the processing of a grievance over the termination of a probationary firefighter. The suit was filed by the Mica Kidd Island Fire Protection District naming IAFF Local 5005 as the defendant.

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Two Idaho firefighters have filed suit claiming they are being harassed and discriminated against by their fire department in violation of the First Amendment and the state’s “right to work” law. Douwe De Boer and Klint Porter filed suit naming the Orchard Combat Training Center Fire Department, the State of ldaho, the ldaho Military Division, and four chief officers.

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