Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Update to the Last Post
Just wanted to update that it's been a week since our last post on here and EHPD is still diligently checking employee's temperatures with a known faulty thermometer. I just personally finished my work week and never checked in above an indicated 93 degrees, and one day even came in as low as 89 degrees. So unfortunately the Administration's game of pretending they're looking out for us continues.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Security Theater
A few weeks ago Chief Sansom put together a "COVID-19 task force" that meets several times a week to come up with ways to help safeguard our employees. At first a few productive and helpful things came out of these meetings such as getting disinfectant wipes in the cruisers, closing the lobby to the public, answering minor calls over the phone and limiting unnecessary contact between squads as we wrote here in an earlier post. However like most of these types of efforts go, after the initial batch of helpful ideas came out the pressure was still on them to come up with new ideas. So they started delving deeper to justify their existence with new, less helpful ideas.
When we first met with this task force the first thing we noticed was that of the six people on it, three Deputy Chiefs and three Lieutenants, not a single one of them is directly involved with the Patrol Division. Patrol are of course the only ones actually on the front lines out dealing with potentially sick people in the public. So it just seems like common sense to bring someone into these meetings who's actually involved day to day and has some perspective on what those employees are going through and need. But instead Chief Sansom picked six people who all work upstairs far removed from the street, this seems like an odd choice to us.
Here are some of the measures the Union presented that were shot down; as we previously wrote about on here we proposed that employees who had a potential exposure or fell ill be given Administrative leave and/or covered under Worker's Compensation instead of being forced to use their own accrued time off, which the Chief refused. Fortunately for us President Trump and Congress stepped up with legislation to help give us some extra time off specifically for Coronavirus related issues as of April 1st. While we're really glad the Federal Government is helping us out, it's still disappointing to know that our own Chief and Mayor refused to do anything to help us without being forced to by the Feds. Of course even with the Feds forcing their hand the Town still had to take a swipe at our Union by telling people that if you did use any of that Federally guaranteed time off they would count it against your earned days. They just can't help themselves when they see an opportunity to screw over their employees.
Another idea we brought to the Chief was to allow anyone in a public facing position who falls into a defined high risk group due to medical condition or age, to have the option of voluntarily going on Administrative Duty temporarily so they can work in house and potentially reduce their risk of exposure. As far as we know this was never put into effect, probably because it would incur overtime costs, though probably not much as I don't think we have too many people who fall into these risk groups.
One of the task force's ideas that got put into motion last week is the checking of temperatures at the beginning of your shift and sending people home if they have a fever. This is ineffective for a few reasons, the most obvious one being that the thermometer they bought for doing this task is wildly inaccurate. Most of our employees are being checked in with temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's, some as low as 83 degrees. Of course if that was anyone's actual body temperature they'd be dead of hypothermia long before the virus got them. Knowing how the Town of East Hartford works I wouldn't be surprised if they just walked across the street to Dollar Tree and picked this piece of junk out of the clearance bin with the 3 for $5 DVDs so we can save money to buy more laptops for non-essential employees to work from home.
It's also been well documented and well known at this point in the pandemic that a person can carry and spread the virus without having a fever and many people are in fact completely asymptomatic. And even when you do show symptoms you may not have a fever until you're several days in, so a fever is hardly the defining symptom. Checking temperatures makes sense at a store or other public facility where you have unknown people walking in and out, but in a workplace with the same small group of people every day it really accomplishes nothing other than annoying your employees and creating an atmosphere of distrust. This is especially true when you're doing it with a broken thermometer that gives laughably inaccurate readings. Most people can feel when they have a fever and our members are trustworthy enough that they wouldn't come to work knowingly sick and put their co-workers and their families at risk.
The task force has also gone so far as to put up occupancy limit signs in certain rooms in the building like the report writing room, gym, and Watch Commander's office and putting obscure tape markings on the floor. We understand what the intent is with this but the reality is we're all sharing cars, touching the same door handles, railings, car books, keyboards, keys, paperwork, phones. And then once we're out on the street we're going to calls together in cramped apartments and stairwells, sometimes we even roll around on the ground with suspects together. Close contact and cross contamination between employees is inevitable in our line of work. Trying to put these restrictions in place inside the building just creates an awkward work environment and puts more stress on people during an already stressful time.
Of course none of this is about being effective or actually accomplishing anything. It's security theater meant to make it look like something is being done, similar to what the TSA does at airports. In the case of the TSA they at least accomplish the goal of creating an intimidating process that acts as a deterrent. But viruses don't get intimidated or deterred, you either have it or you don't. We think the better approach is to trust your employees and work with them instead of treating them like suspects or idiots. We hope the task force will consider next time they come up with an idea, how effective will it actually be and realize that sometimes you've done all you can for the time being and can take your foot off the accelerator. Don't just do things because you feel like you need to do something or because someone else is doing it.
Overall we think all of our members are doing a great job handling this situation so far with common sense and caution while still doing effective Police work. Hopefully we'll all be through this soon and back to our regular routines.
When we first met with this task force the first thing we noticed was that of the six people on it, three Deputy Chiefs and three Lieutenants, not a single one of them is directly involved with the Patrol Division. Patrol are of course the only ones actually on the front lines out dealing with potentially sick people in the public. So it just seems like common sense to bring someone into these meetings who's actually involved day to day and has some perspective on what those employees are going through and need. But instead Chief Sansom picked six people who all work upstairs far removed from the street, this seems like an odd choice to us.
Here are some of the measures the Union presented that were shot down; as we previously wrote about on here we proposed that employees who had a potential exposure or fell ill be given Administrative leave and/or covered under Worker's Compensation instead of being forced to use their own accrued time off, which the Chief refused. Fortunately for us President Trump and Congress stepped up with legislation to help give us some extra time off specifically for Coronavirus related issues as of April 1st. While we're really glad the Federal Government is helping us out, it's still disappointing to know that our own Chief and Mayor refused to do anything to help us without being forced to by the Feds. Of course even with the Feds forcing their hand the Town still had to take a swipe at our Union by telling people that if you did use any of that Federally guaranteed time off they would count it against your earned days. They just can't help themselves when they see an opportunity to screw over their employees.
Another idea we brought to the Chief was to allow anyone in a public facing position who falls into a defined high risk group due to medical condition or age, to have the option of voluntarily going on Administrative Duty temporarily so they can work in house and potentially reduce their risk of exposure. As far as we know this was never put into effect, probably because it would incur overtime costs, though probably not much as I don't think we have too many people who fall into these risk groups.
One of the task force's ideas that got put into motion last week is the checking of temperatures at the beginning of your shift and sending people home if they have a fever. This is ineffective for a few reasons, the most obvious one being that the thermometer they bought for doing this task is wildly inaccurate. Most of our employees are being checked in with temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's, some as low as 83 degrees. Of course if that was anyone's actual body temperature they'd be dead of hypothermia long before the virus got them. Knowing how the Town of East Hartford works I wouldn't be surprised if they just walked across the street to Dollar Tree and picked this piece of junk out of the clearance bin with the 3 for $5 DVDs so we can save money to buy more laptops for non-essential employees to work from home.
It's also been well documented and well known at this point in the pandemic that a person can carry and spread the virus without having a fever and many people are in fact completely asymptomatic. And even when you do show symptoms you may not have a fever until you're several days in, so a fever is hardly the defining symptom. Checking temperatures makes sense at a store or other public facility where you have unknown people walking in and out, but in a workplace with the same small group of people every day it really accomplishes nothing other than annoying your employees and creating an atmosphere of distrust. This is especially true when you're doing it with a broken thermometer that gives laughably inaccurate readings. Most people can feel when they have a fever and our members are trustworthy enough that they wouldn't come to work knowingly sick and put their co-workers and their families at risk.
The task force has also gone so far as to put up occupancy limit signs in certain rooms in the building like the report writing room, gym, and Watch Commander's office and putting obscure tape markings on the floor. We understand what the intent is with this but the reality is we're all sharing cars, touching the same door handles, railings, car books, keyboards, keys, paperwork, phones. And then once we're out on the street we're going to calls together in cramped apartments and stairwells, sometimes we even roll around on the ground with suspects together. Close contact and cross contamination between employees is inevitable in our line of work. Trying to put these restrictions in place inside the building just creates an awkward work environment and puts more stress on people during an already stressful time.
Of course none of this is about being effective or actually accomplishing anything. It's security theater meant to make it look like something is being done, similar to what the TSA does at airports. In the case of the TSA they at least accomplish the goal of creating an intimidating process that acts as a deterrent. But viruses don't get intimidated or deterred, you either have it or you don't. We think the better approach is to trust your employees and work with them instead of treating them like suspects or idiots. We hope the task force will consider next time they come up with an idea, how effective will it actually be and realize that sometimes you've done all you can for the time being and can take your foot off the accelerator. Don't just do things because you feel like you need to do something or because someone else is doing it.
Overall we think all of our members are doing a great job handling this situation so far with common sense and caution while still doing effective Police work. Hopefully we'll all be through this soon and back to our regular routines.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
EHPOA Fundraiser on Hold
We've asked our fundraising company to suspend their phone and mail operations on our behalf for the time being with so many people out of work. We invite anyone who wants to help us out to instead donate new, unused PPE (Masks, gloves, gowns, face shields etc...) if you have any extra that you can part with. You can bring it to the Police Station, the lobby is currently closed to the Public but if you call the non emergency line (860-528-4401) they can have someone meet you in the parking lot. Thank you.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Department Measures Related to the Corona Virus [UPDATED]
Information has been a bit scarce and there seems to be some confusion going on around the Department. We're just putting up this post wth the little that we currently know so that folks can utilize the comments section to share their concerns and comments about the measures the Town has taken so far.
Originally we had heard that if any employees got sick that it would be covered under worker's comp no questions asked to encourage people not to come to work sick and possily spread it. But the Mayor's email yesterday stated that if employees get sick they'd have to use their own accrued time off and provide proof to the Town that they were sick, we assume in the form of a doctor's note. I think that's a bad idea as people may come to work anyway to avoid using up their time off. Or they will be going to the doctor unecessarily even though they have mild symptoms as most with the virus do just to get a note, which could cause unnecessary traffic at Doctor's offices who should be focusing on more critical patients.
I'd like to see, at least for first reponders, that we just get covered under worker's comp if we get sick for the duration of this issue. Of course if you can prove you got sick at work you should be covered anyway, but I don't see how anyone can definitively prove that. Especially in a Town where they're so aggressive about worker's comp cases that they tried to deny coverage to employees who got run over by cars on duty by claiming they had pre-existing conditions.
The Mayor also stated that all Town buildings would be closed to the public, but as of today the lobby of our building is still open to everyone. We're not sure if that policy will apply to us or not.
We've seen other area PDs instituting policies of allowing Officers to take reports for minor complaints over the phone instead of sending an Officer to someone's home unnecessarily. I think this is a great idea as it limits exposure in people's homes and is something that larger Departments do even under normal circumstances. So far we haven't heard anything about EHPD implementing this kind of policy.
We have been issued some PPE kits and there's disinfecting wipes in all the cars. Obviously this is a rapidly evolving situation and we expect the Admin is still working on getting more done in the coming days. We know they read this blog, so use the comments section to relay your opinions and concerns about what you think they're doing right, and what more you think they can do.
UPDATE 3-20-2020......
In the past week we've seen the Chief authorize Officers to respond to non emergency calls via telephone like many other Departments. We think that's a great move to limit exposure. The lobby at our Headquarters has also been closed to the public which is especially important at EHPD where our building layout requires crossing the lobby to get from one end of the building to the other unless you use the basement or second floor. We'd like to applaud the Admin for taking these measures.
Unfortunately the Admin refused to cover time off for employees who have been exposed saying that they will have to use their own accrued time for any missed work or be docked pay if they don't have any accrued time. Their opinion seems to be that they shouldn't have to cover you for free because if you get sick that's your problem. While we agree that under normal circumstances folks should use their own time, these are not normal circumstances and the Department should be doing everything they can to encourage employees who may have been exposed to voluntarily come forward and stay home without worrying about a personal cost to prevent the potential spread of sickness through the Department and community we are in contact with. This seems like trying to pinch pennies when one slip up could end up costing thousands, it just doesn't seem worth it.
The Chief did say that when this was all over they'd try to seek Federal or State reimbursement to get people their time off back, but that's not a sure thing and seems unnecessary when he could just choose to put anyone on Administrative leave without any red tape and then seek reimbursement for that later on. Of course that means the Town has to come out of their own pocket initially instead of ours and they'd take the hit if they cant get reimbursed down the line.
That's all we have for now. Stay safe out there everyone.
Originally we had heard that if any employees got sick that it would be covered under worker's comp no questions asked to encourage people not to come to work sick and possily spread it. But the Mayor's email yesterday stated that if employees get sick they'd have to use their own accrued time off and provide proof to the Town that they were sick, we assume in the form of a doctor's note. I think that's a bad idea as people may come to work anyway to avoid using up their time off. Or they will be going to the doctor unecessarily even though they have mild symptoms as most with the virus do just to get a note, which could cause unnecessary traffic at Doctor's offices who should be focusing on more critical patients.
I'd like to see, at least for first reponders, that we just get covered under worker's comp if we get sick for the duration of this issue. Of course if you can prove you got sick at work you should be covered anyway, but I don't see how anyone can definitively prove that. Especially in a Town where they're so aggressive about worker's comp cases that they tried to deny coverage to employees who got run over by cars on duty by claiming they had pre-existing conditions.
The Mayor also stated that all Town buildings would be closed to the public, but as of today the lobby of our building is still open to everyone. We're not sure if that policy will apply to us or not.
We've seen other area PDs instituting policies of allowing Officers to take reports for minor complaints over the phone instead of sending an Officer to someone's home unnecessarily. I think this is a great idea as it limits exposure in people's homes and is something that larger Departments do even under normal circumstances. So far we haven't heard anything about EHPD implementing this kind of policy.
We have been issued some PPE kits and there's disinfecting wipes in all the cars. Obviously this is a rapidly evolving situation and we expect the Admin is still working on getting more done in the coming days. We know they read this blog, so use the comments section to relay your opinions and concerns about what you think they're doing right, and what more you think they can do.
UPDATE 3-20-2020......
In the past week we've seen the Chief authorize Officers to respond to non emergency calls via telephone like many other Departments. We think that's a great move to limit exposure. The lobby at our Headquarters has also been closed to the public which is especially important at EHPD where our building layout requires crossing the lobby to get from one end of the building to the other unless you use the basement or second floor. We'd like to applaud the Admin for taking these measures.
Unfortunately the Admin refused to cover time off for employees who have been exposed saying that they will have to use their own accrued time for any missed work or be docked pay if they don't have any accrued time. Their opinion seems to be that they shouldn't have to cover you for free because if you get sick that's your problem. While we agree that under normal circumstances folks should use their own time, these are not normal circumstances and the Department should be doing everything they can to encourage employees who may have been exposed to voluntarily come forward and stay home without worrying about a personal cost to prevent the potential spread of sickness through the Department and community we are in contact with. This seems like trying to pinch pennies when one slip up could end up costing thousands, it just doesn't seem worth it.
The Chief did say that when this was all over they'd try to seek Federal or State reimbursement to get people their time off back, but that's not a sure thing and seems unnecessary when he could just choose to put anyone on Administrative leave without any red tape and then seek reimbursement for that later on. Of course that means the Town has to come out of their own pocket initially instead of ours and they'd take the hit if they cant get reimbursed down the line.
That's all we have for now. Stay safe out there everyone.
Personnel Appeals Postponed Indefinitely
We just got word yesterday that the three PAB hearings we had scheduled over the next 3 weeks have all been postponed indefinitely due to the Mayor closing Town Hall to evening meetings (Because we all know viruses only come out at night.). We were hoping to be able to wrap this issue up with these three hearings and have a decision by the end of the month, but now we may be pushed into June or even July depending on how long this goes on. I'm sure once Town Hall is re-opened there will be a lot of people vying for time to reschedule all sorts of hearings. Obviously we'd like to get this wrapped up as soon as possible, but that may be out of our hands at this point. We'll keep everyone updated when we find out more.
Friday, March 13, 2020
March Meeting [CANCELED]
Our March regular meeting will be held on Monday the 30th at 1630 in the usual spot. We will discuss updates to the Sergeant's test process as well as the latest with contract negotiations. Our second set of proposals should be exchanged by then so we will have new information. We have a PAB meeting afterwards at 1730 so we will be keeping the meeting brief and to the point. Hope to see you all there.
UPDATE: The Executive Board has decided to cancel this month's meetings. All of our contract meetings have also been canceled as well as PAB and pretty much everything else we're working on so there wouldn't be much to share anyway. We'll use this blog and lineups to keep people in the loop for the time being.
UPDATE: The Executive Board has decided to cancel this month's meetings. All of our contract meetings have also been canceled as well as PAB and pretty much everything else we're working on so there wouldn't be much to share anyway. We'll use this blog and lineups to keep people in the loop for the time being.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Postponements and Reschedulings.
Just to update everyone since we've been quiet on here for a couple weeks. The PAB meeting that was scheduled for February 20th was cancelled about 2 hours before it was supposed to start because Town Hall realized they had failed to post notice of it as required by law. The irony here of course is that the hearing was going to closed to public due to the "confidential" documents anyway. But they still are required to post notice to the public that there was going to be a hearing that they wouldn't be allowed to attend because the Town doesn't want anyone, especially the voting, tax paying public, to know the truth about what happened with the Sergeant's test. Of course we shouldn't be surprised that a Town government so incompetent that it can't manage to administer a simple promotional exam without it being mired in scandal and legal action also can't manage to adhere to it's own rules on public meeting notices.
The next PAB meeting isn't scheduled until March 19th at 1730. Again that meeting will most likely be closed to the public.
While we're on the topic of Town Officials shooting themselves in the foot with their own incompetence, at the last PAB hearing before the meeting was closed to the public it was accidentally revealed that the Town showed the "confidential" documents to the lawyer that's representing them in their CHRO defense. This was a point of contention when we were arguing the language for the protective order over the test documents. The Union asked to also be allowed to use the documents in our CHRO case but the Town threw a fit and opposed that saying that these documents weren't relevant to that case (even though the test results are clearly mentioned in the affidavit). The judge decided that the documents could only be used in the PAB hearings and if either party wanted to use them in another venue we'd have to come back and negotiate another order for that specific venue. So by showing these "confidential" documents to their other lawyer that's representing them in the CHRO case, the Town most likely violated the protective order that they asked for in the first place. You really can't make this stuff up, East Hartford must have hired it's attorneys at a job fair when Ringling Brothers went out of business.
On another note we were also scheduled for mediation in our CHRO case for February 25th but that was cancelled by the plaintiff at the last minute, though we were never notified of the cancellation so we showed up anyway. We're not sure right now what or when the next step in that process will be and we don't currently have anything scheduled at this time.
During this process we were made aware of an email from one of the Town's attorneys to the CHRO where she blames the Union and the PAB appellants for causing delay to the process by exercising their legal rights to an appeal and the Union's right to a grievance. These are complete lies as the Union has made several efforts to expedite this process so we can get the Department back to functioning like normal, a desire that the Town should share if they weren't desperately trying to hide what really happened. As we've documented here over the last several months, the Town has done everything in it's power to intentionally delay and draw out this process unnecessarily long. Just last week we made another offer to try and expedite the grievance which the Town again refused. And as I just wrote above, the most recent delay was caused by the Town failing to post the meeting notice, so trying to put the blame on the Union for the delays is a ridiculous proposition.
We are currently scheduled to begin the grievance process for the Sergeant's exam at the Labor Board on March 11th but that may be getting postponed as well as we're still waiting for a decision on the MPP that relates to it.
Otherwise we have a few contract meetings scheduled with the Town over the coming weeks including the first one tomorrow. We have received the Town's initial proposals and shared them at the last meeting. We can't post them here due to a provision in the ground rules but if any member wants to know what they are feel free to ask any member of the committee which is posted on the board in the break room. Please refrain from referencing them in the comment section as we agreed to keep them private during the negotiations process.
We'll keep this space updated but since we're limited in what we can speak about on multiple ongoing matters it may be a while. In the meantime try to attend the meetings as we will be able to discuss more there particularly in regards to contract negotiations.
The next PAB meeting isn't scheduled until March 19th at 1730. Again that meeting will most likely be closed to the public.
While we're on the topic of Town Officials shooting themselves in the foot with their own incompetence, at the last PAB hearing before the meeting was closed to the public it was accidentally revealed that the Town showed the "confidential" documents to the lawyer that's representing them in their CHRO defense. This was a point of contention when we were arguing the language for the protective order over the test documents. The Union asked to also be allowed to use the documents in our CHRO case but the Town threw a fit and opposed that saying that these documents weren't relevant to that case (even though the test results are clearly mentioned in the affidavit). The judge decided that the documents could only be used in the PAB hearings and if either party wanted to use them in another venue we'd have to come back and negotiate another order for that specific venue. So by showing these "confidential" documents to their other lawyer that's representing them in the CHRO case, the Town most likely violated the protective order that they asked for in the first place. You really can't make this stuff up, East Hartford must have hired it's attorneys at a job fair when Ringling Brothers went out of business.
On another note we were also scheduled for mediation in our CHRO case for February 25th but that was cancelled by the plaintiff at the last minute, though we were never notified of the cancellation so we showed up anyway. We're not sure right now what or when the next step in that process will be and we don't currently have anything scheduled at this time.
During this process we were made aware of an email from one of the Town's attorneys to the CHRO where she blames the Union and the PAB appellants for causing delay to the process by exercising their legal rights to an appeal and the Union's right to a grievance. These are complete lies as the Union has made several efforts to expedite this process so we can get the Department back to functioning like normal, a desire that the Town should share if they weren't desperately trying to hide what really happened. As we've documented here over the last several months, the Town has done everything in it's power to intentionally delay and draw out this process unnecessarily long. Just last week we made another offer to try and expedite the grievance which the Town again refused. And as I just wrote above, the most recent delay was caused by the Town failing to post the meeting notice, so trying to put the blame on the Union for the delays is a ridiculous proposition.
We are currently scheduled to begin the grievance process for the Sergeant's exam at the Labor Board on March 11th but that may be getting postponed as well as we're still waiting for a decision on the MPP that relates to it.
Otherwise we have a few contract meetings scheduled with the Town over the coming weeks including the first one tomorrow. We have received the Town's initial proposals and shared them at the last meeting. We can't post them here due to a provision in the ground rules but if any member wants to know what they are feel free to ask any member of the committee which is posted on the board in the break room. Please refrain from referencing them in the comment section as we agreed to keep them private during the negotiations process.
We'll keep this space updated but since we're limited in what we can speak about on multiple ongoing matters it may be a while. In the meantime try to attend the meetings as we will be able to discuss more there particularly in regards to contract negotiations.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Update on PAB Hearings
Our next PAB hearing is scheduled for February 20th at 1700 at Town Hall. As of the last hearing the confidential portion has begun so from now until I assume the end of the process the hearings will be closed to the public so our members who aren't witnesses or appellants will no longer be able to attend. We'll keep members updated as best we can without violating the agreement.
February Meeting
Our February regular meeting will be on Thursday the 20th at 1600 at the usual spot. We have a PAB meeting immediately afterwards at 1700 so we're going to keep the meeting brief and will just go over the latest items we've been working on.
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Personnel Appeals Board Hearing February 10th
We have another PAB hearing this Monday at 1700. It's looking like the Town will use their court order to close it off to the public so none of their dirty secrets get out. So unfortunately our members who aren't a party to the order will be unable to attend, and neither will members of the media who have come to a few of the hearings.
The first portion of the hearing may be open to the public while DC Davis testifies, but after that we think it will be closed. So if you want to attend for that portion you may be able to, but we can't guarantee it.
The first portion of the hearing may be open to the public while DC Davis testifies, but after that we think it will be closed. So if you want to attend for that portion you may be able to, but we can't guarantee it.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Union Meeting Tomorrow
Just a reminder that our monthly meeting is tomorrow at 0830 at the usual spot. We have a lot to cover so if you're interested and/or have questions feel free to attend.
Saturday, January 25, 2020
EHPOA and Town Open Labor Contract Negotiations
Yesterday the EHPOA Negotiating Committee had our first meeting with the Town to open negotiations for a new labor contract to replace the current one set to expire on June 30th 2020. This meeting was just to set the ground rules for negotiations and set future meeting dates, no actual contract items were discussed.
One of the ground rules both sides agreed to is that we will conduct all negotiations in private. This means we will not be able to post anything regarding what is being negotiated on this blog since it's a public forum. We are free to discuss all the details with our members at our meetings and at lineups however. So if you want to know what's going on with negotiations, you're going to have to come to the monthly meetings where we will be giving updates. We'll get a list of committee members posted on the Union bulletin board in the Patrol breakroom as well.
If you have any ideas that you'd like addressed in negotiations and haven't already passed them on to the Union Vice President, please do so by February 4th.
One of the ground rules both sides agreed to is that we will conduct all negotiations in private. This means we will not be able to post anything regarding what is being negotiated on this blog since it's a public forum. We are free to discuss all the details with our members at our meetings and at lineups however. So if you want to know what's going on with negotiations, you're going to have to come to the monthly meetings where we will be giving updates. We'll get a list of committee members posted on the Union bulletin board in the Patrol breakroom as well.
If you have any ideas that you'd like addressed in negotiations and haven't already passed them on to the Union Vice President, please do so by February 4th.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Summary of January 22nd Personnel Appeals Board Hearing
Thanks again to everyone who came to the hearing to show their support for our members. This hearing picked up where the last one left off with the Appellant's testimony. The second Appellant testified to his reasons for filing his appeal which were pretty much in line with the first Appellant who testified at the last hearing. He went over his experience and test preparation, but otherwise there wasn't anything new revealed.
The Appellants also called a Lieutenant from our Department as a witness. He testified that when he took a Sergeant's exam several years ago he too had questions about the reasoning behind the low passing score he received on his oral board exam. In that case he contacted HR Director Santiago Malave and asked to see his score sheets, which he was allowed to do without any questions or having to file any official requests. He also testified that he learned he could do this from another Sergeant who told him that she had been able to see her oral board results and suggested he do the same. This of course stands in stark contrast to the experience the three Appellants had in this case where they were lied to and then denied the ability to review their paperwork, even after filing the official paperwork as instructed by Mr. Malave.
Because we were limited in time at this hearing, that's all we were able to cover. There is another hearing on Monday the 27th at 1700 were the Appellants should be able to wrap up their initial case and the Town will begin theirs, but at this time we don't know if that hearing will be open to the pubic or not.
After the hearing the Appellants, the Union President and Vice President finally received copies of the documents that we've been seeking regarding this matter. We haven't had time to review everything in depth yet since there's a large number of pages, but we'll be working on getting that done and meeting amongst ourselves in the coming days. As we detailed in a previous post we are prohibited from disclosing the contents of the documents to anyone not involved in this process due to a court order. But we can say that after what we've seen so far in a brief overview of the documents, the Union absolutely intends to continue to pursue our grievance on this issue and our assistance to the Appellants for all the reasons we've previously stated here and at our meetings.
The Appellants also called a Lieutenant from our Department as a witness. He testified that when he took a Sergeant's exam several years ago he too had questions about the reasoning behind the low passing score he received on his oral board exam. In that case he contacted HR Director Santiago Malave and asked to see his score sheets, which he was allowed to do without any questions or having to file any official requests. He also testified that he learned he could do this from another Sergeant who told him that she had been able to see her oral board results and suggested he do the same. This of course stands in stark contrast to the experience the three Appellants had in this case where they were lied to and then denied the ability to review their paperwork, even after filing the official paperwork as instructed by Mr. Malave.
Because we were limited in time at this hearing, that's all we were able to cover. There is another hearing on Monday the 27th at 1700 were the Appellants should be able to wrap up their initial case and the Town will begin theirs, but at this time we don't know if that hearing will be open to the pubic or not.
After the hearing the Appellants, the Union President and Vice President finally received copies of the documents that we've been seeking regarding this matter. We haven't had time to review everything in depth yet since there's a large number of pages, but we'll be working on getting that done and meeting amongst ourselves in the coming days. As we detailed in a previous post we are prohibited from disclosing the contents of the documents to anyone not involved in this process due to a court order. But we can say that after what we've seen so far in a brief overview of the documents, the Union absolutely intends to continue to pursue our grievance on this issue and our assistance to the Appellants for all the reasons we've previously stated here and at our meetings.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Personnel Appeals Board Hearing January 22nd
The next PAB Hearing is Scheduled for Wednesday January 22nd from 1700-1900. We have a fixed end time due to another group using the room after us. This hearing will still be open to the public as we will not be using the "confidential" documents at that hearing since we may not have them yet and/or will not have had time to fully review them, so members are still free to come to observe and show their support if you wish.
Friday, January 17, 2020
EHPOA Wins Limited Release of Sergeant's Oral Board Documents in Superior Court
As most of you are aware we have been fighting with the Town over viewing the documents related to the contested Sergeant's test for 7 or 8 months now in multiple venues. The Union has consistently argued that if we were allowed to see the documents and everything appeared legitimate as the Town claims it is, then this issue would go away and we could move forward with promotions. Instead the Town has fought us tooth and nail and spent tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep these supposedly benign documents hidden from anyone's view despite past practice of transparency. In the meantime the custodian of the documents suddenly put in for retirement which has further raised suspicion that maybe they're not so benign after all.
One of the venues we've been fighting in is Superior Court where we filed a motion to release the documents for use the Personnel Appeals Board hearings. Last week when the attorneys went before the judge there was no question on his part that the candidates should be allowed to see these documents and use them in their appeals. But he wanted to come up with some sort of protective order over the documents to satisfy the Town's desire to keep them shrouded in secrecy. Yesterday we received the judge's decision on the matter which is as follows;
The Union's attorney, President, Vice President, and the three appealing candidates will be allowed to view all documents related to the test unredacted.
The seven non-appealing candidates will be allowed to view all documents pertaining only to their own individual tests unredacted.
Witnesses and outside experts may view only the content of the documents pertinent to their testimony.
All parties allowed to view the documents will have to sign a confidentiality agreement to not disclose the information contained in the documents to anyone not listed in the above paragraphs. They must also agree to only use this information for the PAB hearings and may not use them for any other hearing without going through this court process again. Additionally once the hearings are over we must return the documents to the Town for destruction, never to be seen again.
The last main point, which was a point of contention between the Union and the Town, is that when these documents are being discussed in the normally public PAB hearings, the hearing will be made private with only those given access to the documents allowed to be in the room. The Union has pushed for these hearings to remain open to the public and members of the Department because we believe the only cure for corruption in Government is transparency, without it nobody can be assured that the process is fair. The Town unfortunately doesn't share this belief and made a big push to close the hearings to the public and the judge ultimately sided with them.
There's been a lot of speculation over the last few months about what these documents will show, fueled by the Town's irrational grabbing at straws to hide them, and now we'll finally have the answer. Whether they reveal corruption or nothing at all really doesn't matter at this point, the damage has been done. The employees here at EHPD have lost all faith in our Town's HR Department to conduct a competent, impartial, and transparent exam and promotional process. Whenever a new HR Director is finally appointed they're going to have a real challenge on their hands to rebuild trust and fix the complete mess Santiago Malave has made of the Department.
We are also still arguing for the release of these documents through an MPP for use during the grievance process since this order only allows us to use them in the PAB hearing. we have a hearing scheduled for that at the labor board later in the month.
The next PAB Hearing is Scheduled for Wednesday January 22nd from 1700-1900. We have a fixed end time due to another group using the room after us. This hearing will still be open to the public as we will not be using the documents at that hearing since we may not have them yet and/or will not have had time to fully review them, so members are still free to come and show their support.
One of the venues we've been fighting in is Superior Court where we filed a motion to release the documents for use the Personnel Appeals Board hearings. Last week when the attorneys went before the judge there was no question on his part that the candidates should be allowed to see these documents and use them in their appeals. But he wanted to come up with some sort of protective order over the documents to satisfy the Town's desire to keep them shrouded in secrecy. Yesterday we received the judge's decision on the matter which is as follows;
The Union's attorney, President, Vice President, and the three appealing candidates will be allowed to view all documents related to the test unredacted.
The seven non-appealing candidates will be allowed to view all documents pertaining only to their own individual tests unredacted.
Witnesses and outside experts may view only the content of the documents pertinent to their testimony.
All parties allowed to view the documents will have to sign a confidentiality agreement to not disclose the information contained in the documents to anyone not listed in the above paragraphs. They must also agree to only use this information for the PAB hearings and may not use them for any other hearing without going through this court process again. Additionally once the hearings are over we must return the documents to the Town for destruction, never to be seen again.
The last main point, which was a point of contention between the Union and the Town, is that when these documents are being discussed in the normally public PAB hearings, the hearing will be made private with only those given access to the documents allowed to be in the room. The Union has pushed for these hearings to remain open to the public and members of the Department because we believe the only cure for corruption in Government is transparency, without it nobody can be assured that the process is fair. The Town unfortunately doesn't share this belief and made a big push to close the hearings to the public and the judge ultimately sided with them.
There's been a lot of speculation over the last few months about what these documents will show, fueled by the Town's irrational grabbing at straws to hide them, and now we'll finally have the answer. Whether they reveal corruption or nothing at all really doesn't matter at this point, the damage has been done. The employees here at EHPD have lost all faith in our Town's HR Department to conduct a competent, impartial, and transparent exam and promotional process. Whenever a new HR Director is finally appointed they're going to have a real challenge on their hands to rebuild trust and fix the complete mess Santiago Malave has made of the Department.
We are also still arguing for the release of these documents through an MPP for use during the grievance process since this order only allows us to use them in the PAB hearing. we have a hearing scheduled for that at the labor board later in the month.
The next PAB Hearing is Scheduled for Wednesday January 22nd from 1700-1900. We have a fixed end time due to another group using the room after us. This hearing will still be open to the public as we will not be using the documents at that hearing since we may not have them yet and/or will not have had time to fully review them, so members are still free to come and show their support.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)