Sergeant Jeffrey Tagmyer, a Pittsburgh police officer, was subpoenaed as a witness by his union, the Fraternal Order of Police, to testify in a discipline grievance arbitration for another officer, Sergeant Brian Elledge. After the initial arbitration hearing was continued, City Assistant Solicitor
Passaic County in New Jersey employs sheriff’s officers and corrections officers represented by three Policemen’s Benevolent Association locals (PBAs). Collective bargaining agreements that were in effect from 2007 through 2014 provided that “[u]pon retirement, the Employer will continue to provide
In July 2018, the Whidbey News-Times reported that the City of Langley, Washington, had fired Police Chief David Marks in connection with a use of force incident from November 2017. Later that month, Eric Hood submitted a Public Records Act (PRA) request to the City. His request stated:“Please discl
Gregory Garcia was a New Jersey police officer employed by the Wharton Police Department. Following a search of his residence, he was charged with multiple firearms-related offenses. On November 14, 2022, he entered a guilty plea to possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine in violation of
Claudia Cass was hired in 2006 as a corrections officer for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. In December 2022, during a period of low staffing, she worked a shift that she believed fell below the prison’s “critical minimum” staffing level. Several days later, she emailed the prison warde
Julie Copeland, a police officer employed by the City of Redmond, Oregon, challenged discipline imposed after her involvement in a high-speed vehicle pursuit, alleging that the City retaliated against her for protected whistleblower activity and engaged in related tortious conduct. The Oregon Court
The Ninth Circuit reinstated a First Amendment retaliation claim brought by Pleasanton, California, Police Department (PPD) Officer Peter McNeff, holding that he plausibly alleged that Police Chief David Swing terminated him because of protected political expression. The Court reversed the distric
Marilyn McBride, a Prairie State College police officer in Illinois, returned from a lengthy medical leave in March 2025 to find she had been placed at the bottom of her bargaining unit’s shift seniority list. Both the College and her representative, the Illinois Council of Police (ICOPs), maintaine
A Melrose, Massachusetts, firefighter who also served as an officer in the Air National Guard challenged the City of Melrose’s interpretation of Massachusetts General Laws c. 33, § 59(a), which requires participating public employers to provide paid military leave.The operative facts were undispu
In August 2019, a Jersey City police lieutenant hosted a pig roast at his home, where he drank six to eight beers. An argument ensued with his girlfriend over leftover food and drinks. During the dispute, the lieutenant stated, “Today is your day,” retrieved his shotgun from a safe and, as his girlf
The Missouri Supreme Court suspended attorney Ryan Christopher McCarty from the practice of law for disclosing confidential client information after his termination as associate general counsel for the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD). McCarty began working for the KCPD in June 2022 and was term
Editor’s Note: This is a companion case to the case covered in the article “Wisconsin Deputy Warden Properly Fired For Denigrating Muslims” on p. 3 of the September 2025 issue of Public Safety Labor News.Richard Schneiter began his career with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections in 1977 as a cor
The Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment against Thomas Ray Fleming, a former Boise Police Department lieutenant, holding that a reasonable jury could find he was constructively discharged in retaliation for protected whistleblower activity under the Idaho Protection of Public Employees Act (IPPE
Charles Bozzo was terminated from his position as a corrections officer for the Michigan Department of Corrections in July 2019 after a coworker accused him of harassment. He challenged his termination through his union’s arbitration process, which ended with an arbitrator ruling against him on Marc
For nearly a decade, a public Google document titled “The Church and the End Time,” written by the Jail Administrator for the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office in Iowa, Dean Naylor, sat online. Therein, Naylor detailed his post-tribulation Rapture beliefs, predicting an impending world war that he a
A former police department employee’s unfair labor practice charges against her union were dismissed as untimely after a New York PERB Director ruled that the statute of limitations began when the union first clearly refused to represent her, not when it ignored her later, repeated requests.Sanja Dr
The Policemen’s Benevolent Labor Committee repeatedly sought information from the City of East St. Louis, Illinois, throughout bargaining between the parties in late summer and fall of 2022. The requests, sent on August 4, sought department headcounts by division, the current city budget, correspond
John Holguin worked as a corrections officer for the City of Henderson, Nevada, for eleven years. Holguin contracted COVID-19 in June 2021 after close contact with an ill coworker. He was hospitalized twice; once for initial treatment and again for a 23-day inpatient stay involving hypoxia, pneumoni
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled in favor of a firefighter seeking workers’ compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder, finding that his experience of twice performing unsuccessful CPR on infants constituted an “abnormal working condition.” The Commonwealth Court reversed the Worker
Marcos Padilla, an eighteen-year veteran correctional officer at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, entered Building A of the prison and found that the standard security equipment was not in operation. He walked past the inactive machines into a secure area known as B Control, where the d
In 2021, the Detroit Police Lieutenants & Sergeants Association filed four separate grievances on behalf of Sherell Stanley against the Detroit Police Department. One, Grievance 21-014, sought six hours of overtime pay she claimed she was owed. Two others, Grievance 21-006 for a back injury and Gri
In June 2022, Mary White, a deputy correctional officer with the Will County Sheriff’s Department in Illinois, was terminated. The termination came just two months after she had completed workers’ compensation paperwork, which she had filed due to complications stemming from a December 2020 COVID-1
A Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board hearing examiner issued two companion decisions on August 21, 2025, together finding that the Jenkintown Borough, Pennsylvania, Police Department and Police Chief Thomas Scott committed multiple unfair labor practices under the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act
Karyn Stanley joined the Sanford, Florida, Fire Department in 1999 and served for nearly two decades. In 2016 she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease but continued working for two more years until the progression of her condition forced her to retire on disability in 2018. At the time she was hi