In response to the promise, National FOP President Gilbert Gallegos said, "Bill McCollum has long been a friend of law enforcement and the FOP in particular. We are enormously pleased that he has once again demonstrated his commitment to the men and women in law enforcement by agreeing to have a hearing on legislation protecting the due process rights of police officers." Gallegos also noted that the FOP had been working closely with the National Association of Police Organization (NAPO) on the proposed legislation.

Previously the FOP and other police labor groups have pushed a "bill of rights" for local police officers. Proponents believe that in the past such legislation was misunderstood to provide extra or special rights to law enforcement personnel. The new legislation, which is still being drafted, will be titled "State and Local Law Enforcement Discipline, Accountability and Due Process Act." According to FOP officials the proposed law would clarify existing judicially-created rights and establish minimum procedural protections for state and local police officers subject to serious disciplinary action. Political rights of officers would also be protected.

While a hearing on a proposed piece of legislation does not guarantee Congressional floor

In a related matter, the FOP, NAPO, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO, and the International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO, last month announced the introduction of a public safety bargaining bill in the 106th Congress. The bill, H.R. 1093, sponsored by Representatives Dale Kildee (D-MI) and Bob Ney (R-OH), tracks the language of legislation proposed in the previous session but not enacted.

The "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 1999," if passed, would grant state and local police officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical service personnel the right to reach and maintain agreements with management on pay, hours, and working conditions through the collective bargaining process. While strikes would be prohibited, the proposed legislation does not require binding interest arbitration. 

Collective bargaining for law enforcement officers has been a top legislative priority for all of the national police groups for many years. Under current federal law, private sector employees enjoy the right to engage in collective bargaining. However, public sector labor rights are largely regulated by state law. Passage of H.R. 1093 would mandate public sector meet and confer rights in those jurisdictions not already covered by a comparable state statute.

The bill was introduced with 128 co-sponsors and referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Prospects of passage are unknown at this time.

Krantz compiled the rankings based upon several variables including income, stress, physical demands, potential growth, job security, and work environment. He drew data from the census, Department of Labor Statistics, professional organizations and telephone surveys.

Overall, the best job, according to Krantz, is that of web site manager. The worst job? Oil field laborer. Police officer was sandwiched in the rankings between photojournalist and air traffic controller. Fire fighter was rated 216th, largely

If there is good news about occupying the 197th slot, it is that being President of the United States is rated 32 positions lower! President was rated as the job with the highest stress and worst working environment. Other unusual rankings include major league baseball player at 202 and NBA basketball player at 205. The low ratings for these occupations were due largely to lack of job security. 

The fourth edition of the Jobs Rated Almanac is published by the National Business Employment Weekly/Wall Street Journal and is available at most bookstores and through on-line booksellers.

Commissioner Safir dismissed the PBA action as a ploy of interim president James Savage who is a candidate in the group's first seriously contested election in 18 years. "This action is not about me but about a hotly contested union election and the inability of the current PBA to fulfill the expectations of its members," Safir said.

The Police Commissioner has come under fire for allegedly taking a trip to the Oscars at the expense of a cosmetics manufacturer, sending officers to investigate a woman who ran into his wife's car, and having detectives chauffeur his daughter's wedding party. While city officials are

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has the sole authority to remove the Police Commissioner, expressed support for Safir. 

The no confidence vote is the latest action in an increasingly complex situation at the NYPD. Giuliani and Safir have been under political attack from a cross-section of community leaders for their handling of the death of Amadou Diallo. Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, was hit with 19 of 41 gunshots fired by four white officers last February. The officers, who have been suspended without pay for the maximum allowable period of 30 days, have pled not guilty to indictments for second-degree murder and reckless endangerment. The action outraged many politicians and civil rights leaders, resulting in sit-ins and other protests at police headquarters. A former mayor and a member of Congress were arrested during peaceful sit-ins. 

Safir was named Police Commissioner following a career as assistant director of the U.S. Marshal's Service (USMS). He is widely credited with making major improvements in the Marshal's Service. 

NAPO conducted the survey under the auspices of its National Law Enforcement Officers' Rights Center. The report is believed to be the only current national compilation of law enforcement labor laws available. Copies of the survey are available for $19.95 from NAPO by calling (202) 842-4420. 

"It's a precautionary thing. There are so many unknowns and supervisors in Albany want to make sure everything is OK," Major Michael McManus told the Buffalo News newspaper last

The Y2K problem arises because most computers read only the last two digits in dates. Some computers may read the year 2000 as 00 and treat it as the year 1900, causing malfunctions. Since computers are involved in everything from financial accounting records to airplane navigation systems, some experts have predicted a social crisis with the arrival of the new year. Other experts have been more temperate, suggesting the problem will prove to be a minor annoyance at worst. 

HELD: The FLSA generally requires employers to pay employees at overtime rates for work in excess of 40 hours per work week. However, the law contains a special exemption for public employers who employ police officers and fire fighters for established work periods up to 28 days. Regulations permit a public employer who establishes a 28-day work period not to pay overtime rates to employees who work 171 hours or less in the particular work period. Here, the officers claim that the city never officially established the 28-day work period because the 1985 memorandum was never made public and is allegedly ambiguous. In addition, the officers argue that the 28-day work period was not established because the city continued to pay them overtime on a daily basis, not on the 28-day work cycle basis. Trial court properly found, however, that the city does not forfeit its right to the FLSA exemption by paying overtime more generously than federal regulations require. In addition, regulations do not require that the establishment of the 28-day work period be done by some form of public declaration. The memorandum from the city manager in this case was sufficient to establish the 28-day work schedule. Affirmed for city denying overtime. [Milner v. City of Hazelwood, Missouri, 165 F.3d 1222 (8th Cir. 1999)]

Supreme Court update

The Huffman decision leaves in place a lower court determination that even though the county had a policy of requiring officers to be armed 24 hours per day, it is not liable for the actions of a drunken off-duty officer in shooting and killing another bar patron. 

In Colwell, three police officers with bad backs failed to establish that they were protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or that requiring two of the officers to pass a physical examination prior to being promoted violated the ADA.

Finally, in Stahulak, the court rejected a Chicago fire fighter's efforts to challenge an arbitration decision regarding his compliance with the city's residency requirement. The inaction leaves in place a lower court determination that under Illinois law only the union or a public employer may appeal arbitrator's rulings to the courts. The probationary fire fighter lacked legal standing to bring his claim.

Cases of interest

Overtime

HELD: One of the claims raised by Kilbourn is that the revocation of his occupational disability pension affects a vested right. Kilbourn's pension is the result of a Colorado statute. Although statutes are not presumed to create private contractual rights, they may constitute a contract subject to the protection of the contract clause of the Constitution if the statutory language manifests a legislative intent to create an enforceable contractual right. Only vested contractual rights are constitutionally protected from statutory impairment. However, there are no bright line tests to determine what constitutes a vested right or when that right accrues. Certainly, under certain circumstances, an individual may have a vested right to his disability pension. In this case, Kilbourn knew that his continued eligibility for occupational disability benefits was contingent upon his inability to perform the duties of a police officer. He could not reasonably have expected such benefits to be permanent, particularly after his re-employment in a position having duties directly involved with the provisions of police protection. The relevant statute defines "occupational disability" as an "incapacity to perform assigned duties." "Assigned duties" are specific tasks designated by the employer for a specific position. The statutory scheme indicates a legislative intent to revoke occupational disability benefits for individuals who return to employment in such positions. Trial court was correct in holding that occupational disability benefits, unlike pension benefits based upon age and service requirements, are not vested, but subject to divestment in the event the occupational disability ceases to exist. Affirmed for pension board revoking disability pension. [Kilbourn v. Fire and Police Pension Association, 971 P.2d 284 (Colo. App. 1999)]

HELD: Allen asserts that the department's rule is unenforceable because it conflicts with Georgia self-defense and arrests statutes. Georgia's self-defense statute provides that a person is justified in using deadly force if he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself. The statute further mandates that any rule or regulation or policy of any municipality that is in conflict with the self-defense statute is null and void. Similarly, the state's arrest statute provides that police officers may use deadly force to apprehend a suspected felon when the officer believes the suspect poses an immediate threat of physical violence to the officer. This law also states that any regulation of a governmental entity that prohibits a peace officer from using the degree of force that is allowed by statutory and case law to apprehend a suspected felon is void. The scrutiny of the self-defense statute and arrest statute reveals that neither automatically prohibits the

HELD: Generally, a person must exhaust all administrative remedies before petitioning a court for judicial review. Failure to exhaust such remedies creates a jurisdictional defect and a court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider the claim. Spoon's employment with the village was terminated after the ILETB determined that he had not fulfilled his in-service training requirements. Indiana statute permits the ILETB to require minimum in-service training. The statute also sets out a grievance procedure to be followed for challenging an action by the ILETB. Spoon counters, however, that irrespective of the grievance procedure he is entitled to the protections of state

HELD: The Fireman's Rule does not apply in this case. The officer was in the street, not because of any negligence of the bus driver, but because of negligence by a student who the officer was ordering to move her vehicle from a no-parking zone. Neither the presence of the bus nor any act or omission on the bus driver's part prompted the officer to be out in the street fulfilling his duty to direct traffic at the given location. Thus, the basis for application of the Fireman's Rule is missing. In Georgia, public safety employees cannot recover for injuries caused by the very negligence that initially required their presence in an official capacity and subjected them to harm. The bus driver nor his employer instigated the need for police services. Nothing the driver did or failed to do caused the officer to step out in the street. He was already there when the driver's alleged negligence took place. Reversed for injured

HELD: Under Louisiana law, a permanent civil servant cannot be subjected to disciplinary

HELD: Under New Hampshire law, every employer is required to provide a reasonable opportunity for any employee who so requests to inspect the employee's personnel file and provide the employee with a copy of all or part of the file. State statute defines personnel file as any or all personnel records created and maintained by an employer and pertaining to an employee unless the

HELD: Pennsylvania statute grants police officers the right to bargain collectively over terms and conditions of their employment. The courts have ruled that an issue is presumptively bargainable if it bears a rational relationship to the employee's duties. However, where a managerial policy concern substantially outweighs any impact the issue has on employees, the issue will be deemed a managerial prerogative, rendering the issue non-bargainable. Here, the township's method of tracking police officer performance bears a rational relationship to the officers' duties. The labor board concluded that the township's managerial policy substantially outweighs any impact the tracking method may have on the officers. The board is correct in this

HELD: In evaluating a breach of contract claim, a court must determine whether a valid contract exists, whether a party has violated its terms, and whether any such violation is material such that it has resulted in damages. When the contract is unambiguous, determining the meaning presents a question of law. Here, the contract specifies separate positions of "police officer" and "police alarm operator," with different scales of pay. On the other hand, the contract does not define or delineate the scope of underfilling. An examination of the facts reveals the city has circumvented the only reasonable reading of the collective bargaining agreement. The officers have been assigned to work as police alarm operators on a permanent basis, but have been denied the rank and the additional compensation. To allow the city to simply require officers to perform the duties of police alarm operator without compensating them as required under the contract would permit the employer to avoid the consequences of the collective bargaining agreement. Requiring officers to work permanently as police alarm operators without promoting them or paying them violates the bargaining pact. One party may not reclassify employees in an effort to circumvent contractual obligations. Affirmed for officers. [Pasko v. City of Milwaukee, 588 N.W.2d 642 (Wis. App. 1998)]