New Haven fire union sues over 911 call center appointment
By Rich Scinto, New Haven Register, Conn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Briscoe agreed to settle his lawsuit against the city for
Briscoe sued the city over the same lieutenant promotion test that was the subject of the now-famous Ricci v. DeStefano lawsuit that went to the
Briscoe's legal argument was that he was unfairly passed over for promotion because he was the top scorer on the oral portion of the exam, but scored a 59 on the written portion. He claimed the test was racially biased.
Briscoe and the city settled the lawsuit for
The decision didn't sit well with
Mayor
Fire union President Lt.
"There are between 120,000 and 150,000 calls that come into that dispatch center every year, and how many are life and death?" Kottage said. "You are putting a pump driver in charge of that office with no experience."
Kottage also said he had nothing personally against Briscoe.
City spokesman
"In this decision, the City tried to ensure that this Local 825 (fire union) member was adequately protected, but if the leaders of Local 825 believe additional protections for this member are necessary, the City is certainly interested in discussing and resolving the matter," he said in a statement.
There is also a question about the change to Briscoe's hours. Firefighters don't work a 9-to-5 Monday-Friday type of job, Kottage said. It takes 212 hours before a firefighter is eligible for time-and-a-half pay.
Briscoe will work a 35-hour-per-week position, with anything over that qualifying for overtime, according to Harp's letter. The weekly schedule will be similar to that of members of the
Briscoe's temporary transfer will end on
He will remain a member of the fire union during his temporary assignment and his salary will be drawn from the
Kottage said Briscoe's position as a firefighter now has to be filled with other personnel, most likely at an overtime rate. The department is already down to what has been described as a critical staffing shortage.
The decision to sue wasn't the first step and Kottage said he had wanted to resolve the matter out of court.
"There was no competitive testing, it's wrong when the union is blind-sided and now we will get a judge's declaratory judgment to see who is right," he said.
The police union executive board is upset over the decision for another set of reasons. President
"It's a labor issue and the police union's position is, we wanted someone from our end representing everybody," he said.
The expertise of a police supervisor who has been out in the field would help, especially in critical situations in which a civilian dispatcher might not know what an officer would need in terms of resources or backup, he said.
Local 3144 President
She said she would be reviewing whether Peet's rights as a collective bargaining member were violated and if they were to move to protect them, even that requires legal action.
Call
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