New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog : New Jersey Public Safety Employee Lawyer & Attorney : Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman Law Firm : Workers Compensation, Discipline Representation for Police & Firefighters : New Jersey

As reported by nj.com on January 27, 2011, the Jersey City Police Union has voted to approve the police contract for its officers. The vote tally for the approval was 341 for and 164 against according to city officials. There are 690 members of the union and, as such, 185 members did not cast a vote.

The Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association approved a new deal in a vote that took place from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on January 26, 201. The ratification averted the scheduled layoff of 82 officers. Had the layoffs went through, it would have cut the size of the police force by 10 percent from its current 830 members.   

The agreement still needs to be approved by the City Council, which is expected. Mayor Jeremiah Healy said, “We also want to thank the union leadership for their efforts in these long and sometimes difficult negotiations and we also want to thank the men and women of the Jersey City Police Department for not only supporting this agreement, but for the important work they do every day to keep our city safe.”

The terms of the agreement and the vote tally were not immediately available. Sources have told The Jersey Journal that the police union officials agreed to a one-week pay lag for the officers, which will save the city nearly $4 million this year. The officers would receive the one-week pay when they retire. In return for the concession, the officers gained two comp days this year, will receive an extra day’s pay when they retire, and the city agreed not to take away the officers’ $1300 a year uniform allowance.

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As reported in the Trenton Times on January 25, 2011, a judge has ordered Princeton Borough to reinstate a police officer who was suspended without pay in 2008 and to reimburse the officer for back pay and legal fees totaling an estimated $400,000.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg dismissed all charges against Sergeant Kenneth Riley related to allegations that he wrongfully accessed a police department video database of motor vehicle stops in January of 2008. Feinberg issued an order requiring the borough to reinstate Riley effective this week.

Riley allegedly reviewed a video of a police stop that involved a drive suspected of drunken driving. A sergeant and three patrolmen were involved in the stop, and two of the patrol officers were under Riley’s supervision. During the stop, the sergeant allowed the driver to urinate in bushes on private property. Riley learned about the incident and believed the sergeant had violated policy.

A borough officer for 17 years and sergeant since 2006, Riley was suspended with pay in March 2008 along with two other officers as part of an internal affairs investigation related to the access of the video database. He was indicted by a grand jury in September 2008 and the borough stopped paying him in late September of 2008.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office contended that Riley showed the footage to other officers in order to hurt the other sergeant’s standing in the department. Prosecutors claimed he was untruthful during questioning about when and why he accessed the database.

But, in November of 2009, a judge threw out the six-count indictment because Riley was authorized to access the database. Despite this finding, the Borough continued to pursue the case internally, racking up thousands of dollars more it would owe in back pay and legal fees. An administrative hearing officer upheld Riley’s suspension, which Riley then appealed in Superior Court.

Riley, who earned a salary of $103,706 annually, is owed about 28 months of pay, or more than $241,000, plus money he spent on health insurance and legal fees, for a total estimated to be about $400,000. Including the borough’s fees for its own lawyer, staff, and an administrative hearing officer, the case could cost borough taxpayers about $500,000.

Councilman Roger Martindell, a vocal critic of the borough’s handling of disciplinary matters, called the pursuit of disciplinary action against Riley “a colossal waste for borough taxpayers.” “It appears that the borough has spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in pursuit of disciplinary action against Sgt. Riley without a firm foundation for doing so,” he said.

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On January 20, 2011, a New Jersey Superior Court Judge rejected an attempt by various public employee unions to overturn pension changes for new government employees enacted early last year. The laws challenged required new employees to pay 1.5 percent of their salaries toward current health benefits and 1.5 percent of their pensions after they retire. The laws also limited pensions to full-time employees and capped payments of unused sick time to $15,000.

The decisions, released by the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, were largely expected.  The Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees all challenged the laws as vague and unconstitutional.  New Jersey’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, the Teamsters Union, and the Fraternal Order of Police argued the Legislature overstepped its authority and that these new laws amounted to an unlawful “taking” by the government.

Feinberg rejected these and other arguments and dismissed the lawsuits “with prejudice,” meaning that the unions could not bring another lawsuit again on the claim. Please click on the links below to read the decisions in their entirety.

CWA Decision

NJSPBA Decision

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As reported by nj.com on January 13, 2011, Governor Chris Christie proposed significantly higher health insurance premiums for hundreds of thousands of public workers in New Jersey, saying overly generous benefits are threatening to bankrupt the system.

Christie told a town hall audience in Bergen County that state and local workers, teachers, police, and firefighters must begin paying more for their medical and dental benefits if the system is to remain afloat. The health benefits fund is $67 billion shy of meeting its eventual obligations.

Christie wants benefits changes that make the health insurance system more like the private sector or the federal government, with employees paying about one-third of the costs of whatever benefits plan they choose. The government picks up the other two-thirds. That would amount to a significant increase from the 1.5 percent of salary employees now pay. A teacher earning $60,000 now pays $900 a year toward a plan that costs $22,000, Christie said. Under his new proposal, that teacher would contribute $7,333 a year for an identical plan. The changes also could result in inferior benefits, as some workers would be forced to accept plans with higher deductibles and co-pays or limited choice of doctors, to keep down costs.

Christie said health benefits for current workers and retirees cost New Jersey taxpayers $4.3 billion a year and growing. He said the State cannot afford to have worker benefits eating a larger and larger portion of state, local and school budgets. The Governor also renewed his call for changes to the pension system which include: raising the retirement age to 65, from 62, rolling back a 9 percent pension increase granted a decade ago and requiring all workers to contribute 8.5 percent of their salaries toward retirement, a higher portion than all but police and firefighters pay now. He said adopting major changes to the pension system this year would cut the funds’ $34 billion unfunded liability in half in 30 years.

As one can see, Governor Christie’s looming healthcare proposals will have a significant impact on New Jersey public safety employees going forward. The contributions that members currently pay could become significantly higher, while the level of benefits they currently receive could drastically decrease. Please continue to check this blog periodically to ascertain updates regarding the impending proposals.   

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