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Workplace Rules and Practices 13-12
Similarly, the Appeals Court upheld, in Mello v. Mayor of Fall River, the
dismissal of a tenured civil service employee on the grounds of her moving
outside of the city in violation of the residency requirement for city
employees. 87 Moreover, the Court in Mello did not even require the City
Council to make explicit findings, in enacting the ordinance, as to the
importance and benefits to the city of the municipal employee residency
requirement. 88
In a 2003 case involving the Brockton Police Department, the Appeals
Court held that residency clause in collective bargaining agreement, in
which parties agreed that previously enacted ordinance requiring law
enforcement officers to be city residents would be enforced only against
officers hired after specified date, was lawful, as applied to officers hired
prior to agreement’s date.
§ 8 TRANSFERS
The Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC) statute lists the right to
transfer police oficers as a mater of “inherent managerial policy”.
Although the wording is not clear, it appears that at least in firefighter
situations, “the subject mater of transfer shal not bewithin the scope of
arbitration, provided, however, that the subject matters of relationship of
seniority to transfers and disciplinary and punitive transfers shall be
within the scope of arbitration.” The transfer cases which the LRC has
decided have not involved police or fire service situations.
A public employer is free to transfer employees at will, as long as: 1) the
motivation for the transfer was not related to the employee’s union
activities, 89 and 2) the transfer was not in violation of the collective
bargaining agreement. Thus, the employer may not discriminate against
an employee with respect to his or her union activities by transferring him
or her. 90 Also, at least in non-public safety situations, if the employer has
entered into an agreement with the union or has been subject to an
arbitration award with respect to transferring employees, the employer
may not violate the agreement. 91
In the education context, the involuntary transfer procedure for teachers
is not a “hiring decision” under the education reform act, but a proper
subject for a collective bargaining agreement. 92
PRACTICE POINTERS
In many ways, the exercise of the rights of transfer and assignment
appear similar. A chief has traditionally used the power to transfer
employees as an informal disciplinary tool. At least in firefighter cases,
Commonwealth of Massachusetts