CRJ 625_Week 1_DQ 1

Employment and Labor Law

Prior to beginning work on this discussion read the Court Orders Boston Police to Reinstate Fired Officer (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Mason & Mashberg, 2015) and How Police Unions and Arbitrators Keep Abusive Cops on the Street (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Friedersdorf, 2014) online articles.

Not all organizational leaders and employee groups always behave in each other’s best interests. This has resulted in the promulgation of employment and labor laws, and policies to help guide behaviors and ensure management and labor are protected. Often, management argues that these laws and policies inhibit their ability to lead in the ways they would like, while labor often argues that they are not sufficiently protected from the vagaries of management. Analyze this week’s readings that explain the basic issues of employment and policy law in correctional and law enforcement organizations and the discipline of officers being overturned, whether by the courts or in conjunction with provisions of employment contracts.

For your initial post you will take on the role of an administrator in an urban police department. One of your seasoned officers has had numerous complaints brought against him by citizens about the use of excessive force in contacts and/or arrests. As a result of the complaints, there have been a number of lawsuits filed against the department that have resulted in a sizable financial burden to the community as these lawsuits have been settled in the favor of the plaintiffs. In cases like this in the past, the typical disciplinary actions ranged from written reprimands to suspensions of the officers in question. On occasion, officers have been terminated for similar acts. The senior officer in question has received numerous written reprimands and a least one suspension for use of excessive force. In your role as an administrator, you must decide what action to take in this matter. Explain the basic issues of employment and policy law that will affect your decision to either retain or terminate the senior officer. Analyze the Constitutional mandates pertinent to law enforcement organizations with regard to this situation and use this analysis to help formulate your decision to retain or terminate. Explain your course of disciplinary action against this officer, up to and including whether you have decided to terminate the officer in question. Provide a rationale for your decision including support from the required sources and any additional sources you may wish to cite.