| FOP News & Information (01.25.10) |
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FEBRUARY MEETING REMINDER The February 2010 meeting of the Fraternal Order of Police, Crescent City Lodge, will be postponed until Thursday, February 18, 2010, due to the Mardi Gras season. The meeting will be held on that date at Our Lady of the Rosary School cafeteria, located at 1342 Moss Street, with entrance and parking off of Esplanade Ave. Dinner will be served at 6:30PM and the meeting will start at 7:00PM. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MEETING The Fraternal Order of Police was represented at yesterday's Civil Service Commission meeting by Secretary-Treasurer Jim Gallagher, FOP Attorney Eric Hessler, and FOP Employee Representative Donovan Livaccari. There were three items of interest on the Commission's business agenda. Injured on Duty Standard The Fraternal Order of Police petitioned the Commission for a change in the language of Civil Service Rule VIII, Section 2.9(a) governing Injured on Duty status for commissioned police officers. The current Injured on Duty standard reads, in part, "When any commissioned police personnel sustains an accidental bodily injury while actively engaged in police training or in the process of pursuing, apprehending, arresting, transporting or booking a suspect, such employee may be granted sick leave with pay which will not diminish his or her ordinary sick leave accumulation...". The Fraternal Order of Police requested that the phrase, "while responding to an emergency call" be added to the list of covered activities for IOD classification, to assure that those officers, injured in automobile accidents while responding to code 2 emergency calls, would be properly classified as Injured on Duty, rather than Worker's Compensation. In addition, because Civil Service staff had previously ruled that police recruits were not "commissioned police personnel", and therefore not covered by the Injured on Duty standard, the Fraternal Order of Police requested a further change to the Rule which would allow for a police recruit, injured while in training at the academy, to be carried up to 60 days on IOD status. This proposal would force a change to the police department's current policy of demoting injured police recruits to the position of "police tech" and carrying the injured recruit on worker's compensation until ready to return to full duty. NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley appeared at the Commission meeting and stated that he supported both suggested changes. Both suggested changes were unanimously passed by the Commission, and will be incorporated into Civil Service Rule VIII, Section 2.9(a). Administrative Reassignments The Fraternal Order of Police petitioned the Civil Service Commission for the right to appeal when an officer has been placed on Administrative Reassignment for a period exceeding 120 days. NOPD Operations Manuel, Chapter 13.1 describes Administrative Reassignment as providing "for an alternative to suspension when it becomes necessary to immediately relieve an employee from duty for an alleged infraction of department regulations, violation of law, or for administrative reasons". It is the position of the Fraternal Order of Police that Administrative Reassignments, in some instances, are disciplinary in nature, and therefore should be appealable to the Civil Service Commission. NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley appeared before the Commission and testified against the FOP's petition. The Civil Service Commission failed to pass a motion supporting the Fraternal Order of Police's position, and the petition failed. However, the Commission did leave open the option of hearing arguments in individual cases, where an officer feels that he/she has been placed on Administrative Reassignment unjustly, or has been ordered to remain on Administrative Reassignment beyond a reasonable period of time. Any member desiring additional information on the subject of Administrative Reassignment may contact FOP attorney Eric Hessler at (504) 234-3738. Provisional Positions Civil Service Director Lisa Hudson petitioned the Commission to extend, for one year, the appointment of all city employees holding their positions as "provisional appointments". This request would include all NOPD Police Majors, with the exception of Major James Treadaway, who was appointed to the position of Police Major through the normal civil service testing procedures. Deputy Chief Raymond Burkart also holds the certified civil service position of Police Major. Civil Service Rule VI, Section 5.3 states "Temporary appointments to positions in the classified service may be made for short periods without compliance with the provisions of this part requiring certification, as follows: (a) Provisional appointments. When a vacancy is to be filled in a position of a class for which there are no eligibles available for certification, the appointing authority, with prior approval of the Director, may make a provisional appointment....Such provisional appointment shall terminate upon the regular filling of the vacancy...". As it has each year for the past three years, the Fraternal Order of Police objected to the extension of the provisional appointments of Police Majors. It is the position of the Fraternal Order of Police that, if the New Orleans Police Department wishes to maintain the civil service position of Police Major, a civil service test should be given for the position, and all eligible NOPD employees should be allowed to compete for those positions through the Civil Service testing process. In response to our objection, Civil Service Director Lisa Hudson stated that the Civil Service staff was working on a future Police Captain's promotional examination, and after that exam has been completed would consider a promotional examination for the position of Police Major. The request to extend the provisional appointments was passed unanimously by the Civil Service Commission.
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