WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – District of Columbia police are suing the district and Mayor Muriel Bowser over laws passed in the wake of George Floyd’s death during an arrest in Minneapolis.
The D.C. Police Union complains in an August lawsuit that a certain provision takes away their ability to negotiate discipline procedures.
The Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Second Emergency Amendment Act of 2020, passed unanimously by the D.C. Council, includes the following subsection:
“All matters pertaining to the discipline of sworn law enforcement personnel shall be retained by management and not be negotiable.
“This subsection shall apply to any collective bargaining agreements entered into with the Fraternal Order of Police/Metropolitan Police Department Labor Committee after September 30, 2020.”
This makes the D.C. police union the only union our of more than 40 in the district to be unable to negotiate with management regarding the discipline of its members, the lawsuit said.
“(T)he District has separated sworn law enforcement personnel into a new, distinct class, distinguishing them from all other District employees and has discriminated against that class by stripping them of their right to bargain with management concerning discipline,” the lawsuit says.
“The Defendants’ motivation for the Act is not grounded in logic, data, sound policy or reason, but is instead a deliberate and reactionary concession to anti-police rhetoric and protests being carried out by a small number of citizens, many of whom are not even District residents.”