Police Union Bats .500 on Grievances

The East Haven Police Commission voted Tuesday that it is not fair to give a police officer an administrative day off and then take it back after he used it.

That was the commission’s decision on a grievance brought by the East Haven police union, AFSCME Council 15 Local 1662, regarding a day off given to Lt. Michael DeRosa to appear at a civil lawsuit hearing recently.

Sgt. John Miller, president of Local 1662, said the lieutenant was given the paid administrative day, but four days later it was rescinded and he was ordered to use a vacation day instead.

That didn’t seem wrong to members of the commission, who combed the police contract with Miller unable to find anything that said the department could not rescind an administrative day.

The contract does say once a vacation day is approved it could not be rescinded, and Miller said no officer had ever had a paid administrative day taken away like this before.

That didn’t move the commission members, who appeared ready to deny the grievance, until they learned that the paid administrative day was rescinded the day after it was already used.

The police commissioners agreed that didn’t seem fair, so they voted to give DeRosa his vacation day back.

But the union wasn’t pleased with the commission’s decision on another grievance involving probationary Police Officer Nick Palladino.

The officer, who is the son of the East Haven Board of Education chairman, is a newly hired member of the department. Acting Police Chief Gaetano J. Nappi said Palladino spent almost two years as a Los Angeles police officer before returning to East Haven when his brother contracted a fatal illness.

Palladino has returned to law enforcement, following in the footsteps of his father, a retired East Haven officer. But Chief Nappi said he hasn’t completed all the training required in Connecticut, so he is still taking Police Academy courses in Bridgeport, Waterbury and other locations.

Local 1662 filed a grievance because the department would not let Palladino use a police car to go to the training courses.

"This officer is told to report at 8 a.m. at the police department each morning," said Miller. He said that should allow him to take a town-owned vehicle or receive reimbursement for his mileage.

But Chief Nappi disagreed, noting that on some days Palladino reports directly to the academy training location.

Since Palladino still has the status of a recruit, the Police Commission voted to deny the grievance.