NPH attorney Kevin Buck recently represented the Ayer Police Superior Officers Association, NEPBA Local 32 in a successful grievance arbitration against the Town of Ayer.  The arbitrator found that the Town had been in violation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement when it calculated the Officer’s deductions towards their health insurance premiums.

The  Union’s position was that the Town was contractually obligated to pay 75% of an indemnity type coverage or, if an employee selects another coverage, the Town must pay the equal dollar amount towards the alternative coverage not to exceed 90%.  In this particular case, if an employee chose another insurance plan, the numbers happened to worked out so that the Town would have to contribute the maximum 90% of the premium, leaving the employee to contribute 10%.   Attorney Buck argued that the CBA language regarding insurance premium contributions was clear and unambiguous.  Yet the Town inexplicably was deducting 14% from the employees paycheck. 

The Town argued that the Union did not prove that there was an actually indemnity plan still in place and therefore no calculation could be made.  Furthermore, the Town set forth the idea that the terms of the contract were ambiguous.  Furthermore, the Town argued that because it violated the contract for some period of time, the Union had waived the right to enforce the contractual obligation.

The Arbitrator agreed with Attorney Buck and found that the Town had been in violation of the collective bargaining agreement.  He ordered the Town to comply with the language of the collective bargaining agreement and deduct the agreed to 10% contribution from the officer’s pay.  Furthermore, he found that the Town must reimburse the officers for monies which were incorrectly deducted from their paychecks back to the date that the grievance was filed.