Ex-CT police sergeant gets $260K settlement in union case; he had claimed ‘vicious retribution scheme’
A former Connecticut State Police sergeant who claimed in a lawsuit that he was punished with a retaliatory transfer after resigning from the union has settled with the state for more than $250,000.
Former Sgt. Joseph Mercer, who retired from the state police two years after he sued in 2016 – collected $500 from the Connecticut State Police Union and $260,000 from the state in a settlement negotiated by all parties in U.S. District Court.
Mercer, who was represented by the Washington, D.C. based National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, claimed he was the victim of a “vicious retribution scheme” that followed his decision to leave the union nearly a decade ago.
Among other things, Mercer said his appointment as operations sergeant for the state police Emergency Services Union was the subject of unfair and selective union grievances and afterward he was transferred to a less prestigious assignment with less opportunity to collect overtime pay, which is a factor in trooper pension benefits.
Past and present union presidents Andrew Matthews and Todd Fedigan have consistently denied the allegation and continued to do so on Tuesday. They said the union grieved Mercer’s appointment – as it has numerous other department appointments – because it was not made under the selection process enumerated in the union contract.
Union President Jeffrey Ment said the nominal $500 the union contributed to the settlement suggests the union had little or nothing to do with Mercer’s transfer. When the parties agreed to participate in settlement talks, Ment said the federal court asked for offers. He said the union was prepared to try the case but offered $500 for what it considered the suit’s nuisance value.
The office of Attorney General William Tong, which defended the state’s interests in the case, would not discuss specifics of its $260,000 the settlement. Former Public Safety commissioner Dora B. Schriro was in office at the time of Mercer’s transfer and his suit alleges she had a hand in it.
“We were pleased to resolve the matter in the best interests of all parties,” a Tong spokeswoman said.
Mercer could not be reached.
National Right to Work President Mark Mix said public servants such as Mercer should not have “to endure multi-year lawsuits just so they can refrain from supporting union politics they oppose.”
“As was obvious in Mercer’s case, unelected public sector union bosses often wield their enormous clout over government to serve the union’s private interests over the public interest,” he said
