State police sergeant who alleged union retaliation wins $260,500 settlement

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

May 1—SETTLEMENT

PLAINTIFF: State police Sgt. Joseph Mercer.

DEFENDANTS: Dora B. Schriro, former commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection; James C. Rovella, the current commissioner; the Connecticut State Police Union, and Andrew Matthews, the union president.

GROUNDS: Suit alleged retaliation for Mercer's refusal to pay union dues in violation of his First Amendment rights.

AMOUNT: $260,500

A state police sergeant who alleged in a federal lawsuit against the Connecticut State Police Union and state officials that he was illegally demoted for "opposing union membership and politics" has settled the suit for $260,500, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The foundation says the trooper, Joseph Mercer, received "free legal aid" from its staff lawyers. But the court documents agreeing to dismissal of the suit as part of the settlement are signed by lawyer Marc P. Mercier of the Manchester firm of Beck & Eldergill.

Mercer filed the lawsuit in 2016 against defendants who included Dora Schriro, then the commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which includes the state police, and State Police Union President Andrew Matthews.

Mercer accused Matthews and Schriro of removing him from "a prestigious operations sergeant position" after exercising his constitutional right to "abstain" from union membership and "not pay dues to support the union's political activities," the foundation said.

It said the department and the union have "backed down and settled the case."

It is not known how much of the settlement will be paid by the state and how much by the union.

Mercer was appointed operations sergeant in the state police emergency services unit in May 2015. Matthews filed a grievance over his appointment, according to the foundation.

The grievance alleged that there had been no "selection process" to fill the position, although "none of Sergeant Mercer's union-member predecessors had undergone any particular kind of selection process before they got the job," according to the foundation.

Matthews later filed a second "baseless grievance," the foundation said, alleging that Mercer had mismanaged an incident involving an armed suspect barricaded in a hotel. State police officials had never expressed dissatisfaction with how Mercer handled the situation, according to the foundation.

In October 2015, after meeting in private with the union president, the then-commissioner transferred Mercer to an administrative post, the foundation said.

"That new position gave Mercer substantially fewer opportunities to work in the field or to accrue overtime pay," the foundation said. "Prior to this demotion, Mercer had received no warnings, reprimands, or other disciplinary actions regarding the incident referenced in Matthews' grievance."

"We at the foundation are proud to have defended Sergeant Mercer's rights and secured him a settlement that vindicates his free association," National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said. "However, it's disgraceful that CSPU union officials targeted Mercer, a dedicated public safety officer, with such a vicious retribution scheme in the first place. Public servants should not have to endure multiyear lawsuits just so they can refrain from supporting union politics they oppose."

Attempts this morning to reach spokespeople for the union and the state attorney general's office, which represented the officials named as defendants in the suit, didn't immediately succeed.

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