United Federation LEOS-PBA Organizing Director Steve Maritas (r) personally hands NYC MSA K9 Handler, Richard Verde (l) his portion of the settlement Check the UNION had negotiated with MSA, which came out to $2,984.29 (Two Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty-Four Dollars and Twenty-Nine Cents) per eligible MSA K9 Handler. Richard who was a NYPD Detective, & Vietnam Veteran, just announced his retirement as a NYC MSA K9 Handler. We wish Richard & his wife a very happy & peaceful retirement.
Most recently the United Federation LEOS-PBA on behalf of our affiliated Union United Federation of K9 Handlers settled several unfair labor charges flied back on November 2018 with the National Labor Relations Board in Brooklyn, NY on behalf of 462 MSA Security K9 Handlers nationwide working for Michael Stapleton Associates, Ltd. d/b/a MSA Security which was set for trial, for May 18, 2022. The issue at had was concerning the reduction or removal of the stipend for expenses related to care of the MSA K9 Handlers canines. https://www.nlrb.gov/case/29-CA-230696
After the National Labor Relations Board wasted years discussing litigation or settlement, United Federation LEOS-PBA Organizing Director Steve Maritas and Jon Axelrod from the law firm of Beins, Axelrod & Keating, P.C. took over as representatives of the Charging Party, the K-9 Federation. MSA argued that it had not violated the law when it eliminated the stipend and vowed that it would fight all the way to the Supreme Court. This would have involved an NLRB hearing on whether MSA violated the law, then a separate NLRB hearing on the remedy, then one or more NLRB decisions, which could be appealed to the Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court. Litigation could have taken three or four years. The NLRB backpay formulas do not consider inflation, so the longer it took to litigate and win, the less your money would be worth. And the NLRB wanted the remedy to be backpay, taxable income. And of course, MSA could have won the litigation at any stage.
We persuaded MSA Security now a Allied Universal company to pay $2,984.29 to each employee on the payroll when the violation occurred and still on the payroll. We persuaded MSA to consider the money as the tax-exempt stipend you lost, not as backpay. Then we persuaded the NLRB to accept the settlement as a fair resolution of the unfair labor practice charges. We hope every MSA K9 Handler enjoys their check,
“I retire next week and I truly wish you all well, be safe and take pride in what we do. There is a lot more respect out there by clients, the public and LEO's for us, maybe more than you think. I love this job, my K9 and I'll forever be proud that I was a K9 handler.”
Richard Verde NYC MSA K9 Handler