PAX Centurion - May / June 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • May/June 2013 • Page 27 Stop by our store located at 53 Plain Street (rear) in Braintree or call us at (781) 843-5293. When your business or personal needs require custom embroidery or screen printing,we hope you choose The Embroidery Clinic for high quality and competitive pricing. Gratitude and caution Legal Notes: Jamie Goodwin, Esq. Sandulli Grace P.C., Counsel to Members of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association O n behalf of Sandulli Grace, I must thank the members of the Boston Police Patrolmen’sAssociation for their steadfast and courageous service in thewake of the tragedy at theMarathon. In our role as counsel, we often focus so intently on your grievances, negotiations, lawsuits, arbitrations, retirements and other disputes, that we do not always stop to thank you for your service to the City and the Commonwealth. With a heavy heart for those who lost their lives or who were gravely hurt, we thank you. Unfortunately, despite these trying times, regardless of whether you are in the EMS or Patrol Division, your day to day responsibilities will not ease. Indeed, your jobs and lives will continue and gratitude alone will not pay your bills. Consequently, it falls to you and your Union to enforce your rights under the respective agreements and laws. If any of youwere hurt in service during the initial bombing or in the ensuing investigation andmanhunt, youmust be cautious.While officers should, pursuant to BPD rules and regulations, report any injuries, we advise that they refrain frommaking any extra representation that could be considered an election of benefits. An election of benefits would be a written or oral communication from an officer asserting that he or she is entitled to specific rights or benefits. An officer who was injured should follow all BPD protocol but, if possible, stop short of asserting what rights he or she is entitled to. Caution is necessary because officers who were injured after the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice mobi- lized the Boston Joint Terrorism Task Force may be entitled to make an election to receive injury benefits from either the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and/or the United States. However, such an election would only be available to amemberwhowas acting under the authority of the United States at the time he or she suffered an injury. Under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 41 § 111F, as incorpo- rated into the contract, Patrol officers injured in the line of dutyduring the bombing or in the following investigation, as a baseline, remain entitled to full pay (without tax deductions) if they were (1) incapacitated from duty, (2) through no fault of their own, (3) due to an injury sustained in the performance of their duties. Nothing has occurred to strip officers of this right. Instead, the question is whether a specific injury entitles an officer to other or alternative benefits from the United States that would be preferable in the long term. If an officer suffered an injury, physical or mental, and the effects of that injury appear to be permanent, any election made now could inform the benefits received in the future. As with all cases involving injury on duty, the benefits an officer is entitled to will depend upon the circumstances under which that injury was suffered. Officers still must meet their reporting obligations to the Department. However, if you are taking the extra step to request either contractual or statutory benefits, you should speak with your Union Representative first.