State Police ordered to offer reinstatement to troopers suspended for refusing COVID

An arbitrator has ruled that the State Police must provide back pay and offer to reinstate seven troopers who were placed on unpaid leave in 2021 after they refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 based on their “sincerely held” religious beliefs.

In a 49-page decision released Friday, Bonnie J. McSpiritt, the arbitrator, wrote that the State Police violated anti-discrimination and affirmative action provisions in their contract with members of the force’s largest union by refusing to offer opportunities to stay on the job without getting vaccinated to qualified troopers.

The refusals came after State Police determined that the seven troopers had “sincerely held” religious beliefs that qualified them for exemption from the vaccination mandate if a “reasonable accommodation” could be found, McSpiritt wrote.

The State Police Association of Massachusetts filed a grievance over the vaccine mandate in October 2021, about two months after former governor Charlie Baker issued the requirement for all executive department employees, the decision said.

In a statement issued Friday, Patrick McNamara, the association president, criticized Baker.

“Governor Baker and his administration refused to listen or work with our Association, but today we can no longer be ignored,” McNamara said. “These members, whose religious convictions were trampled, and who were left without pay or benefits, now can choose to return to work and will be made whole through retroactive pay and earned seniority.”

The union has scheduled a news conference for Monday morning outside the State House.

The Globe sought comment Saturday from Baker through his new employer, the NCAA, but didn’t receive a response. Baker became president of the organization in March.

David Procopio, a State Police spokesperson, said Saturday that the agency is reviewing the ruling “to determine its scope as well as the administrative and legal steps required for its implementation.”

Governor Maura Healey lifted the vaccination mandate implemented by her predecessor on May 11 when the state and federal public health emergencies for COVID-19 ended.

McSpiritt’s ruling gives State Police seven days to offer the seven troopers the opportunity to return to work in their previous positions. Their back pay should include compensation, seniority rights, and all benefits “minus any interim earnings and/or unemployment compensation.”

COVID-19 vaccine mandates by public and private employers have faced repeated legal challenges. In March, the state Supreme Judicial Court rejected claims from three unions against Mayor Michelle Wu’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, ruling she had authority to require city workers to get the shots.

But the ruling had little practical impact in the near term since the city never enforced the vaccine mandate because of litigation, the Globe has reported.

McSpiritt’s decision in the State Police matter addressed a narrower issue: Did the agency violate the collective bargaining agreement with its largest union by not offering ways for troopers who qualified for religious exemptions from vaccination to stay in their jobs? She ruled the department did not follow the contract.

Christopher S. Mason, then the State Police leader, and John Pinkham, then commander of the agency’s division of standards and training, made the decisions about whether to grant accommodations to troopers who qualified for the exemptions, the decision said. Mason retired in February.

In the decision, McSpiritt wrote that Pinkham was asked why accommodations granted to a gang unit member who qualified for a medical exemption could not have been extended to troopers who convinced the agency that their reasons for not getting vaccinated were religious in nature.

The department, she wrote, didn’t prove that it had done the analysis required to substantiate its position that finding ways for troopers with religious exemptions to stay in the job would cause the agency “undue hardship.”

State Police received about 163 applications from association members for religious exemptions from vaccination and determined eight troopers qualified, McSpiritt wrote, though one later got vaccinated and returned to work.

Nine State Police commissioned officers were also found to have “sincerely held” religious beliefs, but weren’t offered options to stay with the force without getting shots, the ruling said. The decision didn’t specify what happened to those nine troopers.

McSpiritt summarized testimony from Pinkham about the agency’s reasoning for not budging on the vaccine requirement for troopers whose opposition to inoculation was tied to their religious beliefs.

State Police were concerned about their duty to provide safety to immunocompromised people who were being vigilant about not being exposed to COVID-19, McSpiritt wrote of Pinkham’s testimony.

“He said because Troopers interact with the public, [State Police] must respect the safety of the public and the Department cannot abrogate that responsibility,” she wrote. “If the public were extra vigilant about COVID-19, they may be hesitant to interact with Troopers.”

The eight union troopers who qualified for religious exemptions were suspended in November and December of 2021, the decision said.

One of the troopers, Luke Bonin, later received the vaccine and returned to his job as an investigator in the Bristol district attorney’s office, the ruling said. McSpiritt ordered State Police to provide Bonin, who is vice president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, with back pay for the 56 days he was suspended.

The department moved to fire the seven other troopers, but those proceedings were put on hold in March under a court order by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christine M. Roach.

The seven troopers who are eligible to return to work under McSpiritt’s order are: Paul Aten of the commercial vehicle enforcement section; Jessie Barbosa, a community liaison for the Community Action Team for Troop D, which covers the South Shore, Cape Cod, and islands; Christopher Dolan, who worked for crime scene services in Springfield; David Hanafin of the Special Tactical Operations Team in Andover; Joseph Hanafin of the mounted unit; Patrick Irwin, a defensive tactics instructor at the State Police Academy in New Braintree; and Lance Reed of the Framingham barracks.

Another 13 union troopers who weren’t deemed eligible for exemptions were fired and dishonorably discharged because they didn’t get vaccinated, according to the association. Their cases are pending arbitration, a union spokesperson said.

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.