Judge Permits Suit by Uniformed Group Alleging City Broke Contract Promise

A Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jan. 28 gave the green light to a lawsuit filed by the Detectives Endowment Association on behalf of a coalition of uniformed unions alleging that city Labor Commissioner Robert W. Linn reneged on his pledge to “defend to the death” a bargaining pattern established with the group late in 2014 when he agreed to a deal with the Police Benevolent Association in 2017 giving that union an extra 2.25-percent raise.

Justice Robert R. Reed rejected a motion by city lawyers to dismiss the case on the grounds that the claim should be handled by the city Board of Collective Bargaining. He found that rather than charging that the de Blasio administration hadn’t bargained in good faith, the coalition argued that Mr. Linn initially honored his promise but later “betrayed it while negotiating with the PBA, long after the negotiations with plaintiffs had ended. As such, defendants’ assertion that the court lacks jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims is untenable.”