State Labor Board Rules in Favor of Corrections Officer Represented by Attorney Kristi Kelly, Awarding More Than $100,000

Attorney Kristi Kelly recently represented a corrections officer who had spoken out against the conduct of a Chief Union Steward at Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Montville, circulating a petition “vote of no confidence,” calling for the steward’s removal from union leadership.

The local executive board of the union began an overt and relentless retaliatory campaign against Attorney Kelly’s client. He was suspended from the union and numerous internal complaints were filed by executive board members against him with the Department of Corrections (DOC), related to his protected union activity. The complaints his union leadership filed against him resulted in his transfer from Corrigan where he spent his entire 18-year career, causing him to lose significant overtime pay and creating immeasurable stress.

The State Labor Board ruled in favor of Attorney Kelly’s client for this retaliation, awarding him his lost union dues and certain lost overtime pay with interest, along with attorney’s fees and costs totaling approximately $100,000. The DOC and the union were ordered to each pay half of the lost overtime with interest and the fees and costs. It was also ordered that the decision be posted where union membership could see that he had been wronged by both the DOC and his union, which was the ultimate victory for Attorney Kelly’s client.