The City of El Paso miscalculated its po-lice officers’ pay scales. It’s a good thing CLEAT was there to prosecute the EPM-POA’s grievance. After marathon negotia-tions, the city agreed to settle the dispute on very favorable terms and pay its police officers over $1.2 million in back pay andbenefits.

“This was a huge effort,” said EPMPOA President Ron Martin. “Our entire Board of Directors participated in the negotia-tions and CLEAT attorney Jim Jopling took the lead. We also had the coop-eration of labor representatives
from Austin, San Antonio, Dal-las, Houston, Albuquerque, Tuc-son and Phoenix, who provided us with valuable information and testimony about their pay scales and collective bargaining agree-ments.”

The El Paso officers will be receiving back pay that includes overtime, shift differential pay
and benefits.  Another issue arose during the grievance that worried many of-ficers. In addition to underpaying
patrol officers, some members of the command staff were overpaid in 2012. As a result of the settle-ment, that overpayment was re-duced to a minimum and no officer will be paying any money out of pocket.

“Getting justice for our members is what we’re all about,” said CLEAT President Todd Harrison, “we’re very proud of this victory.”

This case is a great example of what can be accomplished with a unified front and the strength of CLEAT.