Spotlight on LEOBOR

Disclaimer: Do not rely on the below information in place of legal council as we are not attorneys. The following text is for informational purposes only.

An interesting case involves a retired (retiring) officer from the University of Maryland, Baltimore police department and the Cheverly Police Department. At time of application to Cheverly the officer had spent 19 years as a sworn police officer with the university police at which time he was retiring. The officer had accumulated a large amount of sick time of which he was using upon application with the Cheverly Police Department. A background check was conducted and the officer was hired with Cheverly. A request to MPTC was made for a new certification card. A little while later the officer was informed that he was being investigated (and ultimately charged criminally) as a result of his use of sick time (as a theft). He was suspended from the Cheverly PD. The charges were ultimately dismissed however Cheverly refused to employ him and terminated him citing that he was a "probationary employee" at the time and that he did not fall under the category of a "Law Enforcement Officer" because he had not obtained his MPTC card as of the time of suspension from Cheverly due to he criminal investigation. The argument was made that he was a law enforcement officer and covered under LEOBOR because he had a prior certification, which was active at time of employment with Cheverly, at time of employment a background was conducted which he passed, and an MPTC card had been applied for by Cheverly. Cheverly contested stating that he was not defined as a police officer because MPTC had not granted him a certification card yet.

The special court of appeals decided that he was covered by LEOBOR because they stated the MPTC was not a legislative authority and was primarily installed as a training and certification entity. Further the court stated that at the time of his employment he was a law enforcement officer because he held a current certification card with the University of Maryland Police Department. The court upheld the decision commanding Cheverly to return the officer to active employment and that the sole definition of a "Probationary Employee" had no definition by MPTC in regards to this matter. See http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/marylandstatecases/cosa/2000/2744s99.pdf