Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

Three months after the University presented its “last, best and final offer” to Yale’s police union, parties remain divided over elements of a drug testing proposal but acknowledge an agreement is near.

The Yale Police Benevolent Association, or YPBA, which represents 71 sworn officers and detectives, has been in the midst of negotiations for a new contract for nearly two years. The YPBA’s last contract expired in June 2023. The union is currently negotiating a collective bargaining agreement that would determine members’ wages, benefits and terms of employment from July 2023 through June 2028.

Though the parties have announced tentative agreements on certain areas of the contract, such as a union proposal to expand line-of-duty benefits, they remain gridlocked on others. The University’s proposal for a comprehensive drug testing program, in particular, has prompted opposition from the union.

“If Yale takes a really good look at it, we are close,” YPBA President Mike Hall said. “There’s not many issues left on the table. The issues are in wages, our tax-free long-term disability provision and in the drug testing as well.”

Joe Sarno, Yale’s labor relations director, presented his final offer to the union on Nov. 7. A week later, he emailed all union members a summary of the offer, highlighting the University’s proposed base wages and benefits, as well as a detailed substance abuse policy proposal that Sarno described as “one of [Yale’s] few requests.” Sarno wrote to the News that the substance abuse policy was the only remaining University proposal in contention.

“Not only does a substance abuse policy serve as an important signal to the University-wide community that the Department takes seriously the issue of substance abuse among police officers, but it also helps prioritize a safe and productive work environment,” Sarno wrote in a January follow-up email to union members about the proposal.

Sarno wrote that the drug policy would subject all uniformed officers to “reasonable suspicion” testing and random testing, and ensure the YPD complies with Connecticut’s mandatory triannual drug testing for police recertification.

In the January email, Sarno explained that the proposal would subject officers to urine testing for 10 categories of controlled substances. The list includes marijuana, cocaine, opiates and a variety of drugs used both medically and recreationally.

“These are all commonly abused drugs, and an effective policy requires a drug panel that includes all commonly abused drugs,” Sarno wrote.

The YPBA, however, has advocated for a more limited testing panel, which would exclude barbiturates and benzodiazepines, according to Sarno. Barbiturates and benzodiazepines are both sedatives commonly used in medical settings or found in prescription drugs, such as those that treat seizures.

Hall said that Yale’s insistence on an “expansive” drug testing panel was akin to going “from zero to 100 overnight,” to which the union is “not agreeable.”

According to Sarno, the YPBA has proposed to limit testing for prescription drugs to circumstances in which the Department has “reasonable suspicion” of illegal or abusive use of those drugs. Sarno called that proposal “unenforceable,” because a supervisor suspecting an on-duty police officer of being under the influence of drugs would not be able to determine whether the officer’s condition was due to illegal or prescribed drug use, leaving them incapable of claiming “reasonable suspicion.” 

Sarno clarified that lawful prescription use is verified confidentially during the drug testing process, and any officer appropriately using prescription medications would receive negative test results for those drugs. 

The union and University are also split on how officers should be disciplined for a positive drug test. According to Sarno, the parties agreed on consequences for officers with no other active disciplinary action in their file at the time of a positive test. However, the University believes that officers who are facing active disciplinary action when they get a positive drug test should have their full disciplinary record considered when the Chief determines what consequences they receive.

“It’s a double jeopardy,” Hall said, of the University’s offer. “If you have a discipline for not wearing your high visibility vest at a football game, and then you test positive for, say, marijuana, you would be disciplined in way more excess than an officer who wore his vest to that game and then tested positive for marijuana.”

The YPBA insists that officers should be subject to the same disciplinary action regardless of whether the officer has other active disciplinary actions in their file. 

Though the two parties have agreed that officers who voluntarily disclose substance abuse problems and seek treatment would not face discipline for past use, the YPBA proposed that officers who test positive for abusing legally prescribed drugs — without voluntarily disclosing their abuse — should also get amnesty. The University rejected this demand.

Union fights for long-term disability benefits, civilian complaint limits

A “handful” of the union’s proposals remain open, according to Sarno. The YPBA has advocated for the University to adopt a long-term disability benefit plan excluded from federal income taxes. Officers employed by municipal police departments, including the New Haven Police Department, qualify for such tax-exempt pensions when the cause of the disability leave is an injury sustained in the line of duty, per Section 104(a)(1) of Connecticut’s Internal Revenue Code.

Sarno communicated to union members in December that Yale officials conducted a “detailed analysis” of the pensions officers would earn under the University’s long-term disability plan in comparison to those of New Haven officers. The analysis, Sarno wrote, showed that Yale officers would accrue at least hundreds of thousands more dollars than city employees.

The union has also proposed that the YPD impose a 60-day statute of limitations on civilian complaints. The YPBA introduced a similar proposal in its negotiations for its last contract, which the University rejected and the union ultimately withdrew. 

Hall rationalized that such a proposal would not have a considerable impact on the YPD, as the department rarely receives civilian complaints. Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell told the News in November that the department has received only one or two complaints per year during his time there.

“One complaint is a barrage, two is the deluge at YPD,” Hall described.

The University nonetheless described the statute of limitations proposal as “concerning.”

Wage increases

The University’s final offer details the base wages and increases that officers would receive. Over the contract’s five-year term, which began in July 2023, base wages would increase by 17.35 percent.

“When preparing for negotiations, we conducted a market analysis to determine how well Yale’s officers are paid relative to other police officers in the state,” Sarno wrote. “Our analysis showed that Yale police officers are at the top of the market and among the highest paid officers in the state — a fact of which we are very proud.”

Sarno added that the University’s offer on wages will keep Yale police officers at the “top of the market.”

Hall, on the other hand, said that the union believes the University should increase the base wages even further, citing heightened inflation in past years. Hall noted that attractive wages encourage prospective officers to apply for jobs at the YPD. The number of applicants to the department, he said, has declined since he began working at Yale, a trend that municipal police leaders in New Haven have also observed.

“Yale University needs to get the best of the best, and the wages in reality are the initial draw to police officers out there,” Hall said.

Nonetheless, Hall hinted that a new contract is on the horizon.

“In my opinion, in a few meetings, we could settle this contract if Yale gets serious with us,” Hall said.

The YPBA and the University have already held over 80 bargaining sessions during a 23-month period in the current negotiation cycle. Hall said that the parties will meet next on Feb. 17.

The last YPBA contract was ratified after over 70 sessions and 28 months of negotiations.