The city and the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, an umbrella organization of police unions from across the state, have settled a dispute over who should pay for Austin police who are off on union-work leave time. Under the new agreement, CLEAT will pay the city the salary and benefits for Sgt. Todd Harrison to be on full-time leave while working as CLEAT president. Harrison was elected to that post in 2009; he is also a board member of the Austin Police Association, the Austin Police Department officers’ union, which is a member of CLEAT. Harrison had been using a pool of time set up under the APD officers’ contract with the city, known as association business leave, in order to be paid his city salary – $101,200 without benefits – while off attending to CLEAT business. Whether that was a proper use of ABL pool time, made up of sick time donated by APD officers, was last month called into question in a grievance filed by two APD officers (see “Time Bandits in Uniform?,” Aug. 12). After the officers filed a formal complaint, Chief Art Acevedo said he would reconsider the use of the leave time and recalled Harrison to full-time APD duty; that in turn prompted CLEAT to file for a temporary restraining order – which it obtained – to block the reassignment. In the interim, the city and the statewide union came up with the new payment arrangement, thus ending the court contest.
This article appears in August 26 • 2011.