Haggins v. Verizon New England Inc., No. 10-2196 (1st Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe company began requiring its field technicians to carry company-issued cell phones during work. The phones contain a GPS, which allows the company to monitor the locations of the technicians, who are represented by a union. An unfair labor practice, filed with the NLRB, is apparently in arbitration. The technicians filed a separate suit, claiming the policy violated their privacy rights under Article 14 of the Declaration of Rights in the Massachusetts Constitution and Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 214, 1B, and their state-law rights as alleged third-party beneficiaries of a contract the company and its provider, which they say required the company to receive consent from its employees when it instituted the phone policy. The district court dismissed. The First Circuit affirmed. The claims are preempted by the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 185(a); the technicians did not file a grievance under the collective bargaining agreement.
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