Opinion ID: 2651362
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Inter-Departmental Relationships

Text: In the decades leading up to the fall of 2009, the Cotuit Fire Department was the home of some fairly complicated personal histories. As Captain of the Department, Pierce served directly over his wife, Jayne Pierce, who was a full-time firefighter through the majority of their relationship. Prior to his marriage to Jayne, Pierce had been married to Donna Pierce (now Donna Fenner), who had been a call firefighter at the time, but had subsequently joined the Department as a full-time firefighter and married fellow firefighter Scott Fenner. Fenner's own ex-wife, Amy Griffin Fenner, is also a call firefighter. There was testimony that this pattern of intra-departmental relationships made the Cotuit Fire Department the subject of mockery among neighboring departments, frequently to the consternation of the Department's own employees. Since the 1990s, firefighters and officers in the department had discussed implementing a stricter policy regarding domestic relationships, though no early discussions materialized into a new policy. Following their marriage, David and Jayne Pierce were never scheduled to work the same regular 24-hour shift. They did, however, work together with some regularity when they responded to emergency calls or when one of them volunteered to substitute for -3- an unavailable firefighter on the other's regular shift. During these times, Pierce directly supervised his wife. In March 2008, Pierce wrote the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission (Ethics Commission) to request an advisory opinion regarding any potential conflict of interest arising out of his professional relationship with Jayne. On March 31, 2008, the Ethics Commission advised him that the state ethics law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 268A, § 19, prohibited him from participating in his wife's supervision, performance evaluations, or promotions, or in setting her compensation. The Commission recommended that he write the Board of Fire Commissioners to disclose the situation and obtain a formal exemption, but Pierce chose not to pursue the matter. Following his communication with the Ethics Commission, Pierce became directly involved in his wife's employment on at least three occasions. First, in the fall of 2008, Pierce advised Chief Olsen against imposing a probationary period on the tenure of new Lieutenants at a time when Jayne was about to become a Lieutenant. Second, Pierce advised Olsen that a new Emergency Medical Services position should go to a trained paramedic when Jayne was the only trained paramedic in the Department. Finally, in April of 2009, Pierce assisted in a disciplinary investigation involving Jayne's verbal altercation with a subordinate firefighter. Although Pierce had a right to recuse himself and although Jayne specifically requested that he do so, Pierce chose -4- to participate after Olsen indicated that he desired Pierce's input in the hearing. Pierce recommended that Jayne receive a counseling session as punishment. However, Olsen ultimately decided to demote Jayne from Lieutenant to firefighter. In March of 2009, roughly a year after his appointment as Fire Chief and just before Jayne's disciplinary investigation, Olsen circulated a new Familial Relations Policy for the Department. Among other things, the policy forbade officers from working regular shifts with or directly supervising their family members. After the policy was circulated, Pierce and Jayne sought legal counsel regarding the policy's repercussions for their careers. In August of 2009, in response to Jayne's objections to her demotion from Lieutenant, Olsen initiated efforts to investigate an allegedly hostile environment in the Cotuit Fire Department. Five full-time firefighters submitted complaints of harassment or intimidation by the Pierces when they were on duty.