The State Board of Labor Relations found the Connecticut Department of Agriculture (DoAG) interfered with a union election when it suspended former judicial employees’ union president and current animal control officer Charles DellaRocco over ethics concerns related to a GoFundMe page in a long and complicated labor dispute that involves a union election, police officer certification, OSHA, and allegations of retaliation.
DellaRocco alleged that over the course of two years, DoAG “subjected him to a disciplinary investigation, suspended him without pay, barred him from entering state property during his campaign for Union office, and interfered with his ability to maintain POSTC certification, in retaliation for filing grievances, prohibited practice complaints, OSHA complaints, and a whistleblower complaint.”
According to the Labor Board decision, DellaRocco had started a GoFundMe page in early 2021 to solicit donations for a mobile headquarters for animal control that would house crates, needed supplies, and “a sanitary area for the vets and vet techs to do their work.” The GoFundMe page, however, alerted department officials to the potential for an ethics violation, and the department ordered the page to be taken down and initiated an investigation.
According to a March 2021 investigation report, the department found probable cause DellaRocco had violated state ethics rules barring state employees and officials from accepting gifts over a certain amount and receiving gifts from restricted donors who were engaged in activity regulated by the DoAG.
The investigation found there were three donations over $100, including one for nearly $1,700, and there were six donations made by individuals engaged in work regulated by the department, including “founders and commissioners of animal rescue shelters, a dog trainer, and a municipal animal control officer,” according to the labor board report.
As DoAG officials moved toward a pre-disciplinary hearing over the ethics violations, DellaRocco announced his candidacy for president of the Connecticut Police and Fire Union (CPFU). Shortly thereafter, he also filed a complaint against DoAG’s attorney Carole Briggs alleging “abusive, intimidating and harassing behavior,” after she allegedly instructed the Waterbury Prosecutor’s Office not to speak to DellaRocco.
The union steward also filed a grievance against Briggs alleging she was interfering with DellaRocco’s ability to do his job, which started another investigation.
Meanwhile, the union had also filed two complaints against the DoAG with OSHA alleging animal control officers were not being provided the proper equipment for law enforcement, including “body cameras, body armor, radio, weapons… and proper vehicle with lights and training,” and were no longer allowed to check the National Crime Information Center before making contact with individuals for an investigation.
In May of 2021, DellaRocco was suspended for 20 days over the ethics violation, which barred him from contacting any state employees and from going on any state-owned property. The union filed a grievance against DellaRocco’s suspension, alleging this amounted to union election interference. The suspension lasted through the union election, the results of which were posted on June 2, 2021, with Kevin C. Saunders being elected president.
DellaRocco also filed a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Labor in October of 2021, alleging DoAG had retaliated against him for the OSHA complaints lodged by the union. Then in January of 2022, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTC) revoked DellaRocco’s police officer recertification request, claiming the council had “mistakenly recertified” DellaRocco, and that DoAG is not “a law enforcement unit.”
When DellaRocco again tried to obtain recertification, POSTC informed him the DoAG would have to supply a particular form indicating that they were a law enforcement unit, which DoAG refused to do.
Adding to the lengthy and complicated conflict, is that the Office of State Ethics found “insufficient probable cause” to sustain an ethics complaint against DellaRocco for his GoFundMe page; an investigation into DellaRocco’s allegations against Briggs determined there was insufficient evidence and it was a “personality conflict;” and OSHA entered into an agreement with DoAG in 2024 that animal control officers wear body armor while in the field.
DoAG officials denied there was any retaliation, denied that they even knew DellaRocco was running for union president at the time of his suspension, and stated their refusal to assist DellaRocco in getting recertified as a police officer “was based on a good faith interpretation that DoAG is not a law enforcement unit.”
While the Board of Labor Relations determined there was no retaliation against DellaRocco, they did find the department interfered with protected union activity by barring DellaRocco from state property for a 20-day period during his campaign for union president.
The labor board found the claims of retaliation were largely based on DoAG’s timing of disciplinary action, but “timing alone is insufficient to support an inference of improper animus;” the timing was essentially reasonable as it proceeded the way any other investigation and disciplinary action would, regardless of DellaRocco’s union activity. However, they found “barring access to state property and limiting communications with employees would lead a reasonable candidate for union office to believe that significant number of potential supporters were now beyond reach,” according to the decision.
DellaRocco, the former president of AFSCME Local 749, was transferred to animal control after the Judicial Department replaced police officers with marshals, a move DellaRocco decried as “union busting” at the time. The transfer also came after the state labor board found DellaRocco had violated an agreement with the department in which he was given a year of paid union leave time to campaign for Local 749 president in exchange for dropping numerous grievances against the department.
Under the terms of the agreement, if DellaRocco won re-election, the department would give him a position within Local 749 so he could continue serving as union president. However, DellaRocco filed another grievance after the agreement and was subsequently transferred to DoAG, stripping him of his union presidency. DellaRocco attempted to maintain his union presidency but was denied by AFSCME.
Neither DellaRocco nor the union sought to change the results of the CPFU election and, according to the decision, “the Union takes the position that there is no explicit evidence that the election results were unduly influenced or skewed because the State’s action and the Complainant concurs that ordering a new election would likely produce the same outcome and would be unfair to the current president.”
Instead, the Labor Board issued DoAG a “cease and desist from interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of their rights,” adjust their disciplinary policy so that it does not interfere with protected communications, and post a copy of the decision. The board rejected the union’s request for attorney fees as the state’s defense was not “frivolous.”
In a similar situation, a security director at the Department of Veterans Affairs was ousted from his role over an alleged ethics violation, which the Office of State Ethics later determined had “insufficient evidence” to sustain a finding that he violated state ethics laws.
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