By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- A Hampden Superior Court judge approved a $200,000 settlement Tuesday resolving a class-action lawsuit alleging Chicopee, Massachusetts, underpaid police recruits during academy training.
- Former Chicopee officer Nicholas Hultine filed the suit in January 2025, alleging the city paid him $4 an hour less than required while he attended the Police Academy.
- More than 40 current and former Chicopee officers will receive portions of the settlement.
- State law requires municipalities to pay “student officers” their regular position wages while attending mandated academy training.
- Judge Thomas H. Townsend found the settlement fair, reasonable and adequate; attorneys for both Hultine and the city said they were satisfied with the outcome.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Hampden Superior Court judge has approved a $200,000 settlement resolving a lawsuit alleging the city of Chicopee underpaid police recruits while they attended mandatory academy training, with more than 40 current and former officers set to receive portions of the payout.
Former Chicopee police officer Nicholas Hultine filed the class-action complaint in January 2025, alleging the city paid him $4 an hour less than required while he was a student officer. According to the complaint, Hultine was hired to a full-time position with the Chicopee Police Department in June 2022. Massachusetts law requires officers to complete municipally offered training and mandates that “student officers” be paid the regular wages of the position to which they were appointed.
At a hearing Tuesday, attorney Jeffrey S. Morneau, who represented Hultine and the other plaintiffs, told Judge Thomas H. Townsend that “the case wouldn’t have been able to be brought without Nicholas Hultine,” calling him “integral to this case.”
Mark J. Albano, the attorney representing Chicopee, told the court he was “pleased that 42 student officers will be paid adequately” and said the city was satisfied with the settlement. Townsend said he was familiar with the case and found the agreement fair, reasonable and adequate.
Hultine is now an officer with the Southwick Police Department.