Public Employee Press

Union charges DEP with excessive disciplinary action

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

District Council 37 filed improper practice charges against the Dept. of Environmental Protection after a manager launched an investigation that led to 30-day suspensions for two Watershed Maintenance Supervisors in Local 1322.

“A 30-day suspension without pay for a minor clerical error is clearly excessive,” said DC 37 Rep Bill Fenty of the Blue Collar Division. Fenty and union lawyer Steven Sykes filed the charges with the Office of Collective Bargaining on Oct. 6.

DC 37 and Local 1322 are fighting the harsh penalties that DEP management imposed on the two veteran employees, who both have impeccable work records. The charges violate the workers’ rights, the contract and the city labor relations law, the union rep said.

As PEP went to press, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, Local 1322 President John Townsend and other union officials were meeting with management to resolve the situation.

“This case includes instances of failure to respond to written correspondence, misinformation and a rush to judgment on the part of a high-level DEP manager,” Fenty explained.

In July, the responsibility of overseeing DEP operations East of the Hudson was assigned to the official. Days later and a week before the two Local 1322 members were scheduled for approved vacations, he admitted that he “had no clue how the East of Hudson operations worked,” according to papers DC 37 filed in the case.

The manager’s lack of knowledge was evident when the Local 1322 Supervisors’ vacations were suddenly denied because they overlapped by four days.

Vacations canceled
The Mahopac and Brewster plants have the unique situation of having a Supervisor and an Assistant Plant Chief. At other wastewater treatment plants with only one Supervisor, it is understood that non-supervisors oversee operations during vacation periods.

The official demanded that one of the supervisors cancel his vacation. But that meant forfeiting thousands of dollars, and the two called their union instead.

Fenty notified DEP Labor Relations Director Denise Dyce of the problem. She said the vacation approvals could not be cancelled on such short notice. So the two Supervisors went on their vacations. A week later their nightmare began.

DEP investigators came to the plant with an agenda of finding wrongdoing or mistakes,” Fenty said.
Among the “ton of confiscated paperwork,” in a state report filed by Assistant Plant Chief Dave DeSilva, a temperature of 71 degrees was reported instead of 70.

Although the state understood it to be a clerical error and found no violation of environmental protection guidelines, DEP management used the mistake as a basis for disciplinary action.

“About 8:30 at night the DEP police pulled up at my door,” said DeSilva, who lives in a small town.
It was the DEP police captain, a sergeant and an officer.

“They told me I was suspended and took my work keys and identification in front of my family and neighbors,” he said. “It was humiliating.”

Suspensions, transfers
This was the first time in memory that a DEP employee has been suspended from the job at home instead of at work. “We were suspended without pay and without a proper investigation,” DeSilva said. “I lost $5,000 in pay. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”

The union is seeking full restitution for the two Local 1322 members. Charged with misconduct and knowingly falsifying data, DeSilva also wants a public apology.

“I’ve been in this business 18 years, 10 with the city. I love what I do and I am good at it,” he said, “but I have been labeled and I will never get that stigma off me.”

Management risks fines
Ironically, management’s zealous concern over the plant’s having no supervisor for a week was compounded fourfold by the suspensions, which left the plant without both key supervisors for a month.

Serious violations and fines could result, since state discharge monitoring reports were not filed and sludge contractors were not paid. DC 37 also found a clerical error in the date of the DEP’s charging documents. Fenty asked, “Will someone else be suspended?”

After the 30 days, the two Supervisors returned to their jobs only to find they were transferred to work sites 35 and 65 miles away. DC 37 is grieving the transfers.

“DEP should hang their heads in shame for these actions,” said Townsend. “We want to send a message that we will not tolerate management mistreating our members.”