Public Employee Press

Arbitrator awards Engineer $80,000

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Reza Mashayekhi routinely takes on extra work and serves as a mentor for many of his co-workers.

But the powers-that-be in the Dept. of Parks and Recreation have routinely refused to acknowledge his talent and dedication.

Frustrated about the lack of recognition for his expertise in structural engineering, Mashayekhi filed a working out-of-title grievance in April 2003 to seek fair pay and a possible promotion.

In 2005, Arbitrator Jane Morgenstern ordered the agency to give Mashayekhi over $80,000 in back pay. Arbitrators cannot require employers to make promotions, though victories sometimes help workers get higher titles.

“It was a long wait, but justice prevailed in her decision,” said Claude Fort, president of Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375.

Unfortunately, the department has delayed his back-pay. With the support of DC 37, Local 375 is pressing the agency to implement the ruling as soon as possible.

And instead of promoting him to a title that better reflects his work, management recently pulled him off projects where he was working beyond the narrow job specifications of his civil service position.

Money well-deserved
“The money is well-deserved,” said Landscape Architect Emmanuel Thingue, who regularly seeks Mashayekhi’s advice to ensure his designs are structurally sound. “I have been here 15 years, and I’d say Reza is probably the most knowledgeable Engineer we have at Parks.”

Mashayekhi, for instance, worked with Thingue on his design of a balcony-like overhang attached to a roof of a pavilion in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. “One of the reasons I stay here is the challenge of helping designers to fulfill their visions,” Mashayekhi said.

The agency’s Support Services Unit relies upon Mashayekhi’s engineering advice in emergencies such as last year’s West Side Highway landslide.

By ordering him to “cease and desist” from further out-of-title work in December, the department created a revolt among many of Mashayekhi’s co-workers, who signed a protest petition in response.

“It was misguided to pull him off his jobs. The decision threatens the public’s safety, and it is outrageous that they are holding up his award and possible promotion,” said Fort.

The arbitrator pointed to the Flushing Meadows project as an example of Mashayekhi’s out-of-title work. The $13 million project involved designing and overseeing construction of a complex including the pavilion and a comfort station next to the park’s lake. The arbitration report also cited a fishing pier on Staten Island, a $9 million project for which Mashayekhi served as job captain.

Mashayekhi also takes great pride in helping save money by arguing that jobs should be done in-house rather than contracted out. The arbitrator noted that he helped save the city $300,000 by convincing management to keep one project in-house instead of hiring a consultant.

For the walkway of the Flushing Meadows pavilion, Mashayekhi designed a special light concrete to cut the use of rare wood from the Brazilian rain forest, which is being destroyed by logging businesses. Morgenstern concluded that for three years Mashayeski’s responsibilities for overseeing the fishing pier and Flushing Meadows projects exceeded the duties of his non-supervisory Associate Engineering Technician Level II title. Her award was based on the $28,000 difference between his actual pay and what he would have received as an Associate Project Manager Level III — three levels above his current civil service title.

“It’s a shame that the department doesn’t seem to respect the incredible talent and innovation they have with Reza,” said Local 375 1st Vice President Jon Forster, who worked on the grievance and arbitration case with DC 37 Assistant General Counsel Steven Sykes.

“Reza is a classic civil servant who works hard to save the city money and brings a lot of creativity to the job,” Forster said.