Public Employee Press

Grievances help restore Local 1505 member's crew chief pay

DC 37 resolved two grievances for a Local 1505 member when the city Dept. of Parks and Recreation agreed to a stipulation that pays the City Parks Worker 11 months difference in salary and restores him to heavy-duty work at a higher hourly wage.

CPW Michael Langworthy, a 24-year Parks veteran, worked as a Crew Chief at Clove Lake Park on Staten Island. His supervisory work earned him years of above-average evaluations. But Langworthy was subject to several bias complaints. The Parks Dept. conducted internal investigations, and although it found none of the complaints were substantiated, in February 2011, the agency yanked away Langworthy's supervisory position and cut his salary.

"The Parks Department attempted to discipline Mr. Langworthy by taking him off assignment without basic due process. The agency ignored the internal findings of its own EEO office," said DC 37 Assistant General Counsel Aaron Amaral.

The Parks Dept.'s unfair actions led Local 1505 President Dilcy Benn and Blue Collar Council Rep Tony Mammalello to file a grievance for Langworthy.

When Parks continued to assign Langworthy crew-chief-level work without compensating him for the difference between his title and the higher Associate Parks Service Worker rate of pay, the local filed a second grievance on his behalf.

"We filed the two grievances because Parks punished this member by taking away his differential without any disciplinary procedure or any violations on his record, but continued to use him to do the work without appropriate compensation," said Benn. "We had to get justice."

"Losing the crew chief differential made it hard to pay bills, so we had to cut back," said Langworthy, who is married with two children. "Now we can catch up and afford some of the things we enjoyed before.

"Dilcy, Tony and Aaron went to bat for me to protect my rights," he said. "I feel they did a great job."

"Mr. Langworthy has a history of being an excellent worker without disciplinary problems, and the attempt by the Parks Department to subvert due process had to be challenged, and was successfully," Amaral said.