Public Employee Press

Fired Laborer gets $100,000

The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Dept. of Environmental Protection to reinstate a 10-year civil servant who was fired two years ago without a hearing.

Local 376 member Shelton Johnson will get back pay for the two years, estimated by the union at $100,000.

“The court said no to DEP’s wrongful attempt to circumvent the civil service law in a rush to judgment against our member,” said Local 376 President Gene DeMartino.

Construction Laborer Shelton Johnson’s troubles began when police confused him with a wanted man. In searching his family car, they found a homemade city parking plaque, a misdemeanor. To get his impounded vehicle back, Johnson paid the fine. The police notified DEP, which immediately fired him. DEP based the firing on an archaic City Charter provision from the 1800s that says officials and employees forfeit their jobs for crimes that “defraud the city.”

Labor lawyer Stuart Lichten, who argued the case for the Construction Laborers, Highway Repairers and Watershed Maintainers local said, “The city tries to dismiss civil servants without hearings all the time.”

In a separate investigation, the city inspector general found similar plaques in the windshields of the vehicles of several DEP employees. DEP docked them two workdays and a sick day.

“The punishment I got was like a life sentence compared to that,” Mr. Johnson said. “They wanted to take my pension and they took my job for two years.”

Mr. Johnson never got a hearing. Mr. Lichten successfully argued that under Section 75 of the state Civil Service Law, a permanent civil servant could not be summarily fired without a hearing. The appellate decision has broad implications: It reinforces a civil service worker’s right to due process and puts the burden of proof on management.

Tommy Kattou, Local 376 Secretary Treasurer and Grievance Rep, has now filed another grievance because DEP violated their transfer policy and Section 75 by punitively transferring Mr. Johnson to another yard. Mr. Johnson worked out of the Williamsburg yard for more than six years.

“Being fired put a lot of stress on my family. I am trying to rebuild my life,” Mr. Johnson said. “I have a lot of praise for my local. Tom Kattou and Gene DeMartino really stepped up to the mound for me.”
“Once again, an impartial judge has slapped DEP down for its illegal, vindictive, anti-employee, anti-union behavior,” said Mr. DeMartino.

— Diane S. Williams