By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

It was the best birthday present he could ever receive. That’s how former Local 420 member Thomas Torres, Jr. described the Dec. 3 decision that won back his job at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn.

“The union got me my job back and my dignity back,” said a grateful Mr. Torres. Woodhull also restored his seniority and the $6,000 pay hike he received when he became a Community Liaison Worker.

After his orientation in October, Mr. Torres was fired from his new CLW job at Woodhull when former employer Coney Island Hospital reported unsubstantiated sexual harassment charges.

“Not only was what they did illegal,” said Marianela Santana, DC 37 rep in the council’s Hospitals Division, “it was untruthful.” Although the case had been closed without an investigation and Mr. Torres had resigned to move to Woodhull, Coney Island personnel cited harassment as the cause for his termination.

For three years at Coney Island, Mr. Torres never faced any disciplinary action. As a Psychiatric Social Health Technician, he transported emergency patients to and from the Psychiatric Ward. On May 23, a young patient was brought in by ambulance and later released with only a token and directions to her Bed-Stuy home.

“Minutes earlier the patient apeared to be suicidal, but the hospital discharged her to ride the trains alone,” Mr. Torres said. He asked the attending psychiatrist to intervene, but nothing was done and the patient became hysterical.

“We were always told to defuse a bad situation by getting the patient to talk,” Mr. Torres said.

He stayed with the patient outside the psychiatrist’s office. “She calmed down and I showed her where she could catch a bus to the train.”

Two months later management smacked him with sex harassment charges.

“I felt ashamed. I have two daughters and how would that look?” Mr. Torres asked. “I did not want to be labeled that way.” Before a hearing could be held, the psychiatrist left Coney Island and the case was closed.
Moving on with his life, Mr. Torres landed the new job at Woodhull and resigned from Coney Island.

The former patient wrote a letter stating that Mr. Torres “treated me with respect and kindness.” Ms. Santana and Assistant Division Director Johnnie Locus continued to keep the pressure on the hospital until justice was done for Mr. Torres.

After the HHC reinstated Mr. Torres as a CLW at Woodhull in December he said, “All I can say is I thank God for Ms. Santana, Local 420 and DC 37.”