Public Employee Press

City favors provisionals; court rules for MVOs

Two Motor Vehicle Operators laid off from the Health Dept. last year returned to work in January after the union charged in state Supreme Court that the city used unlawful criteria to select them for layoff while it kept 12 provisional drivers at other agencies.

In January, the city agreed to reinstate MVOs Kevin Blackman and Dennis Tobin with full seniority and benefits. Before their August layoffs, the two Local 983 members had worked at transporting Exterminators to and from assignments in the Bronx and Manhattan.

"These MVOs are civil service, and we took this case straight to the DC 37 Legal Department to protect their rights," said Steve Shaw, Local 983 vice president and grievance rep.

The city said it laid off the two permanent employees and denied them the right to bump the provisionals because neither has a Commercial Driver's License, which all of the provisional drivers have.

DC 37 Attorney Dena Klein charged that since the two had passed the civil service exam and had the valid driver's licenses required for the MVO position, the firings were "arbitrary and capricious" violations of civil service law and the state constitution. She pointed out that MVOs are not required to have a CDL and said that adding this requirement constituted a form of "selective certification."

The union victory is particularly relevant because the mayor's anti-civil service task force has called for increasing the use of selective certification and using additional factors beyond seniority in determining who is laid off - changes that would require state legislation (see page 7).

"The union stood its ground against this attack on the civil service system," said Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal.

The stipulation of agreement that settled the case cannot be used as a legal precedent, but it got both civil servants rehired. Blackman now drives for the Dept of Corrections and Tobin for the Dept. of Homeless Services.

"Prior to their layoffs, MVOs Blackman and Tobin were permanent civil servants entitled to the full protections of the Civil Service Law, and I am proud that the union was able to get them back to work," said Klein.