Problems arise when Commissioner Stern casts aside civil service system. Union sues to enforce members’ rights.

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found “reasonable cause” to believe the New York City Parks Dept. illegally discriminates against African American and Latino employees.

The federal findings on racial bias in assignments and promotions bolstered minority workers’ allegations that the grass is greener across the color line.

The EEOC report, which was released in February, responded to complaints filed in 1999 by 20 current and former Parks workers who accused the agency of creating a racially prejudiced employment system. They charged that Parks circumvented civil service procedures by failing to administer exams or post job openings and passed over veteran African American and Latino employees in favor of less-experienced white recruits.

“Good ol’ boys” on top
Employment statistics presented to the EEOC indicated that while the work force is 50 percent minority, senior management staff remains predominantly white. Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal said this makes the department resemble “an ongoing plantation.” The report is the third study in five years that has criticized the agency’s handling of minority issues.

At the heart of the controversy, say union members, are agency programs that make a sham of the civil service merit system and block the career paths of longtime employees who are minorities. A former chief of recreation for Brooklyn parks, Walter Beach III, said that instead of using civil service titles, the Parks Dept. creates its own titles and job descriptions.

“Junior Manager, for example,” said Mr. Rosenthal, “is a made-up crony title awarded to the commissioner’s pets.”

Managerial positions often go to recruits from Commissioner Henry Stern’s controversial “Class of” program that brings in mostly white college graduates from elite schools. Workers say minority employees who have worked in the system for decades in lower-paid titles often train these Ivy Leaguers, who are then promoted to management positions over the veterans.

“People who are qualified are not being recognized for what they can do,” said Michael Hood, president of Local 1505 and chair of the DC 37 Parks Policy Committee. “If the civil service ladder were used properly, it would certainly lessen the problem.”

DC 37’s Legal Department has brought lawsuits and is planning additional suits to compel the city and the Parks Dept. to give exams where members serve provisionally beyond the time limit permitted by civil service law. In a recent case, the court agreed with the union that employees who were appointed as “year-round seasonals” were in effect provisional appointees serving beyond the nine-month term allowed under civil service law. Both the Civil Service Law and the state constitution require that appointments to civil service jobs be made on the basis of merit, which should be determined by competitive examinations. DC 37 General Counsel Joel Giller said, “The union will sue whenever it finds an agency violating these important principles.”

The recent federal report adds teeth to the workers’ case as they prepare to file a class action civil rights lawsuit against the city. The U.S. Dept. of Justice may join the suit, said one of their attorneys, Lewis Steel, and the EEOC reasonable cause finding “will certainly help this case.”

Mr. Steel said the bias in Parks was “blatant on many levels. Many of our plaintiffs are so well-qualified, it should have been impossible for them not to move up.”