Public Employee Press

Clerical worker beats Police Dept. mugging

Martha D. Munoz is a hard worker and an excellent employee. “She’s never late, never absent and never complains,” observed Clerical Division Grievance Rep Gerald Johnson.

But it took a union grievance to get her the right pay for her work and to restore $5,000 that was incorrectly deducted from her check.

Seventeen years with the Police Dept., Munoz works at the Mid-Manhattan Tow Pound on Pier 76, where she investigates licenses and registrations to determine their validity and researches outstanding warrants.

A member of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549, Munoz faced a series of setbacks in 2002. First, she received extra money in her paycheck that the Payroll Dept. assured her was coming to her. Then in August of that year, she was informed that they were deducting the money automatically from her checks and returning it to the agency. At the same time, the Police Dept. cut out all the overtime at the Tow Pound.

Although she was doing the work of a Clerical Associate III, handling money and dealing with the public at the Tow Pound window, management rejected her request for an upgrade.

In November 2003, she brought the problems to Johnson, who filed her grievance. The turnaround started in January 2004. The money deducted from her paycheck, approximately $5,000, was restored. She won her upgrade to Clerical Associate 3 from CA 1 in December 2004. On Dec. 30, 2005, she won her grievance requesting retroactive payment of the salary differential between the two titles and the NYPD started paying her at the proper rate for a CA 3.

“Everything fell into place,” Munoz said. “Gerald Johnson was always there for me,” she said. “I’m just glad that the grievance procedure finally worked in her favor,” Johnson said.

“She showed tremendous patience and professionalism throughout this grievance process,” said Assistant Clerical Division Director Ron Arnero. Now Munoz is back to working overtime and digging her way out of debt. “The city never sleeps. It’s fairly busy at night,” she said. “Especially on Fridays and Saturdays. I like my hours and I like my job.”