Public Employee Press

Driver gets job back at agency for homeless

Six months after the union filed improper practice charges against the Dept. of Homeless Services, a Local 983 member who was fired last June has been reinstated with back pay and benefits.

Motor Vehicle Operator Dunston Carter had been driving staff and correspondence to DHS offices around the city since 2001. But DHS fired Carter three months after a director issued him a letter stating that every DHS driver must have a Commercial Driver’s License for transporting more than seven passengers. Carter’s CDL permitted him to drive up to seven passengers.

Although the agency employs many MVOs, only Carter received the ominous March letter. DHS put a June 10 deadline on the new requirement, but never offered Carter time off to take the advanced test.
The city also failed to negotiate the new requirement with DC 37. Management contacted Carter directly and then terminated him on June 21. Carter, the only MVO penalized over the CDL issue, believed he was wrongfully fired, so he went to the union.

“To change a job requirement without negotiating with the union, and then terminate our member based on that change was unjust,” said Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal.

“The agency unilaterally changed the rules and conditions of employment midstream, and that’s illegal when employees are covered by a contract,” said DC 37 attorney Joe Barrett. Barrett and Local 983 1st Vice President Steve Shaw handled Carter’s case.

When DHS hired Carter, the agency required only a basic driver’s license. Last August, two months after firing Carter, management attempted to require that its other drivers obtain CDLs with 12-passenger endorsements, again violating the city Collective Bargaining Law, Barrett said. The union was not going to let management get away with that.

In September 2005, DC 37 filed four improper practice charges against DHS to win Carter’s job back and stop the unlawful change in job specifications.

After an October labor-management meeting, DHS backed down, rescinded the letters and withdrew the illegally imposed requirement. DHS offered Carter a settlement that expunged the termination letter from his file and reinstated him with full back pay and benefits, including sick leave and vacation time.

“We are glad our member got his job back. Joe Barrett, the DC 37 lawyer, did a great job,” said Rosenthal.

“I went through a lot of stress,” Carter said. “But the union came through for me.”