Public Employee Press

Back from workplace exile

Local 1757 President Francine Schloss, a City Assessor Level 4, recently won an improper labor practice case against her punitive, involuntary transfer from her long-time office in Manhattan to Brooklyn.

Schloss's workplace exile came in June 2011 after she twice testified in public settings about the need for more Assistant Assessors and faulty assessing methods at the Dept. of Finance that together could be costing the city hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

When a supervisor, Warren Hyman, informed Schloss about her involuntary transfer, she consulted with DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, Associate Director Henry Garrido and Assistant Director Michele Trester of the Research and Negotiations Dept. Everyone agreed she had been targeted because of her union activity.

Assistant General Counsel Meaghean Murphy filed improper practice charges with the impartial Board of Collective Bargaining. The BCB ruled May 29 that Finance had violated the collective bargaining law by retaliating against Schloss and ordered the department to allow her to return to her Manhattan office, where she had worked for 28 of her 35 years with the city.

"The decision recognizes how Fran is a strong advocate for her members and that DOF retaliated against her because she went public about how its failure to capture the full value of properties in its assessments is causing a tremendous loss of revenue," Murphy said.

Hyman questioned Schloss about her public statements after she testified on April 28 and May 2, 2011, at DC 37 and City Council hearings. She criticized the agency for uncollected revenue, a lack of Assistant Assessors, poor scrutiny of tax-exempt properties, the failure to tax billboards and cell towers, and a faulty assessment method.

When Hyman called Schloss a month later to inform her about the transfer, he said, as Schloss recalled, "This may impede upon your union activity."

Much of the city's case relied on Hyman's testimony, and the decision stated, "We do not find his testimony credible."

"This was a good win for DC 37, and it could not have happened without Meaghean's great work," Schloss said.