nothin Canned Custodian Can Return To Work | New Haven Independent

Canned Custodian Can Return To Work

Melinda Tuhus File Photo

Michele Kearney.

(Updated ) A government-funded contractor said Friday afternoon that a police station custodian placed on administrative leave for talking to a reporter can return to work Monday, won’t lose any pay, and faces no threat whatsoever” of losing her job.

That was the latest development in a fast-evolving series of events involving the plight of a custodian in a tough economic market, and a disciplinary incident that promises to affect upcoming talks with city unions about whether to privatize more government workers, such as school custodians.

The story involves Michele Kearney, a custodian at the police department. The city contracts out custodial work to a private company, O,R&L of Branford.

Depending on which version of events you believe, Kearney was either outright fired or placed on administrative leave Thursday.

The action took place after a story appeared Thursday in the Independent about the no-confidence vote taking place against Police Chief Frank Limon.

O,R&L Human Resources chief Dan George told the Independent at 2 p.m. Friday that the company plans to tell Kearney that she can come back to work on Monday. He said she will receive pay for the days missed while on administrative leave.

George said he still wants to speak with Kearney about what happened last Thursday. He said he hasn’t been able to yet. Asked if Kearney faces any chance of losing her job over the incident, he replied, “None whatsoever.”

In the Independent story, Kearney, who has been a custodian at 1 Union Ave. for less than year, said:

“There’s been a lot of tension ever since he’s [Limon] been here. There is not a lot of morale here.” The last chief, James Lewis, “was more understanding of what needs to be done. From what I have seen he wanted to hear their opinions and try to work with them. This one here [Limon] seems like he is working against them and not with them.”

The O,R&L supervisor at the station, John Izzo, took prompt action against her on Thursday after the article appeared, sending her home. He hung up on a reporter Friday morning when asked about the company’s action against Kearney.

Izzo’s cell phone is 203-376-1248. Members of the public can call him there if they want to express their opinions on the matter directly.

The chain of events unfolded fast and in a confusing manner, with contradictory statements from City Hall and O,R&L leadership.

Thursday night, outgoing mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said that Kearney had been fired and issued this statement:

“She was let go by the private company she works for but the city has requested that she be reinstated,” Mayorga wrote.

Friday morning Mayor DeStefano said he personally had made no such request and did not intend to.

A half hour later, new mayoral spokesman Adam Joseph reported that the company informed the city Friday morning that it would rehire Kearney. He said the city’s engineering department, which handles cleaning contracts, requested that it do so.

However, O,R&L’s Dan George subsequently told the Independent Friday morning said she had not been fired, only put on leave, and remained on leave while the company “investigates” the statements she made to the Independent.

“Ms. Kearney provided an unauthorized statement that certainly does not reflect O,R&L’s position on this matter,” George said at the time.

George said O,R&L employees “do have a legal right to speak to the media. However our company’s policies have very clear guidelines about speaking to the media as it relates to company business.”

What about when “company business” is government-funded, public business, like cleaning the police station? “As an employee she is bound by the same policies that I am,” George responded.

He asked the Independent not print his phone number. He said he is “talking to John Izzo about his professionalism and his manner” in dealing with the press.

Fair Haven Alderman Joseph Rodriguez did that Friday.

“He answered right away,” Rodriguez said. “I mentioned to him I had read the article. I was a bit upset. I felt bad. In a time where this economy is bad and the unemployment rate is 10 percent, you fire a young lady because she spoke to a reporter?”

Rodriguez said Izzo replied that the company would put out a statement explaining the action, but that “she violated corporate policy. It wasn’t their intentions to hurt anybody.”

To which Rodriguez said he responded: “With all due respect, what did you think was going to happen when you fire somebody? You took this lady’s bread and butter away.”

Independent readers are largely critical of the decision to publish Izzo’s cell number. Scroll to the comments below to read why and to read an Independent response.

“What Are We, In Russia?”

Police union President Sgt. Lou Cavaliere blasted the company’s action in a phone interview Friday.

“She has a First Amendment right. That woman works hard. What are we, in Russia? This is ridiculous.” Cavaliere called this incident “a perfect example of why you need a union. Otherwise a manager can call you in and fire you because he doesn’t like something you said.”

Despite Mayorga’s Thursday evening statement that the city had asked for Kearney to be reinstated, Mayor DeStefano Friday morning said he did not make any request to O,R&L and he does not intend to.

“That’s a personnel decision” made by a private contractor, he said. “I don’t know if that’s a public employee. Was a contractor who was plowing our streets a public employee?”

DeStefano compared Kearney’s suspension to an employee being dismissed by United Illuminating. “If you’re providing electricity, isn’t that a public service?”

“Where is the bright line?”

DeStefano rejected the idea that this incident is relevant to talks about outsourcing government work.

AFSCME Council 4 spokesman Larry Dorman, on the other hand, called the incident a “textbook example of why privatization is corrupt and debases the workers and the taxpayers.”

“This speaks to the horrendous disregard for the dignity and rights of working people to exercise their First Amendment rights,” said Dorman, whose council represents 1,500 city and Board of Ed employees in five unions. “There’s no accountability for how people are treated.”

Chief Limon, reached by phone in Chicago Friday morning, said he hadn’t known about the company’s action. He said that the private contractor handles labor decisions.

Labor rights of subcontracted government employees looms as a big issue as the city confronts a budget crisis. Mayor DeStefano is looking to privatize more custodians, in the public schools.

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