Disgraceful Nonsense

To the Editor:

Newtown forced to reinstate emergency dispatcher! (Danbury News-Times 7/9.) Well what a surprise, who would have thought it. Yet another termination of an employee is overturned because the same three officials once again knowingly and intentionally violated an employee’s due process rights in a disciplinary hearing after which he was fired. Once again Chief Kehoe, Ms Ross, and Joe Borst decided to follow their own procedures instead of those prescribed in state law and town policy.

It has become very clear now that Ms Ross has little if any qualifications for her position as human resources coordinator. I would think that at least some minimal familiarity with state labor law is required for her job. Chief Kehoe also seems to have little if any knowledge about these very same procedures. The Weingarten Rule regarding union representation has been around since a 1975 US Supreme Court ruling, apparently, like the due process clause in the town employee handbook, it’s old so Ms Ross and Chief Kehoe did not feel obligated to obey it. In the Mason termination process these same three individuals came dangerously close to violating state statute regarding improper recording of a private conversation.

How much more of this disgraceful nonsense must we taxpayers endure at the hands of these three officials? What will it take for someone in this government to put a stop to this? Each case like these two brings the town closer to the point where it no longer has any credibility in future labor board or other legal venues. The town now has a clearly established past practice of managerial abuse of employee rights.

When asked to comment on these matters, Ms Ross seemed to think it was no big deal saying it happens all the time in the “real world.” Is she saying Newtown is not in the real world? Actually no, it only happens to towns that have an HR coordinator and a chief of police who are too arrogant and ignorant to follow clearly established and commonly known rules of management, and labor law. In any major corporation these two individuals would be shown the door right about now. Mr Borst’s comment that the two incidents are different strains incredulity! In both cases the same three town officials knowingly and intentionally violated due process rights of an employee and the result was the same in both. Apparently, to him there is a difference because one employee was a union member. Sorry Mr Borst; different victims, same crime.

As a taxpayer I want to know where the Police Commission is, where is the Board of Ethics? Is anyone in this government going to do anything about these ethically challenged officials? Someday when the town has to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars in a civil rights lawsuit we will see how high the price of arrogance and ignorance really is.

Michael Marsalisi

3 King Street, Newtown                                                    July 10, 2009