Mayor Suspends Five Highway
Workers Says Misuse of City time
"will not be tolerated"
Mayor
James J. Fiorentini today suspended five
(5) highway department workers without
pay for using sick time and other city
time while working for private companies,
and for failing to report that city
equipment was being used on private jobs.
The suspensions were from two (2) to five
(5) days.
In announcing the suspensions, the Mayor
said that the city would not tolerate
drawing city pay while working for a
private company.
“Today, after a lengthy
investigation, the city is suspending
five (5) workers in the highway
department. The suspensions are for using
sick-time while working for a private
company, using city time to work on
private equipment and for failing to
report that city equipment was being used
on private jobs.
Our investigation revealed that there
were times when highway workers used sick
time, vacation time and personal days to
perform private work for the Flaherty
companies. While a worker is entitled to
use his vacation time for anything he
wants to, it is an abuse of sick time to
call in sick and then work for a private
company.
We are also suspending workers for the
failure to report that city equipment was
being used on private jobs. At least one
worker testified that all of his
supervisors were present at the Flaherty
jobsite and that there was no one to
report it to. This may be a mitigating
factor in determining the severity of the
punishment, but it does not excuse the
behavior.
They could have, and should have,
reported this matter to the Mayor, to the
police, the personnel department or other
law enforcement officers.
The behavior that was found here is a
violation of the public trust and can not
be tolerated.
In determining the length of the penalty,
we have taken into account the length of
service to the city, and testimony of
some workers that they felt there was no
one to report this misconduct to. While
this may be a mitigating factor in
punishment, it can not excuse the
behavior.
In addition to the suspensions, are also
sending a warning to each employee,
reminding them that misuse of sick time
and other city time is not to be
tolerated and that employees are expected
to account for their own time and to
report wrong-doing by others ."
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