Arbitrator restores jobs of park workers
Union leader says decision faults county in firing of two found in bar while on duty
Two Erie County parks workers found in a bar on county time will get their jobs back and receive back pay.
An independent arbitrator ruled the county wrongfully fired the two unionized supervisors — Anthony Syracuse and Paul Palumbo Jr. — and ordered them reinstated with full pay dating back to February 2008.
“It was their first offense,” said John Orlando, president of Local 1095, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union representing blue-collar county workers.
The two workers could not be reached Friday for comment.
Orlando said the arbitrator decided termination was too severe a punishment for the two, who claimed they were in the Lovejoy bar, which Syracuse owned, for only 15 minutes.
He also claims the arbitrator took issue with County Executive Chris Collins’ decision to hold a news conference, which he said was designed to embarrass the employees and the union.
“We’re obviously disappointed by the decision,” Grant Loomis, Collins’ spokesman, said Friday.
From the beginning, the two workers claimed they had stopped at Siracusa’s Lounge on Davey Street because they noticed the lights were on.
County officials said a tipster notified officials of the county Department of Parks and Recreation that the two were in the bar, where Parks Commissioner James Hornung Sr. found them later that morning.
County officials argued that workers are required to report whenever they are away from the job and neither Palumbo nor Syracuse did that.
“We just happened to be driving by when Anthony noticed the lights were on in his place of business,” Palumbo told The Buffalo News last year. “We were in the place maybe 15 minutes when the commissioner came by and tried to make a big thing out of all of this.”
He also told The News that he and Syracuse were the victims of prejudice against Italian- Americans by top county officials.
The county initially demoted Palumbo and Syracuse, but, after a second disciplinary hearing, decided to fire them. The two workers challenged their termination through their union and won.
At the time of their firing, Syracuse was earning $40,000 a year as a parks supervisor and Palumbo was earning $39,000 as assistant supervisor. Whether they would return to those posts or other jobs was not immediately clear.
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