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Cold Spring Harbor Fire District Bruce Hafner, Jay Parker, Kevin O'Brien, Karen Nielsen Disgusting Public Office Behavior Cold Spring Harbor New York
For over 30 years, the Cold Spring Harbor Fire District gave salary increases to Firehouse Attendants. Since 2006, the full time employees have had difficulty receiving their bi-week salary and salary increases due to the district secretary occasionally working from her Florida home. March 2008- the employees showed an interest in joining CSEA Local 1000 to protect themselves. The district failed to respond to the requests for voluntary recognition. January 2009- CSEA and the Cold Spring Harbor Fire District began contract negotiations. The board of fire commissioners made negotiations a living hell. The district postponed as many negotiation meetings as possible, numerous Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) hearings were scheduled for district violations during negotiations, fire commissioners attempted to sue other fire commissioners, illegal votes were used on decisions made by the BOFC, and CSEA charged commissioner Jay Parker with violation of NYS Civil Service Law Work Place Violence Staues and Work Place Violence Policy for abusing an employee. The charges were dropped a few weeks later due to the employee fearing further retaliation.
At the end of 2013- an agreement was made on a contract. January 1, 2014- Chairman Bruce Hafner and the board of fire commissioners took it upon themselves to cancel the health insurance of 5 men who have worked for the district for over 30 years and were promised insurance when they were hired. These men also volunteered for the fire department. All 5 retirees have medical issues and rely on their health insurance. 2 of the men have since passed away. At this time, Bruce Hafner purchased $130,000 worth of heart monitoring equipment that wasn't necessary. Bruce Hafner responded as an EMT-CC to one of the retirees home, shortly after the cancellation of the health insurance. He was told by a family member to, "Get the f*** out of my house!" February 2014- the district fired an EMT-CC, claiming they were eliminating her position. Immediately after, part time Paramedics were hired. In April of 2014- a full time employee (also the CSEA President) took a medical leave from the district for spine surgery. He was given clearence to return to work (light duty) on June 6, 2014. The district would not let him return to work until he was 100%.
This is an illegal act stated by 42 USC 12112 (The Americans With Disabilities Act) September 30, 2014- the same employee had to testify against the Cold Spring Harbor Fire District at a PERB hearing regarding the termination of health insurance for the 5 retirees. The district did not have a substantial case and a verdict is still pending. November 27, 2014- again, the same employee was fired because his EMT-B certificate expired during his recuperation. He was hired off of the Civil Service list as an EMT. Although, during his 9 year tenure, he worked as a Firehouse Attendant and Dispatcher. 4 hours out of the 9 years was spent as an EMT. The employee gave the district a proposal to work part time until he passed his Firehouse Attendant Civil Service exam in March of 2015. There was no district discussion and the employee was immediately fired. Immediately after, the employee was replaced by a full time, non-union Firehouse Attendant. The district was served papers from the law office of the employee who was terminated for federal, NYS, and Suffolk County violations for wrongful termination. December 22, 2014- the same employee had his unemployment insurance canced because the fire district claimed that,"He voluntarily quit his job." A NYS unemployment insurance hearing has been scheduled for the employee and an investigation by NYS found that the district had lied about circumstances involving the timeline of when the EMT certificate had expired. The employee's lawyers are also suing the district for harassment regarding the unemployment insurance incident.
The behavior of the Cold Spring Harbor Fire District and commissioners is disgusting and distubing.