The Chicago Tribune has a follow-up article relating to yesterday’s order to rehire four CFD firefighters that were fired.
Chicago’s internal watchdog on Monday defended his recommendation to fire dozens of firefighters who padded mileage reports and called an arbitrator’s ruling to soften penalties in the case “patent nonsense.”
Last year, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson recommended firing 54 firefighters in the Fire Prevention Bureau that his office determined had falsified their mileage reimbursements to the tune of $100,000 in 2009. Then-fire Commissioner Robert Hoff decided instead to issue lengthy unpaid suspensions to most firefighters but fired four of them.
The arbitrator, Edwin Benn, reversed the firings last week, ruling that the four instead should be suspended without pay for 40 days. He also ruled that most of the other firefighters have their 30- to 60-day suspensions reduced to 20 to 40 days.
Benn found that while firefighters and supervisors violated city rules, they engaged in conduct that had been “almost a work rule,” condoned within the department for decades.
“The idea that stealing, fraudulent falsification of official records — and lying — is acceptable because everyone else is doing it is patent nonsense. Any child knows better,” Ferguson wrote in response. “These firefighters did not engage in conduct that unknowingly brought them in technical violation of some obscure and misunderstood city rule. Rather, they admitted to routinely and systematically lying in order to steal money from the city — and, ultimately, from Chicago taxpayers.”
The complete article is HERE.
#1 by "J" on June 7, 2012 - 9:58 AM
Yeah seriously, we now have some extremely competent individuals in this department who know how do their jobs (from the MARC division, civilian assistant commissioners, and yes dedicated Exempt ranks) so just sit back and appreciate the fruits of their efforts…I used to be a disbeliever until I saw first hand how they recognized our needs and got the grants to pay for them…most they get (grants) some they are still trying to get… I used to point fingers and question myself of how things were done but thanks to recent and present administrations people have been put in the right place to get the job done
#2 by john on June 6, 2012 - 2:12 PM
It’s verdicts like this one that really undermine the public’s trust in the public sector. It leads people to believe that publicly-funded employees are potentially held to a different (and less rigorous) standard of ethics and legalities. So while this may be deemed by some in the department as a short-term ‘victory’, it really does nothing to help the bigger goal of garnering public sympathy and support for the department, overall. Shame on this arbitrator and for those involved in taking the department down this path.
#3 by Seriously on June 6, 2012 - 12:44 PM
Is it true the department is cutting pay at the sametime spending thousands on purchasing a new video training system? Does this make sense????