Posted on 08/19/2004 1:12:36 PM PDT by Cagey
By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff WriterFor missing work to evacuate his mother, city employee James Gesicki lost his job.
LARGO - When James Gesicki heard that Hurricane Charley was heading for Tampa Bay last week, he had one thing in mind: getting his 81-year-old mother who lived in a mandatory evacuation zone to safety.
So last Thursday the 30-year Largo public works employee told two of his supervisors he planned to bring his mother, Catherine, to his Spring Hill home. Fine, they said. But show up for work Friday - the day the hurricane was expected to hit - or lose your job.
Gesicki, 61, and a year from retiring, chose to stay with his mother.
Monday, he was fired.
"I had to make a decision. There was only one decision to make and because of it, I lost my job," Gesicki said.
Largo, which also fired a wastewater treatment plant operator for the same reason this week, is the only major Tampa Bay area city so far to terminate anyone for refusing to work. St. Petersburg and Tampa are investigating cases of employee absenteeism that Friday, officials said.
Gesicki earned $35,000 a year as a Largo spray technician, clearing weeds and plants from city waterways. Allen Janosky, a wastewater treatment plant operator for the city for two years, earned $33,425.
Assistant City Manager Henry Schubert said public works employees like Gesicki must be on site to prepare and fuel equipment before disasters hit. And employees who were not at work during a storm might not be able to get there shortly after.
Both employees were considered primary responders, he said, who would have roles in an emergency. "When we call you in to work, if you refuse to come to work, we will terminate you," Schubert said.
Gesicki's termination will not affect his retirement benefits, but he said he will have to pay for his own health insurance.
All of Gesicki's performance reviews on file list him as meeting or exceeding expectations. He was disciplined in September 2001 for leaving chemicals on a boat.
Gesicki said that over the years, he showed up for work during several emergencies. But in this case, he felt he was pushed up against a wall.
"We are people too," he said. "We have family and we have homes."
Schubert said Gesicki could have taken his mother to a special needs shelter or a shelter reserved for the family of Largo employees at the Largo Cultural Center.
But Gesicki said he didn't feel comfortable leaving his mother by herself in a shelter, surrounded by strangers.
Janosky, the treatment plant operator, left a message with a clerical staffer last Thursday saying he was in a mandatory evacuation zone and was not coming to work, said his boss, Joe Carlini, director of environmental services. The city didn't hear from him Friday and he called in sick Saturday, Carlini said.
Stephen C. Sarnoff, president of the Communication Workers of America union's Local 3179, said the two employees should not be held to the same standard as police officers or firefighters.
"I don't think the citizens are demanding that these two be fired," Sarnoff said.
Officials from other Tampa Bay municipalities say they haven't taken the the strict line Largo has.
In Belleair Bluffs, one city public works employee had the identical request: He asked to stay home to care for his mother. The city accepted that excuse, Mayor Chris Arbutine said. "You have to take everything into consideration," Arbutine said.
In Clearwater, city officials said staffing levels are minimized before a storm, and they encountered no problems.
County Administrator Steve Spratt said he was unaware of any employees fired for not reporting. "We had a fairly flexible directive to our department directors," he said. "We wanted to be sensitive to those employees who had personal obligations at home, securing their families and homes."
In Dunedin, employees who didn't show up without clearing it with their supervisor were charged a vacation day, City Manager John Lawrence said.
St. Petersburg is looking into a few cases of absent employees. Human Relations director Gary Cornwell said he doesn't yet have an exact count, but described it as a handful of cases.
"We've asked them to document their excuses," he said. "Any action we take will depend on the circumstances."
Ken Perry, labor relations manager in Tampa's human resources department, said city officials are investigating two employees who didn't report to work Friday. If it turns out they didn't have legitimate reasons for not reporting for work, they will face consequences based in part on their work history, he said. Possibilities range from verbal reprimand to suspension and dismissal.
Gesicki said he doesn't plan to fight his termination. He said he doubts he can persuade officials to change their minds.
But his conscience is clear, he said. "Under the circumstances," he said, "I would do it again."
Times staff writers Aaron Sharockman, Megan Scott, Carrie Johnson, Michael Sandler and Janet Zink and Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Lorri Helfand can be reached at 727 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com
His mother lived in a mandatory evacuation zone in Tampa. About 1 hour away from Spring Hill where he brought her to safety. Give another hour or two to pack things up, 4 hours roundtrip. He did this on Thursday. He couldn't show up for work on Friday because?????
"under the Family Medical Leave law it is illegal for any employer to terminate any employee"
So.......if all the police and fire personnel decided they didn't want to show up because they had "family emergencies" I wonder what would happen?
The guy knew what the deal was. He didn't make a choice between his job and his mother.....he simply didn't plan to meet his obligations with his job by making sure his mother was taken care of some other way.
He was terminated for his own lack of planning which affected his obligations. So now he changes the story and spins it in his favor as a choice between "job and family" which it is no such thing.
Buh-bye.......
They have the legal right to fire him, but do they have the moral right?
It is obvious that some here believe in the authority of employers and the Almighty Dollar more than mercy to an elderly woman in a strange city in uncertain circumstances. They may be conservative, but not compasiionate conservative. Therein lies the difference.
"They have the legal right to fire him, but do they have the moral right?"
They have a moral imperative. He signed up as a public servant to be available in time of public need. He essentially must serve everyone else's elderly mother but in this case it wasn't personally convenient.
He could have made other plans for his mother, but evidently didn't. His mother has nothing at all to do with this.
I would have made the same call if I was him.
And they could have reprimanded him, given him a suspension, or some other discipline short of firing him. It was their choice.
This issue hits close to home so I've tried to hold off and just let the thread flow but I have to say something here.
If you folks honestly feel that a 30 year employee with a glowing review history who was simply doing a sons duty in caring for his 81 year old mother deserves no consideration here because, hey he knew the deal, it's a sad statement on society.
This guy wasn't some 6 month newbie who hadn't earned his stripes yet and all I can say is you'd better hope you are fortunate enough to never be put in his or his mothers' position.
Compassion is what we all hope for one day, let's hope this employer had more reason then this to fire him, because this is a poor choice. He could have been suspended without pay, or some other punishment.
Compassion is what we all hope for one day, let's hope this employer had more reason then this to fire him, because this is a poor choice. He could have been suspended without pay, or some other punishment.
"And they could have reprimanded him, given him a suspension, or some other discipline short of firing him. It was their choice."
Public sector employees often do not get their usual coddling in emergency services sectors. They hire them to do their job, if they refuse, or can't no matter what the reason, they are subject to getting fired.
It's not a compassion thing. It's a practical need of society that MUST be met in time of emergency. What do you think will happen next time there is an emergency? I'll bet all the folks at this guys shop show up. As it should be. He is being treated like an adult, and doesn't like it. C'est la vie.
My husband isn't a newbie to his job, and his mother needed evacuation and was 85. But evacuation from her waterfront home was arranged for and he reported to his job.
If this guy knows his mom is in an evacuation zone, and knows he has to be on the job during a hurricane, he has had plenty of time to make arrangements for her care and evacuation.
In fact, let me go so far as to say this. Evacuation shelters were opened on the west coast of Florida on Thursday afternoon, about the same time the evacuation orders were given.
Many of these centers are equipped for the elderly. He could have picked her up on Thursday and made sure she got to one of the evac centers equipped for elderly people.
And still had plenty of time to report to his job on Friday.
If this guy was allowed to "break the rules" what happens next time and the time after, as more employees, who'd rather be with their families (and which ones wouldn't) decide to not show up for work and then claim "family" necessity.
The entire system would break down and there would be noone to man the emergency operations of a city.
"Oh goodness gracious, we have mothers in Iraq serving their country and having to leave their babies"
Yep, and by the way, they have to PROVE to their units that they have made such plans for their dependents, and subject to discipline if they don't make such plans.
Now, I don't think most folks need that much handholding, but apparently this guy did.......
Republican free trader bible chapter one, verse 1 "Ethics and business do not mix"
He was a 'first responder' and failed to respond.
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