ACS Earned this Rebuke

The city's Board of Collective Bargaining has delivered an uncharacteristically scathing rebuke to the Administration for Children's Services for retaliating against a Caseworker for standing up for his rights.

ACS suspended Ralph Vanacore seven years ago on disciplinary charges that ultimately did not hold up when he brought the case before an arbitrator. Although a settlement was worked out in the summer of 2004 under which he would return to work, ACS soon looked for a way to renege on that deal. It cooked up some more charges against Mr. Vanacore for on-the-job misconduct in 2001, even though he claimed he hadn't been allowed to report for duty at that time.

ACS's inability to produce evidence supporting this hoary bit of railroading was evident in the language of the BCB decision, which was adopted by a 5-2 majority (the dissenters were the two city representatives on the panel).

"This repeated, suspicious, temporal proximity between [Mr. Vanacore's] successful resort to the grievance process swiftly followed by adverse employment action by the employer is consistent with other facts supporting a finding of retaliation," the decision stated.

"Additionally, we find that ACS relied on dubious evidence and stale charges ... to rid itself of this employee, as well as engaging in disingenuous behavior surrounding the stipulation [to reinstate him]." What it added up to, the BCB stated, was an obvious case of "anti-union animus."

One official at Social Service Employees Local 371 of District Council 37, which Mr. Vanacore serves as a union delegate, characterized him as "different." The word was meant to convey that he is not a go-along, get-along type of employee who would avoid challenging a supervisor if he believed that person was wrong.

Employees like Mr. Vanacore can sometimes complicate their dealings with superiors. But agencies must respect the union and civil service rights that employees - even the sometimes-aggravating ones - enjoy.

ACS Commissioner John Mattingly has struck us as a conscientious man. That description would not apply, however, to his handling of this case, which actually involved charges based on alleged incidents that occurred during the prior mayoral administration.

The Nixzmary Brown case a year ago, in which a child known to ACS was brutally murdered by a stepfather who evaded attempts by Caseworkers to interview him, made clear the danger of having employees who are too passive to assert themselves. Caseworkers like Mr. Vanacore may not always be a pleasure to supervise, but given the nature of the work they do, they are preferable to those who are too timid to stand up for either themselves or their clients.