Yanked After Honeymoon
EMS Officer: EEO Transfer Abusive

By ARI PAUL

An Emergency Medical Service officer based at Fire Department headquarters claimed last week that she was subjected to a humiliating reassignment process without explanation after she returned from her honeymoon.

The Chief-Leader/Alana Marcu TOSSED OUT: Emergency Medical Service Lieut. Valerie Miller claimed she was unjustly reassigned from her position at the Equal Employment Opportunity office at Fire Department headquarters and was escorted throughout the building in a humiliating fashion. She said she was wrongly accused of taking excessive time off.

Lieut. Valerie Miller, who has 21 years with EMS, had worked in the FDNY Equal Employment Opportunity office as an instructor at its Brooklyn headquarters for two years. When she returned to work Oct. 22, EEO Assistant Commissioner Lyndelle Phillips told her that her presence was no longer needed and that she would be reassigned to the field.

Called Union Head

Lieutenant Miller called Thomas Eppinger, president of Local 3621 of District Council 37, which represents EMS officers. She then went to the bathroom because, she said, she felt nauseated. Mr. Eppinger raced to department headquarters and arrived to discover Ms. Miller in the custody of Fire Marshals, who had been ordered to find her.

She was escorted out of the building after she gathered her belongings at the order of Deputy Assistant Chief of EMS Operations Jerry Z. Gombo. One department official had also inspected the boxes with personal belongings that she was leaving with to make sure she hadn't stolen anything. Lieut. Miller claimed this was excessive and humiliating, adding that her reputation in the department was unfairly tarnished.

'Barred From Entry'

"Apparently, I have been barred from entry in the building," she said. "I can't go anywhere in the building unescorted."

Mr. Eppinger said the event was particularly stunning because Lieutenant Miller was the only African-American female officer in the EEO, and the department has been the target of litigation and criticism claiming it committed sexual and racial discrimination.

"They don't learn," he said of the department. "What is even more disturbing is that this is the EEO Commissioner that's doing it."

He added, "They've opened themselves up to litigation."

'She Wasn't Performing'

While Lieutenant Miller was not given an explanation for her reassignment, she said she had clashed with Ms. Phillips over taking sick leave and attending mandatory EMS training.

"She was pleased with my work," Lieutenant Miller said. "She's saying that I was out excessively, which I wasn't."

She added that she has never received any disciplines or anything in writing stating that her work at EEO was unsatisfactory.

The FDNY's chief spokesman defended the reassignment.

"This is a prerogative of management and of the manager of this unit," Francis X. Gribbon said. "She felt that she had to make a change, and the employee was not performing to the degree she felt she needed her to perform."

In regard to the Fire Marshals' presence, Mr. Gribbon said, "It was nothing inappropriate about their role in this. She disappeared from her supervisor. When she resurfaced, they had no role until Eppinger insisted upon their presence."

Lieutenant Miller was reassigned to EMS Division One in Manhattan. She said she would not seek to be reinstated at EEO even though she enjoyed her work there.

"I would like an apology for why I was treated this way," she said. "I think that the Fire Department has crossed the line in their abuse of women in this job. I don't think they would have treated a Firefighter this way. I don't think they would have treated a male this way."