Fired Pittsburgh transit worker reinstated

By Matthew Santoni
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, June 5, 2010

A Port Authority of Allegheny County employee accused of planting a black doll with a noose around its neck got her job back this week with back pay because an arbitrator sided with the union.

Deborah Blocker, a maintenance worker, said she was the target when someone hung a Barbie doll scrawled with racial epithets in an employee-only hallway at the authority's East Liberty garage in October 2007. But Port Authority later fired Blocker and bus driver Tamara Clark because its investigators believed the two were involved in planting the doll, according to court records. Both Blocker and Clark are black.

"We believe the authority's actions were appropriate and our response to this matter followed all applicable laws, policies and procedures," said a statement released by Port Authority in response to the arbitrator's ruling. "We respectfully disagree with the arbitrator's decision but will comply with it."

Authority officials declined to comment further because it is a "confidential personnel matter."

Blocker could not be reached.

Port Authority did not file charges against either employee, and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 took the firings to arbitrators chosen by the union and transit agency. One arbitrator this week ruled that Blocker had to be reinstated with back pay; another arbitration hearing ended with Clark's reinstatement three months ago, said Pat McMahon, Local 85 president.

Clark was back on the job soon after the ruling, he said. As a bus driver, she had to undergo a brief refresher course with an instructor aboard the bus before returning to work. Blocker is expected to return to work next week, pending the results of a physical exam and a mandatory drug test. Her job does not require her to undergo further training.

"Port Authority's probably wasted over half a million dollars on this issue," McMahon said. "When it's all said and done, they've wasted all this money for being dead wrong."

Both women were held off with pay -- $23.94 an hour for Blocker, $23.24 an hour for Clark -- starting in March 2008, which is standard procedure when an employee is under investigation. The authority dismissed Clark in October 2008 and Blocker in June 2009.

McMahon estimated that the two employees' paid time off during the investigation and the back pay they were owed totalled about $200,000. That would be added to court costs, attorneys' fees, arbitrators' fees and overtime costs for other employees to cover their shifts. When Port Authority is pondering fare hikes, layoffs and route cuts to fix a $50.3 million deficit, McMahon said the agency should reconsider the expense of fighting for firings like Blocker's.

"It's not going to fix the deficit, but it could save a couple of routes," he said.

Asked if Port Authority would challenge the ruling, spokeswoman Heather Pharo said only that the authority was "in the process of complying with the arbitrator's decision."