Firefighter scorched over T-shirt smashing affirmative actio
Sept 13, 2014 15:44:56 GMT -5
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Post by onthejob on Sept 13, 2014 15:44:56 GMT -5
Firefighter scorched over T-shirt smashing affirmative action
The FDNY is hosing 1 of its own for wearing an anti-affirmative-action T-shirt — just a week immediately after Mayor de Blasio told city employees it is up to them how they dress at perform.
Thomas Buttaro, a 12-year FDNY veteran who operates at Ladder 123 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, faces disciplinary charges for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a “Merit Matters” logo although on duty.
“They’re disciplining him for something they’ve in no way disciplined everyone for ahead of,” said Buttaro’s lawyer, Adam Weiss. “It’s a First Amendment concern. This is about the right of someone being in a position to express an opinion. It is not about discrimination.”
Buttaro, who is white, got into hot water in May 2012 following he and a black colleague argued more than a lawsuit filed years earlier by the Vulcan Society, Weiss stated.
The Vulcans, a fraternal group of black firefighters, won a discrimination lawsuit last March that resulted in a $100 million settlement to minorities following the FDNY entrance exam was ruled biased.
Merit Matters — self-described as “an advocacy group devoted to preserving merit in FDNY testing” — is opposed to altering the admissions course of action to give minorities a leg up more than white recruits.
Buttaro believes he was within his rights to wear the T-shirt.
“[The other firefighter] was talking about the lawsuit. My client stated one thing to the impact of ‘Stop whining,’ and [was told], ‘I do not like your shirt,’ ” Weiss said. “He [his colleague] filed a complaint a week or two later.”
The FDNY didn’t bring charges until September 2013, said Weiss.
A week ago, de Blasio mentioned teachers had been inside their rights to wear NYPD T-shirts in college to help cops following a teachers-union-backed protest against police brutality on Staten Island.
“How you should really comport yourself at your workplace, and the individual choice you make — that’s up to the individual,” the mayor stated at the time.
A de Blasio spokesman and the FDNY declined to comment on Buttaro’s case. The Vulcans did not return calls.
An FDNY source noted the department has stricter rules than the school system mainly because it is structured along paramilitary lines.
“We have rules about what you can put on in the firehouse,” the insider said. “We’re a uniformed agency. You can’t wear this in the firehouse. Our lawyers are going to argue that this was intentional and designed to antagonize a colleague.”
The source also claimed Buttaro wore other, extra offensive shirts, but Weiss says he only wore them off duty, like a single which says, “MADD: Minorities Against Dumbing Down” and “getting it the old fashioned way — earning it.”
Read More: Nypost
The FDNY is hosing 1 of its own for wearing an anti-affirmative-action T-shirt — just a week immediately after Mayor de Blasio told city employees it is up to them how they dress at perform.
Thomas Buttaro, a 12-year FDNY veteran who operates at Ladder 123 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, faces disciplinary charges for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a “Merit Matters” logo although on duty.
“They’re disciplining him for something they’ve in no way disciplined everyone for ahead of,” said Buttaro’s lawyer, Adam Weiss. “It’s a First Amendment concern. This is about the right of someone being in a position to express an opinion. It is not about discrimination.”
Buttaro, who is white, got into hot water in May 2012 following he and a black colleague argued more than a lawsuit filed years earlier by the Vulcan Society, Weiss stated.
The Vulcans, a fraternal group of black firefighters, won a discrimination lawsuit last March that resulted in a $100 million settlement to minorities following the FDNY entrance exam was ruled biased.
Merit Matters — self-described as “an advocacy group devoted to preserving merit in FDNY testing” — is opposed to altering the admissions course of action to give minorities a leg up more than white recruits.
Buttaro believes he was within his rights to wear the T-shirt.
“[The other firefighter] was talking about the lawsuit. My client stated one thing to the impact of ‘Stop whining,’ and [was told], ‘I do not like your shirt,’ ” Weiss said. “He [his colleague] filed a complaint a week or two later.”
The FDNY didn’t bring charges until September 2013, said Weiss.
A week ago, de Blasio mentioned teachers had been inside their rights to wear NYPD T-shirts in college to help cops following a teachers-union-backed protest against police brutality on Staten Island.
“How you should really comport yourself at your workplace, and the individual choice you make — that’s up to the individual,” the mayor stated at the time.
A de Blasio spokesman and the FDNY declined to comment on Buttaro’s case. The Vulcans did not return calls.
An FDNY source noted the department has stricter rules than the school system mainly because it is structured along paramilitary lines.
“We have rules about what you can put on in the firehouse,” the insider said. “We’re a uniformed agency. You can’t wear this in the firehouse. Our lawyers are going to argue that this was intentional and designed to antagonize a colleague.”
The source also claimed Buttaro wore other, extra offensive shirts, but Weiss says he only wore them off duty, like a single which says, “MADD: Minorities Against Dumbing Down” and “getting it the old fashioned way — earning it.”
Read More: Nypost
