For choosing mother over job, Largo worker is fired
For missing work to evacuate his mother, city employee James Gesicki lost his job.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published August 19, 2004
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
