Union lawyer Audrey Browne meets with laid-off members Darrell Turner (l.) and Clyve Grant.

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

District Council 37 is fighting in court to reverse the layoffs of about 300 employees from the Dept. of Education.

The laid-off workers, mainly provisionals, got pink slips two weeks before Christmas. They included 206 members of Board of Education Clerical Administrative Employees Local 1251, members of several other DC 37 locals and another union.

DC 37 went to court Dec. 30 to stop the layoffs, which hit on Jan. 2. The suit first asked the State Supreme Court to block the firings while the legal issues are considered.

After extensive argument, Justice Lewis Stone denied that the restraining order on the grounds of legal precedent holding that there would be no irreparable harm to workers who could possibly win reinstatement and back pay. The union’s case against the layoffs will proceed in court.

“The lawsuit is not a panacea,” said Joel Giller, DC 37’s general counsel. “We filed the suit to protect our members’ rights in every way possible.”

The union lawsuit cited three illegal aspects of the layoffs:

• The use of contract workers — the “Parallel Workforce” of the “Shadow Government” — violates the merit and fitness requirements of the New York State Constitution and the Civil Service Law.
• The use of Work Experience Program (WEP) participants has displaced union members in violation of the New York State Social Services Law.
• The Dept. of Education failed to follow the layoff procedures set forth in the Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services Layoff Manual.

“These layoffs are a tragedy,” said Local 1251 President Carolyn Harper. “We strongly support the lawsuit.”

In another suit, aimed at stopping layoffs in the School Construction Authority, the union is charging SCA with violating a mandate to spend 40 percent of its design funds in-house.

The DC 37 legal team will be returning to court Feb. 3 and 4. “We are doing everything we can to save our members’ jobs,” said Mr. Giller.