file photo by Boyd Loving
Readers Debate Fireman’s legal bills and Veteran Status
Title 40 case law states the complainant must make application for reimbursement and the ad law judge may rule on it, this was a civil service case Comes under 4a (Ithink) but the 2 are different statutorily and with regards to case law the town was obligated to pay . BTW Gabbert stated he didn’t know Albano was a veteran he was quoted so in the paper. ( Really you got to be kidding)
The state of N.J. determines who is and is not considered a veteran. The fact is Gabbert admitted he failed to do his job when he said he didn’t know Albano was a veteran.
Weren’t they required to? Gabbert tried to extract payback and got caught. Court decided he had been wronged and he was promoted. It only seems right that they paid the bills. Council should take it straight from Gabbert’s inflated salary.
They were not required to pay his legal bills. His attorney forgot to include that in the settlement agreement. The Mayor did John a favor.
Yea the Mayor did him a favor. If the court did not mandate payment the why did the Mayor push to pay him. What is the Mayor going to pick and choose who get taken care off. Its all about the votes.
Whatever happened to pick the best man for the job? Why put someone on the top of the list if they aren’t qualified? You are basically putting a man on track for promotion that his peers have no faith in his performance as a leader.
The way union contracts are written, it does matter who is the “best man for the job”. It only matters who has more seniority. That is the fundamental flaw in all union contracts. The most highly paid (most senior) employees get priority for overtime, promotions, etc.
The rest of the (non-union) world operates under a meritocracy. But, if you are a municipal employee or a teacher, you just have to avoid getting fired and, eventually, you will get preferential treatment at the expense of taxpayers, regardless of whether you really deserve it.
This MUST change in Ridgewood.
#2 you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Promotion in a civli servce town is governed by state law. although seniority may have a small % in score a worker with less time on the job could be promoted over a senior worker and often is moved up. So before you make assinine statements like you did . get your facts straight. Thank You.
Children, children. Let’s settle down for a moment.
The truth probably lies somewhere between #2 & #3. Neither is making “asinine” (correct spelling) comments. Neither civil service laws, nor union contracts, are based on meritocracy. Both tend to favor seniority over qualifications and both result in more inefficient and expensive operation than similar private sector organizations.
The fact is seniority is a small % of an applicants final score it is used as a tie breaker sometimes . Promotions are prohibited subject of negotiations so a public entity or union may not have that in their contract. The rule of three still gives management some latitude to pick who they want as long as they have a reason to bypass someone So you could have a senior employee by passed for a junior man if they both come out in the top 3. The albano case hinged on vetrans status