THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070330
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
For more than a year, Bobby Hawk has been fighting for the chance to be heard by his former employer, the Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Hawk has said he just wants to plead his case before an independent panel and prove that he was unfairly fired and stripped of his seniority as a maintenance worker.
He got nowhere until two months ago, when the state intervened and ordered a grievance session.
But the process was delayed again Monday, when CRHA's interim attorney, John E. Zydron, balked when Hawk tried to have his long-delayed hearing held publicly.
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act allows personnel hearings to be closed to protect the privacy of the employee.
But it gives that option to the employee, not the government agency.
Hawk had waived his right to a private hearing, asking a reporter from The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star to attend.
Hawk said he wanted the hearing to be open to ensure that his side of the story was told, and so CRHA officials would be held accountable for their statements.
When a reporter entered the hearing room, Zydron stood up and said he would have to ask for a continuance. He said he was ``shocked'' and had not been informed that others would be present at the hearing.
That began three hours of back-and-forth closed sessions. Involved, at various times and in various combinations were: Zydron; CRHA Executive Director Edmund Carrera; Hawk; Hawk's attorney; Hawk's wife, Louise; and three members of the panel who came to hear Hawk's complaint.
The panel first mulled over Virginia law for more than an hour, trying to decide whether Hawk had the legal right to allow a reporter into his hearing.
The panel chairman, Robert B. Rigney, then called everyone but the reporter back into the hearing room, where the group met for about 45 minutes.
Rigney, who was initially reluctant to give his name, said he would not comment on anything that was being discussed.
The panel then reconvened with Hawk and both lawyers. After that second closed session, Rigney told the reporter that the panel had not yet come to a decision on whether the proceeding would be open.
Instead, he said, the ``substantive'' hearing would be delayed until next week.
Hawk finally agreed to allow the group to meet briefly in closed session Monday to handle ``preliminary matters'' that Rigney said were not essential to the case.
After the hearing, Hawk said Zydron gave him little choice but to temporarily relinquish his right to openness.
``It was not our fault if you could not be there,'' Hawk said. ``Zydron was not going to go on with anything if we let anyone in there today.
``But if the truth is going to be told, it shouldn't matter if anyone is in there or not.''
Zydron refused to comment on the issue.
Hawk, however, said the panel addressed whether he was technically eligible for a grievance hearing.
The authority maintains that Hawk did not work long enough to qualify for one.
That's one of the issues that Hawk has fought.
Hawk had worked for 3 1/2 years for the authority. His troubles began, he said, when he was injured on the job in October 1993.
Hawk was put on sick leave, and when he tried to come back to work in November with physical restrictions, he was told there were no light-duty jobs.
The authority then fired him on Dec. 3, saying his position had to be filled immediately, Hawk said.
When he was authorized by doctors to return to work without restrictions, Hawk went back to the authority. He was told to report back to work on Dec. 27, 1993.
A week later, he began his battle for a hearing, after discovering that he had been rehired as a new employee, losing his seniority, his accumulated vacation benefits and, the authority contends, his right to file a grievance over the action.
CRHA said Hawk must have six months' seniority before he can file the grievance. The authority laid him off again on June 30. His current grievance is to get his job back, even if he can only get back the six months of seniority he had accumulated since being rehired.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY by CNB