NIAGARA FALLS: Charged DPW worker on the job for a day, now on paid leave

By Rick Pfeiffer<br><a href="mailto:pfeifferr@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Rick</a>
Niagara Gazette

October 01, 2008 10:04 pm

— James Curtis was back at work on Wednesday but Falls officials say he won’t be on the job today.
The veteran Department of Public Works employee who was suspended without pay after he was accused of posting a racist sign over a DPW water fountain returned to his job because state law required it. Although the city is attempting to fire him, under the Civil Service Law, the failure to do that within a 20-day window requires that Curtis be brought back on to the Falls payroll.
“That’s how (the Civil Service Law) works,” Assistant Corporation Counsel Tom O’Donnell said Wednesday afternoon. “We can suspend him without pay for 20 days, then we must reinstate him pending further proceedings.”
O’Donnell said he was unaware that the 20-day suspension limit had been reached. However, he said Curtis will not be brought back to work.
“If he was on the job (Wednesday), it was an oversight,” O’Donnell said. “He won’t be working (Thursday). We’ll send him home.”
Curtis will remain on a paid suspension while the city continues with a Section 75 proceeding to fire him.
“That’s what we’re going to do,” O’Donnell said.
The assistant corporation counsel said the city can continue with its efforts to dismiss Curtis, even as a criminal case against him moves through City Court.
Curtis, 52, 218 80th St., is due back in court Oct. 14 for further proceedings. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime.
Because Curtis is charged under New York’s Hate Crimes statute, he faces a felony rather than misdemeanor charge. He is free on $500 bail.
Curtis has insisted that he intended the sign to be a “joke.”
In a brief encounter with reporters on the day he was arrested Curtis said. “I’m sorry. It was meant to be a joke, but I guess it wasn’t funny.”
The sign, written on the back of a blank employee time card and taped over a water fountain in the DPW garage on New Road on Aug. 13 read, “Whites Only Water Fountain.”
Curtis’ attorney Harvey Siegel has said his client has received support from “the African-American community, including his friends and family, who know he’s not a bigot.”
Mayor Paul Dyster said his administration has “no tolerance” for actions like those taken by Curtis. Still he admitted his hands were tied on Curtis’ return to work.
“We’re taking this issue very seriously,” Dyster said. “But we also have to abide by state law.”