By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL – Two Chapel Hill Public Works Department employees who were fired in October have been awarded unemployment benefits by the state Employment Security Commission.
The two men, Kerry Bigelow and Clyde Clark, had been denied benefits after the town claimed they had violated its detrimental conduct policy. The ESC decision states that Bigelow and Clark were fired for allegedly threatening and intimidating behavior toward supervisors, team leaders and residents and refusing to perform their duties. Clark also allegedly took unauthorized pictures of his crew leader.
But according to the decision, the town failed to “provide any first hand testimony regarding any of the alleged incidents related to the claimant’s termination.
Bigelow and Clark had been denied benefits in a prior decision. Bigelow is now eligible for $341 a week, with a maximum benefit of $8,866; Clark will receive $337, with a maximum of $8,762.
After being fired from their jobs, the men filed a grievance against the town and a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They say they were targeted for having filed grievances in the past alleging racial bias in job placements and promotions and unsafe working conditions.
Beginning Thursday, the men will appeal their firings to the town’s Personnel Appeals Committee, which is comprised of community members selected by the town council. The committee will then make a recommendation to Town Manager Roger Stancil, who will determine whether the men will be rehired.
Bigelow’s hearing will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Chapel Hill Public Library; Clark’s will be Feb. 9, also at 7 in the library. Per the men’s request, the hearings will be open to the public.
“We’ve got nothing to hide,†Clark said. “We want it all out in the open.â€
Town officials declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters.
A report provided to the town in October by Kevin von der Lippe of Capital Associated Industries – a Raleigh-based company that, according to Stancil, provides management advice, project work and consulting on a range of employment matters – stated that von der Lippe’s investigation revealed that Bigelow and Clark had engaged in “ongoing negative and inappropriate interactions†with citizens along their waste-collection route and that they had been “consistently insubordinate to their supervisor,†undermining his authority.
Summaries of interviews with co-workers in the private investigator’s report contain allegations of insubordinate behavior and poor job performance by Bigelow and Clark.
But their attorney, Al McSurely, countered that the co-workers were intimidated by the interview process, that his clients received no notice of any resident or co-worker complaints against them and that Bigelow was given excellent reviews by his supervisor until February, when he filed his grievance.