Correction officer fired after being injured at work settles suit with DOC

Chelsea Rose Marcius, New York Daily News
July 14, 2019

Dispigno, 27, tore his anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus while going through an agility course at the DOC academy in Middle Village, Queens in February 2016 — hearing a sickening pop, but treating the pain with ice packs and reporting to work the next day.

But when the pain persisted, the Brooklyn officer went to a doctor, who told him he needed surgery. The DOC’s Health Management Division approved his time off for the procedure.

Dispigno had the operation, but opted out of full ACL reconstruction that would’ve required a much longer post-surgical rehabilitation — and a lot of missed work time.

Read More

Wrongfully fired Rikers Island correction officer wins legal fight to regain her job, collect back pay

by: Ellen Moynahan

While most folks on Rikers Island are eager to get out, Benita Sims fought her way back in.

The fired correction officer reached a June 19 settlement where the city agreed to reinstate her job, plus kick in more than $40,000 in back pay, after a legal battle over her dismissal last year, according to her attorneys.

Sims, 40, was canned barely two years after suffering an assortment of injuries when targeted by a pair of teenage inmates inside the notorious facility. She even received three positive evaluations from her supervisors in the months after the painful June 20, 2016, assault.

“I was just (badge) number 6462,” she told the Daily News about her firing. “They did not care about Benita Sims. They didn’t care about the officer who had got hurt by an inmate and who had stitches.”

Sims was working as support staff in 2016 at the Robert N. Devoren Complex, where juvenile offenders were housed. She had just escorted three boys, each shackled and fitted with thick mitts because of behavioral issues, to a classroom. The problems began when a teen in the adjoining room started screaming at the kids under Sims’ watch.

At that point, one of the boys in the classroom with Sims went after her — “he’s pushing, trying to hit me, I put my arm up to try and block him,” she recalled. “On the other side of me there was a boy sitting down, and at the time it hadn’t appeared that he had done anything. But when they rolled the videotapes back he’s the reason why I fell. I had the boy over me this way, and he actually snatched the chair.”

Sims injured her thumb, shoulder and foot when she landed hard on the floor. Subsequent MRIs in July and September showed ligament tears in all three locations.

Read more

About two years ago, the New York law firm, Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP, decided to bet on the City of Newark and its surrounding areas. The firm, founded in 1999, by Richard J. Koehler, began operating in New York and soon put their mark on the legal system of the big city. Koehler, a renowned lawyer in the area of labor relations and a former Correction Commissioner and Chief of Personnel in the New York City Police Department, partnered with Steven Isaacs, a veteran lawyer in criminal defense who also specializes in labor issues.

Currently, the firm has 23 lawyers who specialize in various areas of law.

“Investing in Newark was a big step,” says Richard Koehler, who highlights their work and proven results, especially in labor issues, on behalf ethnic communities, such as the Portuguese, Brazilian, and Hispanic populations. “We have many Portuguese and Brazilian clients who we helped compensate for large damages,” says the lawyer proud of the investments he made.

Recently, Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP received the distinguished “Heart and Soul Award” assigned by Lusamedia at the 9th Grand Night of Fado at the Mediterranean Manor in Newark.

“Of course we like to be recognized. It was fantastic to celebrate such an important honor with the Portuguese community and we look forward to continue to help the community at our local office at 26 Ferry Street,” said Koehler to LusoAmericano.

The law firm has employees who speak English, Spanish, and Portuguese that are always willing to assist the community in any way they can.

Read the full article here

Daily News
DA cuts up jail guard razor rap – Took grooming tool to work
BY REUVEN BLAU
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

THE BRONX district attorney’s office has dropped felony charges against a correction officer who was accused of trying to smuggle a razor-edged tool into Rikers Island.

Charlie Bracey, 47, of Queens, was arrested after officers found a multitool wrapped in black electrical tape inside his backpack on Oct.10.

Bracey insisted he forgot he was carrying the tool when he came to work — and that he never intended to sell itto inmates.

He got the tool as part of a subscription to Birchbox, an online service that sends customers several grooming items each month. The multitool was part of a promotion for the movie “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”in September.

Bracey said he used the gadget as a can opener and wrapped the bottom in black tape because it began to tear. Crooked officers and inmates often use tape to prevent weapons from being spotted by metal detectors.

Before he was screened coming to work, Bracey complained to officers manning the metal detectors about new stringent checks. “I really believe the rant I went on had some thing to do with it,” he said.”You bruise people’s egos when you challenge what they are doing.”

The Correction Department captain on duty told him to just bring the tool back to his car. But a Department of Investigation boss at the scene took the offense more seriously, photographing the tool and ordering his arrest. Bracey spent a night in Bronx central booking before a judge released him on his own recognizance.

“I was in denial,” he recalled. “I didn’t want to believe it was happening.”

At home, his wife of 16 years, Lillian, scrambled to assess their finances. “She was a rock,” he said. “She came up with a plan of action for what we hoped would be ashort period of unemployment.”

Bracey was his family’s sole support of the family. His wife takes care of the couple’s autistic daughter, Genesis,7.

Correction colleagues took up a collection and Bracey’s in-laws and siblings helped out with the mounting bills. “I was lucky in this situation to have such a strong family,” he said.

On Monday, after two meetings with Bronx prosecutors, the case was dismissed. Bronx DA spokeswoman Terry Raskyn declined to detail why the case was tossed other than “there would not have been enough evidence to prove charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Charles Bracey’s lawyer hailed the decision. “The only one who wanted him arrested was DOI,” said attorney David Kirsch, 36.

DOI has been behind the arrest for discipline of more than 50 officers since 2014 as the city desperately tries to stop the smuggling of contraband in to jails, records show.

“They are trying to fight certain systemic issues that have been going on for years,” Kirsch said. “He was the unfortunate victim of a press release.”

The Department of Investigation “stands behind the facts referred to the Bronx district attorney,” said spokeswoman Diane Struzzi. “As the prosecuting authority, they are the appropriate entity to comment on decisions regarding prosecution of the case.”Bracey has been notified by the Correction Department that he will be reinstated within the next few days. But he may still face departmental charges, where the bar is lower than that of criminal court.”I’m very much looking forward to going back to work,” Bracey said.

THE CHIEF-LEADER
Rule Correction Dept. Wrongly Fired CO Who Was Domestic-Abuse Victim
*Image courtesy Jenny Castillo

READY TO GO BACK: Jenny Castillo was fired during her probationary period as a Correction Officer for excessive absences, but a judge has ordered her reinstatement, saying that she had told the Department of Correction that the absences were caused by her abusive domestic partner and that DOC violated a city law requiring employers to make accommodations for domestic-violence victims.

By MARK TOOR |

A state judge has ordered the rehiring of a probationary Correction Officer who was fired for absences rela­ting to abuse by her domestic partner.

State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan ruled July 17 that the Department of Correction acted in bad faith when it dismissed Jenny Castillo despite a law requiring employers to make allowances for domestic-violence victims.

‘Must Comply With Law’

Her attorney, Mercedes Mal­donado of Koehler & Isaacs, said in an interview last week that DOC has “yet to recognize that they still have to comply with the anti-discrimination laws that affect unique groups such as domestic-violence victims,” as opposed to the standard racial, ethnic and demographic categories.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani sign­ed an amendment to the Human Rights Law in 2001 expanding the classes protected from employment discrimination to include domestic-violence victims.

Ms. Castillo was hired as a CO in December 2010, according to Justice Ling-Cohan’s decision. The job carries a two-year probationary period. She was awarded commendations in May and August of 2011.

However, in February 2012 she was placed on chronic-absence status based on her use of 63 sick days to recover from hand surgery. She missed additional days until she was fired Aug. 22, 2012 because of absences resulting from domestic violence.

Ms. Castillo’s petition describes “incidents in which her abuser: wrapped his hands around petitioner’s throat and strangled her; punched a door, causing the door to break; deliberately hid her badge so she could not go to work; held a beer bottle in his hand while threatening, ‘so you want me to smash your face in with this bottle’; became enraged when petitioner had her friends visit their home, threatening, ‘I’ll get a gun and kill you and all your friends’…and threatened, almost daily, to ‘f—up’ petitioner.”

Ms. Castillo, who worked an overnight shift, was afraid to leave her three children and two grandchildren

who lived with her alone with him at night, the decision said. The twin grandchildren have a sleeping disorder that requires monitoring them at night. She asked for a “hardship tour” in which she would transfer to either day or evening shifts, but DOC turned her down, the decision said.

She repeatedly told DOC doctors and psychologists that she was a victim of domestic violence, but DOC’s answer was to find her unqualified to carry a firearm, which the decision said was apparently an automatic response to a domestic-violence report.

Although she notified the agency, DOC also marked her as absent without leave for a mandatory Family Court appearance in May 2012, the decision said.

Cited Right to Fire

The city argued that Ms. Castillo, “as a probationary Correction Officer, could be terminated at any time, with or without cause,” the decision said. City attorneys said that DOC had only “limited” knowledge of her domestic problems and that the termination was not “arbitrary and capricious,” the standard that justifies court intervention.

Justice Ling-Cohan found that DOC did not even follow its own directive ordering reasonable accommodations for domestic-violence victims. She said DOC records made clear that Ms. Castillo had informed medical personnel and supervisors repeatedly that she had a problem. She was erroneously marked absent without leave five times, the judge said.

The termination decision “was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion and made in bad faith,” she wrote.

Ms. Castillo was ordered reinstated “forthwith,” and awarded back pay for the time she was jobless, which is about $84,000.

The Department of Law told the New York Law Journal that the city would accept Justice Ling-Cohan’s decision. But Ms. Maldonado told THE CHIEF-LEADER, “We have been told there has not been an official decision as yet.” The city has until the end of August to appeal, she said.

Ms. Castillo “is very anxious to get back to work,” Ms. Maldonado said. “She is looking forward to many years of excellent public service.”