Labor relations boss says Penn Pike fired him for refusing to bow to Teamsters

Conspiracy, corruption and other malpractice is alleged at the Pennsylvania Turnpike by a former manager of labor relations Donald Kovac in a wrongful dismissal complaint filed in US District Court in Pittsburgh. Kovac says he was fired on the orders of chief operating officer George Hatalowich after he refused to reinstate a toll collector who had assaulted a motorist. The union had asked for the toll collector to be reinstated and Kovac was told that was sufficient reason to reinstate him.

Kovac says that the Turnpike Commission allows the Teamsters Union and local officials of Democrat Party to dictate hiring, firing, promotions and other aspects of personnel practice at the Turnpike especially in Philadelphia. Mark Rowe, a defendant in the case is an official business agent for Teamsters Local 77 (Eastern District). Rowe was effectively his supervisor, Kovac says, since Commission policy was to do whatever the union wanted.

"(A)ffiliation with or support for Local 77 and for the Philadelphia Democratic Committee, were critical to an individual's ability to get - and keep - a job with PTC," the complaint says of the eastern district (Philadelphia.)

A similar subservience of the Turnpike to the Teamsters once prevailed in the west with Local 250,  but Kovac said that when Pittsburgh union members stopped buying tickets to Democratic Party fundraisers he was instructed by manager Shelton to deny grievances brought by members of that branch in retaliation for their political disloyalty.

Kovac's lawsuit names the Turnpike Commission itself as a defendant and also:

- Mitchell Rubin then chairman of the Commission, since dismissed by the Governor as the subject of a corruption investigation,

- George Hatalowich, chief operating officer and number two at the Commission

- Melvin Shelton, a "manager" on the Turnpike payroll who Kovak says was mostly engaged in fundraising for Democrats, and Local 77 and chauffeuring Democrat Party Congressman Robert Brady using a Turnpike vehicle

- Mark Rowe, agent of Teamsters Union Local 77

Kovac says he ran afoul of top Turnpike officials in mid-2008. A Turnpike toll collector in District 4 named O'Reilly had been fired by others for an assault on a motorist.

Teamsters Local 77 demanded that O'Reilly be reinstated.

Kovac argued against reinstatement, saying that video of the incident suggested O'Reilly was properly fired, and it was not in the interests of the Turnpike to have him back. The motorist had obtained the video of the assault and was prepared to go to the press with it.

Kovac as labor relations manager had formal authority to rule on O'Reilly's appeal for reinstatement.

He says he was put under constant pressure to reinstate.

For example Turnpike "manager" Shelton insisted that Kovac reinstate O'Reilly, simply citing Turnpike practice of deferring to requests by Local 77, not disputing that the toll collector had deserved to be fired.

Rowe of Local 77 told Kovac flatly he would be fired by the Turnpike if he refused to go along with the union's demands to reinstate the aggressive toll collector.

After he refused to comply Rowe worked with Shelton to get him fired, Kovak alleges.

He says his dismissal involved Shelton talking to Turnpike chairman Rubin who in turn ordered chief operating office George Hatalowich to fire Kovak.

On Nov 20 2008 as Kovac was driving on the Turnpike he was pulled over by a Turnpike state trooper and told he was terminated.

Kovac said that in further retaliation Turnpike officials worked to block his application for unemployment payments.

His law suit asks for compensation for wrongful dismissal and punitive damages.

see Kovac's 11 page complaint:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/Complaint_0.pdf

A spokesman for the Turnpike Commission gave us this response:

"The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission cannot comment on specific allegations in this lawsuit, which presents only one side of the story. The Commission's actions were justified, and we will vigorously defend these actions at the proper time.  We look forward to having the opportunity to present our position more fully in the course of litigation."

see ADDITION below

Turnpike's no-work "contractor" Palermo charged by feds

Also this week a longtime Turnpike "consultant" S Michael Palermo was charged by US prosecutors with thievery and fraud based on receiving $287k in no-work contracts with jailed state senator Vincent Fumo, then chairman of the senate appropriations committee.

Palermo has waived the right to a jury trial in an apparent effort to get a lighter sentence.

Palermo was also on the Turnpike payroll for two years starting 2004 at $120k/year. Palermo's main "work" consisted of managing a farm property and doing chores for Fumo, the now-incarcerated Democrat senator.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-09-25

ADDITION: Turnpike lawyers' response

The Turnpike's lawyers have now filed an answer with the US Court to Kovac's complaint, we discover. The Turnpike response admits that toll collector O'Reilly's fight with the motorist was "egregious" and warranted his dismissal.

They say the union "initially appealed" O'Reilly's dismissal and that "the appeal was eventually withdrawn by the union." But they say nothing about the interim period when the appeal was in play.

They don't admit any Turnpike officers supported the union, or pressured Kovac to reinstate O'Reilly.

Terminated for work performance and Turnpike needs

They say Kovac was terminated "as a result of his own work performance and the employment needs of the Commission" and that the reasons were legitimate and non-retaliatory.

There is one amusing misunderstanding in which the Turnpike lawyers hotly deny "that Executive Director Brimmeier's father had anything remotely to do with the matter." A careful reading of Kovac's complaint shows he was talking about the father of Turnpike officer Robert Brady Junior's father, namely the congressman Brady - not Brimmeier senior.

The Turnpike lawyers don't explain the drama of having Kovac pulled over by a state trooper except to say he knew he was going to be fired, and would not answer his mobile phone.

For the rest the answer consists mostly of repeated baroque lawyer jargon about "averments" being "DENIED" as if less than full capitalization could be constructed as a partial acceptance (people go to law school to learn this), followed by the repeated assertion that: "Strict proof is demanded at trial."

Or in some cases Kovac's claims are met with the comment that they are " legal conclusions to which no response is required."

The Turnpike's lawyers, The Farnan Law Office of Pittsburgh DO make one quite damaging admission  - that Mitchell Rubin was the chairman of the Turnpike Commission at the time.

ADDITION 2009-09-26 12:45