By Demorris A. Lee
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Copyright 2006 Times Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
CLEARWATER — The Clearwater City Council will consider tonight how much further it wants to take the bitter labor dispute with fired paramedic Trevor Murray.
The city has already paid $30,000 in legal fees, and an arbitrator and appeals court have dealt blows to its case.
Murray’s attorney, Paul Donnelly, said it will be “a complete waste of money” for the city to continue fighting against Murray’s reinstatement.
"(The city) has fought each of these battles long and hard and lost every single time,” he said. “That should be a message that they have not made the right decision.”
City Attorney Pam Akin said all the circumstances must be considered, not just what it might cost the city.
The city fired Murray and fellow paramedic Mike Jones on May 12, 2005, for failing to respond to a 911 call from a woman who often called and falsely claimed rape. The woman was finally taken for a mental evaluation and labeled a frequent caller. Murray and Jones both admitted to the mistake of not answering the call but insist that they should not have been fired.
Two separate federal arbitrators agreed and have ordered the city to reinstate both men.
The city’s legal staff thinks the arbitrator in Murray’s case may have overstepped his bounds and is recommending that the council vote tonight to have the decision vacated.
The city will use private lawyers to challenge the Murray decision. The lawyers in these city cases receive a standard fee of $125 to $150 an hour.
“The issue is whether (the arbitrator) exceeded his authority,” Akin said. “He did not follow the contract.”
Murray, 40, still grapples with why the city he was born and raised in and dedicated 10 years of unblemished services to, has forced him to fight for everything, even his unemployment compensation.
A Florida Second District Court of Appeal decided in June that Murray had a right to $5,000 in unemployment.
“I was fired and still had to find a way to take care of my family until I found another job,” Murray said. “The city appealed the unemployment decision three times. After 10 years of service, I felt I at least deserved the respect of trying to support my family. I don’t understand why I’m being treated like this.”
Akin said the city will no longer fight Murray’s access to his unemployment compensation.
The city and the union that represents the firefighters and paramedics have had several run-ins in the past few years. In every recent tussle, the union has defeated the city, which has had to pay nearly $190,000 in attorney and legal fees associated with the cases. The amount does not include the number of hours that the city’s staff attorneys have worked on the cases.
The city has not decided what to do in the Jones case, which has cost $21,454 in legal fees, so far.
The city is expected to vote tonight to set aside an additional $75,000 to fight a discrimination suit filed by female firefighter Lt. Wendy Cason. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sided with Cason.
The city has lost or settled several cases involving unfair labor practices in which the Public Employees Relations Commission sided with the union. The city has had to pay the union’s legal fees and expenses.
In the Murray and Jones cases, Donnelly has said Fire Chief Jamie Greer has changed his testimony to benefit the city. “He has consistently given different answers to the same questions and in every case has been found to be unbelievable,” Donnelly said.
Greer could not be reached for comment.
Murray said he doesn’t get why the city has pursued the case so hard. “I don’t understand why they would continue to fight me like this,” Murray said. “I was a good employee. I made one mistake and it’s like they just don’t care about my past record as an employee. It’s like they will do anything.”