Judge: Cleveland firefighter wasn’t fired because he is black

‘The Court is equally astounded by the significant gap between the amount of hours not repaid by Plaintiff and the amount of hours not repaid by the next highest abuser of the Division’s shift trade policy.’

U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko

A federal judge tossed a lawsuit filed by a black Cleveland firefighter criminally prosecuted and fired for paying his co-workers to cover his shifts, writing the firefighter did not show that race was the reason he lost his job.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko wrote in an opinion that Calvin Robinson did not show that he was treated differently than 12 white firefighters also prosecuted in the scandal that plagued the Cleveland fire department.

The 12 white firefighters, after pleading guilty to criminal charges, were all suspended for nine months without pay instead of outright losing their jobs.

That was because Robinson’s conduct was far worse than theirs, the judge wrote, citing the city’s argument for Robinson’s termination.

Robinson was the most prolific example of abusing the shift-trading process discovered in 2011.

At the time, the trading of shifts was allowed and common among firefighters, but the hours were supposed to be paid back within a year. An independent investigation later found that some firefighters were being paid

Wrote in an opinion that Calvin Robinson did not show that he was treated differently than 12 white firefighters also prosecuted in the scandal that plagued the Cleveland fire department

to work the traded shifts, which is illegal under Ohio law, and that the city also lost money to pay firefighters for benefits they didn’t earn.

Boyko’s opinion says that Robinson, who worked at the city for 23 years, made his salary and benefits each year while he owed 10,098 hours in unrepaid trades between 2006 and 2011. He paid others to cover his shifts so he could work as a substitute teacher in Cleveland, an assistant football coach at Glenville High School and operate a childcare center.

“Tellingly, Plaintiff worked only 32 hours between January 1, 2009 and July 21, 2011,” Boyko wrote.

Robinson pleaded guilty in 2014 to misdemeanor complicity to receive unlawful compensation. His attorney previously said the conviction was expunged.

Robinson filed his race-discrimination suit against the city last year after an arbitrator upheld the city’s decision to fire him.

Robinson did not prove his case that he was discriminated against because he is black and that “the sheer number of hours owed by Plaintiff to his employer is staggering,” Boyko said.

“The Court is equally astounded by the significant gap between the amount of hours not repaid by Plaintiff and the amount of hours not repaid by the next highest abuser of the Division’s shift trade policy,” the judge continued pointing out that the next-worst offender owed 5,308 hours, a little more than half the amount Robinson owed.