Promotion bias at the EMS – suit

GLOBAL CONSTRUCTION giant AECOM Tishman is under fire for two racially charged incidents at sites in Manhattan and Queens in which both a noose, and a picture of one around a worker’s neck, were reported.

In the case involving a West Side construction project, a lawsuit has been filed after workers complained about a safety poster depicting a man with a noose around his neck as he worked on a ladder.

Last week, another worker subcontracting at an AECOM Tishman site in Queens reported finding a hanging rope on a building under construction at the site.

“To be cavalier and coy about a noose on multiple job sites, some in the name of safety, means there are moral, ethical and legal deficiencies that must be dealt with,” said Minister Kirsten Foy of the National Action Network, who will conduct a rally outside the West Side site at 639 W. 59th St. Tuesday.

According to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court, Felicia Allen, a veteran carpenter and shop steward for the District Council of Carpenters, was conducting an orientation session April 11 for a new worker — her son — at the Midtown construction site when she spotted a bulletin board poster that was “horrific, obscene, discriminatory” and racist.

The suit, which names Tishman Construction and parent company AECOM as defendants, alleges the poster depicted a man of color with a noose around his neck while working on a ladder.

The poster says: “Always Remember/Safety First.”

Allen believes the man in the picture is a light-skinned African-American.

“What job location needs a noose on their neck to work? It reminded me of the lynching days,” said Allen.

“I rubbed my eyes, walked closer to it and couldn’t believe it,” she said.“For them to use a noose around anyone’s neck to show that the possibilities of falling off a ladder is to get lynched as a safety precaution is not funny,” said Allen.

Allen said she photographed the image and reported it to human resources. But it was only after she contacted an attorney that the picture was taken down.

AECOM blamed the situation on a third-party contractor, Gregory Antollino, a lawyer for Allen and 10 coworkers, argued in the lawsuit.

A spokesman for the subcontractor, CRSG, said it “takes allegations of this nature seriously, and is taking all necessary investigative steps and disciplinary actions as appropriate.”

Meanwhile, at another AECOM Tishman site in Broad Channel, Queens, last Thursday, worker Jawuan Blake, 25, told The News his “heart stopped” when he spotted a noose hanging from one of the city’s Build it Back homes on which he was working. The project was launched after Superstorm Sandy.

A spokesman for AECOM Tishman said an internal investigation has been launched for both incidents. THE FDNY is promoting less -qualified white men in its Emergency Medical Service division — the most integrated department in the city — using murky and discriminatory criteria, a union charged Monday in a class action suit.

Less than a quarter of lieutenants in the city’s EMS are women, the Uniformed EMS Officers Local 3621 said in the suit — and only 18% of the women in the department have risen to the rank of captain.

Of those female captains, only 36% are not white and 47% of lieutenants are women of color.

“Our members deserve proper recognition for their work, irrespective of their race or gender, just like anyone else,” said Vincent Variale, president of the union that filed the suit.

The union claims that white men are climbing the ranks in the EMS division because there’s no Civil Service exam for the rank of captain.

“The decision to instead test these qualifications through subjective methods is knowingly designed to lack transparency and allow for the promotions . . . and do not reasonably relate to the tasks and standards for the ranks of captain, deputy chief and above,” according to the suit.

The current method for promoting above the rank of lieutenant “is merely a pretext, used to allow mostly white and male supervisors to exert excessive discretion in ultimately being able to select who they want to promote, not based on merit, but on impermissible factors,” the suit says.

Lt. Renae Marscol, a black woman who has been an EMS worker since 2010, has been denied promotions to captain four times despite scoring secondhighest on the lieutenants’ exam and an “excellent” performance record.

“The city is not served by promoting less-qualified applicants. A promotional process that does not include proper measurements for skill and knowledge allows for too much discretion,” Variale said.

The FDNY did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

The city Law Department will review the complaint and respond accordingly, spokesman Nicholas Paolucci said.