Appeals court rules firefighter be rehired

05/04/2007

William Kaempffer , Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — The state Appellate Court has ruled that the city must again reinstate a veteran firefighter who was fired in 2002, reinstated and then lost his job once more in a series of legal decisions, appeals and reversals. The decision released this week is the latest installment in a five-year roller-coaster ride for John Brantley, a former fire lieutenant who asserts he was railroaded from the department because of his outspokenness about the treatment of minorities on the job.

The city claims he was fired because he improperly copied a master personnel file, in violation of city policy, from a deputy fire chief’s desktop computer.

In the decision, Appellate Court Judge Chase T. Rogers (who last week became chief justice of the state Supreme Court) recognized the potential damage that can result from the misuse of personal information. At the same time, however, she dismissed the idea that the conduct in question, especially in light of Brantley’s 19-year career, the Fire Department’s inconsistent enforcement of its security policy and lack of clarity to whom it even applied, was "so egregious that it require(d) nothing less than termination."

What happens next is largely up to the city administration. City attorneys could file a petition asking for the state Supreme Court to hear the case, give Brantley his job back, or "see if there’s room to negotiate something," said Robert Smuts, the city’s chief administrative officer.

Corporation Counsel Thomas W. Ude Jr. said the city is weighing its options and has 20 days from the release date of the decision, which was published in the Connecticut Law Journal Tuesday.

"We need to determine whether to file a petition within the next 20 days. In the meantime, we will be looking procedurally at what the next step would be," said Ude.

The decision is a major victory for Brantley. It essentially turns back the clock to 2003 when the state Board of Mediation and Arbitration gave Brantley his job back and converted the termination to an eight-month suspension. The Board of Fire Commissioners had fired Brantley in February 2002.

Efforts to reach Brantley were unsuccessful and messages left with his attorney, Jerald Barber, were not returned.

Brantley returned to work after the 2003 ruling, but both he and the city appealed the decision to Superior Court. Brantley wanted the unpaid suspension overturned and the city wanted the order to reinstate reversed.

In 2005, a judge granted the city’s request and Brantley was out of a job again.

This week’s decision vacates the lower court ruling.

During his career, Brantley was an outspoken and litigious member of the New Haven Firebird Society, a fraternal group for minority firefighters that filed a series of successful lawsuits over the department’s hiring and promotional practices.

"I think the reason he was terminated was unjust anyway, and I think he’s an asset to the department and it’s great that he’s coming back," said Firefighter Wayne Ricks, the current president of the Firebirds.

"John was outspoken. The information that he allegedly had, everyone on the department, just about, had access to anyway," Ricks said.

That was the heart of Brantley’s argument.

Brantley said he believed he was allowed to access the file as the department’s director of community service and fire education. In any regard, he said, the information contained in the master list was available, piecemeal, in every firehouse.

The ruling didn’t indicate whether Brantley would be entitled to back pay and benefits. A second firefighter, Lt. Sheryl Broadnax, was fired with Brantley, won her job back and elected to retire.

The master personnel list contained firefighters’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal information that the city maintained Brantley shouldn’t have accessed without permission.