The Associated Press
CHICAGO — An arbitrator says a white firefighter removed from his unit after he uttered racial slurs over a fire truck microphone should be reassigned.
The decision seeks to balance the seniority rights of firefighter John Scheuneman against the Fire Department’s right to respect the feelings of those in the predominantly black neighborhood, where his former unit is located.
The department was rocked in February 2004 after a voice over an open fire truck microphone repeated a racial slur several times during an apparent traffic altercation.
The department identified Scheuneman as the speaker and he was removed from his unit. Officials proposed a 90-day suspension, which Scheuneman is challenging.
Messages left with spokesmen for the fire department and the firefighters’ union were not immediately returned Wednesday. There was no public listing for a John Scheuneman in Chicago.
Scheuneman put in for a new permanent assignment last year, listing three units in the same district in order of preference, with his old unit at the top. At his arbitration hearing, Deputy Fire Commissioner Leslie Noy testified that not enough time had passed for him to return “to the community where the (racial slur) incident occurred.”
In a Dec. 27 ruling, arbitrator Edwin Benn said the department’s transfer cannot trump the 29-year veteran’s seniority rights.
Benn said Scheuneman has since worked on temporary assignments in the community without problems. But he ordered the department to assign Scheuneman to his third choice because of its geographical distance from his old unit.