Nassau EOC Faces New Suit
Fired workers allege `extortion of money´
By Monte R. Young.
STAFF WRITER


Six workers fired by the beleaguered Nassau Economic Opportunity Commission after not contributing to a minority scholarship fund upped the legal ante yesterday by filing a new federal racketeering lawsuit against their former employer. The new suit, which alleges that the anti-poverty group engaged in "a conspiracy of extortion of money and services," seeks $340 million in damages for the fired workers. The new accusations are the employees' latest legal volley against EOC Executive Director John Kearse and other agency supervisors. An earlier lawsuit filed by two of the six workers alleged civil rights violations, sexual harassment, breach of contract and wrongful discharge. "These people were subjected to coerced pressure to make financial contributions to causes and work on partisan political campaigns," said John Gianfortune, an attorney representing the workers. "The policies can be categorized as nothing more than an illegal racketeering scheme. We charge the EOC with numerous violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act." Kearse was unavailable for comment yesterday. The organization's spokesman, Jim McKay, declined to comment. The workers were fired in late January after refusing to buy $100-a-head tickets to a fund raiser for the EOC's Martin Luther King scholarship program. Kearse acknowledged at the time that the employees' refusal to buy tickets played a role in their dismissals, saying EOC staffers are expected to volunteer time and money back to the community they serve. The dismissals sparked investigations by the District Attorney's office and the State Attorney General, both of which are still ongoing. Yesterday, attorneys for the six discharged workers also accused the EOC of failing to give salary enhancement money to teachers. The county provides enhancement funds - $6,500 for full-time teachers and $3,500 for assistants - to offset some of the difference between what public school teachers and the EOC teachers earn. Mary Hewitt, a Head Start teacher for six years, said she signed papers each year to receive the enhancement money from the EOC but was paid only once. She said the group stopped paying her the money when she refused to work on her own time for political candidates favored by the organization. "They didn't care if you had a child," she said. "They wanted you out there during the election campaigning late at night." Hewitt said she borrowed half the cost of the scholarship fund raiser ticket and paid it to the organization in January, but was told to come up with the rest. "I couldn't," Hewitt said. "When I picked up my check, I was terminated." Another Head Start teacher, Cheryl Archer, said she had bought scholarship tickets in the past and had worked on political campaigns. But this year she said her bills were mounting and, with a young daughter, she couldn't afford the ticket. "We dedicate our time to the children, community service and election campaigns," Archer said. "This year, I could not afford to buy a ticket. The EOC is supposed to be about helping the low-income. That's what we are, and yet we were fired."

Copyright 1996, Newsday Inc.
Monte R. Young, Nassau EOC Faces New Suit / Fired workers allege `extortion ofmoney'., 04-06-1996, pp A13.