ATTLEBORO – It’s been four months since the state Civil Service Commission ordered the city to rehire firefighter Billy Dunn and restore his benefits, but he’s still on the outside looking in.
Now Dunn’s attorney, Roger Ferris, is threatening legal action if the city doesn’t reinstate Dunn.
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Ferris said Friday he’s in contact with the state Attorney General’s Office to get it to compel the city to act.
“This has gone on way too long,” he said.
Dunn said he’s been off the city payroll and without city medical benefits for 2 1/2 years. The situation has put a financial and emotional burden on his family, he said. Jan Silverman, the city’s personnel consultant, she said could not talk about the details of the case because Attleboro is appealing the civil service decision. She also said the city is seeking a “stay” in complying with the decision to allow time for the appeal.
Dunn was terminated from his job as an Attleboro firefighter in 2009 after he was told a private investigator had obtained evidence he was faking a knee injury that kept him out of front-line duty.
The knee had been injured on the job when Dunn tripped while helping to carry a 300-pound heart attack victim down a staircase.
The private investigator hired by the city secretly videotaped Dunn allegedly lifting 50-pound sheet of dry wall out of the back of a truck. The city said it was proof Dunn was capable of working.
Dunn had also been taped kneeling, allegedly on his bad knee, when he came to the aid of a child who had been hit by a car.
But, Civil Service found there were problems with the videotape evidence. The commission determined that Dunn was not lifting 50-pound sheets of dry wall, as the city and investigator claimed. He was handling “lightweight wainscoting fiberboard” that weighed about 8 pounds.
And he was not kneeling on his injured knee. He was kneeling on his good one.
The commission also found that portions of the videotape showed Dunn regularly walked with a limp.
Furthermore, a doctor who ordered him back to work on behalf of the city never examined him or looked at his X-rays or MRI results.
The commission found that other doctors agreed Dunn had not fully recovered from knee surgery and he was faithfully attending rehabilitation sessions to help the healing process.
Civil Service has ordered Dunn reinstated to the job he was terminated from in April 2009 and that medical benefits he lost be returned.
The city also recently lost a civil service case involving the termination of Attleboro Redevelopment Authority employees Michael Milanoski and Meg Ross. They were ordered reinstated with back pay of $270,000.
Neither has yet been returned to their jobs.
Mayor Kevin Dumas, without commenting on the Dunn case specificially, said earlier this week that the Civil Service process seems weighted toward the benefit of employees, and not employers.
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