1-7-2013
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/city-worker-fired-caring-dying-wife-preps-lawsuit-171249710.html
City worker fired after caring for dying wife
A Lawrence, Mass., man fired from his public works job for taking too much time off to care for his dying wife is preparing to file a reverse racial-discrimination lawsuitand that's just the tip of the iceberg in a firing that has spawned its share of news.
"We firmly believe that if Tom Sapienza was Hispanic and not white that he [would] have a job to come back to with the city of Lawrence, Sapienza's attorney, Ellen Shimer-Brenes, told WHDH-TV.
Sapienza, a 41-year-old maintenance worker at Lawrence High School, was let go by the Department of Public Works in November after refusing to return from an unpaid leave of absence to care for his 40-year-old wife, Heather Sapienza. She died Jan. 3 after a 19-month battle with brain cancer.
But that's not all. On Friday, the man hired to replace Sapienza, fired police sergeant and former state Rep. Jose Santiagowhose hiring at the high school was called a "controversial move by Mayor William Lantigua
Santiago, whose driver's license is currently suspended, was hired for the $15-per-hour job on Nov. 26the same day Sapienza was delivered a pink slip signed by Lantigua.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/city-worker-fired-caring-dying-wife-preps-lawsuit-171249710.html
City worker fired after caring for dying wife
A Lawrence, Mass., man fired from his public works job for taking too much time off to care for his dying wife is preparing to file a reverse racial-discrimination lawsuitand that's just the tip of the iceberg in a firing that has spawned its share of news.
"We firmly believe that if Tom Sapienza was Hispanic and not white that he [would] have a job to come back to with the city of Lawrence, Sapienza's attorney, Ellen Shimer-Brenes, told WHDH-TV.
Sapienza, a 41-year-old maintenance worker at Lawrence High School, was let go by the Department of Public Works in November after refusing to return from an unpaid leave of absence to care for his 40-year-old wife, Heather Sapienza. She died Jan. 3 after a 19-month battle with brain cancer.
But that's not all. On Friday, the man hired to replace Sapienza, fired police sergeant and former state Rep. Jose Santiagowhose hiring at the high school was called a "controversial move by Mayor William Lantigua
Santiago, whose driver's license is currently suspended, was hired for the $15-per-hour job on Nov. 26the same day Sapienza was delivered a pink slip signed by Lantigua.