Union Files Civil Service Lawsuit on Behalf of Station Agents

OCTOBER 12 – TWU Local 100 Stations Vice President Derick Echevarria, President Tony Utano, and Station Agents who are provisional in their title have filed a joint lawsuit against New York City Transit demanding relief under civil service law.

The court action, filed in New York County Supreme Court, seeks to force NYCT to create a certified hiring list based on an exam given to prospective Station Agents late in 2015. The lawsuit says the Transit Authority violated the law by not creating a hiring list, allowing approximately 300 new hires to be unlawfully carried as provisional employees for years. Additionally, other people who took the competitive test and chose not to begin employment with NYCT are also entitled to a place on a civil service list.

Stations VP Derick Echevarria said: “Transit did not create a civil service list as required by law for our Station Agents. Other transit titles were hired from civil service lists within the last two years – but no civil service list for Station Agents has been forthcoming. We’re going to court to get this fixed.”  He said that a wave of new hires brought in to staff the 2nd Avenue subway do not have civil service protections. “Civil Service appointments create job tenure rights, which provisional employees do not enjoy. That’s why this litigation is important.”