Staffer back at work after effigy incident

An Islip Town parks department foreman who upset a black employee when he hung a stuffed dummy from a rafter on Halloween is back at work after being suspended without pay for five days and docked five vacation days, town officials said.

"It was a serious suspension and a final, last-chance warning where if any similar conduct or major offense should occur, he would be dismissed without right of appeal," Islip labor relations director Rob Finnegan said.

About 10:30 p.m. on Halloween, employees returning to a Central Islip depot from patrolling town parks found the dummy -- dressed in a parks department uniform, work boots and a skeleton mask, witnesses and town officials said.

The town's decision to suspend Peter Halbert and dock his vacation came after a civil service disciplinary hearing and interviews with employees present during the incident. Halbert was identified Wednesday by the town's public information office.

Halbert, a town employee of 25 years, was charged with misconduct and incompetence under state civil service law. He was suspended on Nov. 2 and returned to work on Nov. 9, Finnegan said.

"I think we have been very clear we don't tolerate any acts of discrimination," he said. "This was such bad judgment and poor use of discretion while working on behalf of town residents."

While officials do not believe the incident was racially motivated, the effigy upset at least one black town employee, who reported it to police but declined to press charges. Town employee Cleveland Gamble reported the incident and said he was offended and asked the shop steward to take the effigy down.

Gamble gave police a statement but declined to pursue a complaint when he learned the foreman, with whom he has worked with for 10 years, had put up the dummy for Halloween. Neither Gamble nor Halbert could be reached for comment Wednesday.