A 13-year city worker claimed he was late 53 times over 18 months because of rotten subway service — but still got fired, records show.
Corey Bryant, a clerical associate at the Human Resources Administration since 2003, claimed the MTA was usually the culprit when he missed his 10 a.m. clock ins between May 2014 and October 2015.
Officials said Bryant missed 15 hours of work during that 18-month period.
Administrative Law Judge Noel Garcia didn’t buy Bryant’s excuse, noting his supervisors had warned him several times about his tardiness and pointing out he never provided proof from the MTA about the delays.
“Transit delays are part of the daily commute and should be planned for,” ruled Garcia on Nov. 17.
The judge also said when he asked the clerical worker why he simply didn’t leave his home earlier to get to the office on time, Bryant “sarcastically answered ‘it’s called sleep,’ demonstrating a general defiance of the timeliness rules.”
Bryant explained that he asked his bosses to give him a later start time because he had a bum knee.
The judge responded that the city had already moved his start time from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and noted that Bryant still hadn’t proved he had any lingering disability in his knee.
Several witnesses testified that Bryant was belligerent at work, often yelling at colleagues or threatening them.
Although the judge said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he threatened bodily harm, Garcia accepted the testimony of officer manager Ms. Stephens-Santaromita, who said Bryant was over-the-top rude to her when she asked him recently to get some work done.
When Stephens-Santaromita put a case file on Bryant’s desk and told him it needed to be finished immediately, Bryant stood up, swung the papers and angrily yelled, “what is this?” according to the trial record.
Bryant told the judge he acted like that because Stephens-Santaromita was not his immediate supervisor and that he wasn’t supposed to be delegated work from two different people because it caused office “mayhem.”
Countered the judge: “The evidence establishes that the respondent yelled very loud. I also find that the respondent’s actions were insolent and discourteous.”
Bryant appealed his firing to the Civil Service Commission, which refused to overturn the judge’s decision.
Bryant’s lawyer, Michael Coviello, said he never comments on his cases.