Corruption DIR Style

Those who have followed or witnessed the unbelievable events in the so-called Division of Labor Statistics and Research (or DLSR) of the Department of Industrial Relations (or DIR) might have thought they had seen everything. Well, not quite. More strange things are happening in DIR/DLSR.

The Chief of DLSR, David Aroner, was fired at the end of last June (since he had been appointed by the Governor, this means that the Governor withdrew the appointment) and State employees packed his personal belongings into boxes for him to pick up. However, Mr. Aroner hasn’t picked up his stuff for well over a month now. The boxes are sitting in his former office, a corner conference room Mr. Aroner converted into his office when he was first appointed as a Chief, thus preventing the return of the room to its designated use.

It is even rumored that Mr. Aroner plans to fight his firing and this is the reason he hasn’t picked up his stuff. Of course, one wonders how this would be possible, given the fact that as an appointee he was serving at the pleasure of the Governor. The surprising is that no one from DIR has taken the initiative to store Mr. Aroner’s boxes in order to free the conference room.

But what is extremely strange is the fact that no announcement has been made so far to DLSR/DIR employees that Mr. Aroner is no longer the Chief. And all the while the acting Director of DIR, Chuck Cake, keeps mum. In the meantime, the Deputy Chief of DLSR, Maria Robbins, pretends she doesn’t know anything about Mr. Aroner no longer being the Chief and she has advised the employees to keep sending out correspondence as ostensibly originating from him. So, the DLSR employees send letters to the public bearing the electronic signature of Mr. Aroner!

Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi (or Zagros Sadjadi), a self-serving sycophant whose obnoxious and servile behavior has stunned the employees at DLSR but gained him the favor of Deputy Chief, Maria Robbins (she elevated him from an entry-level to a position of authority within DLSR, even though he lacked the State mandated prerequisites and the qualifications for the position), left the Division at the end of last June. During his five year tenure at DLSR he tried to use his employment at the Division as a springboard in order to get a full time job at a College or University by, among others things, misstating often his position and his actual duties. He failed to secure such employment in North America, but apparently managed to con the people at the West Indies University at Mona in Jamaica. According to him he was hired there as a full-time “professor of law and economics”.

In June of this year, and prior to the firing of David Aroner, DLSR management (Maria Robbins and David Aroner) agreed to a proposal by Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi to allow him to telecommute from Jamaica to DLSR. That’s right. He was to maintain his position and salary at DLSR by telecommuting from Jamaica, while at the same time holding a full time job there! But this was too much even for the compliant Personnel unit of DIR. Someone there objected to this totally illegal proposition, fearing the consequences to the responsible individuals in Personnel if a scam of such magnitude were to be discovered. So, the plan was shelved.

However, an alternative plan was approved. Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi was granted a “leave of absence” (it is assumed to be a one year unpaid leave, although no one can vouch that it is not a paid leave). This leave is illegal. A leave is granted to an employee who is expected to return to work after a set period of time (usually up to a year) and who has clearly declared this to be his or her intention. But this is not the case with Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi.

The granting of a leave of absence to Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi has a dual purpose. First, to circumvent the statutory requirement that a vacant position must be eliminated if not filled within six months (a leave of absence does not count as a position vacancy), and second, to leave the door open for Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi to return to DLSR should he find himself expelled by the University of West Indies at Mona. The person most instrumental in granting this leave of absence is Maria Robbins.

The DLSR employees have experienced the free reign of terror given to Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi by Maria Robbins. They have seen Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi keeping track of the time employees were spending in the bathroom, they have seen him running into the office of Maria Robbins many times during the day to report to her real or imaginary infractions by employees, and they have seen him be the tool of hers in harassing and retaliating against a number of their colleagues. They also have seen Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi being promoted by Maria Robbins to high-paying positions as a reward for his services to her in executing her malicious agenda.

So, the employees in DLSR were elated when they heard the news about Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi’s leaving. The granting of the illegal leave of absence to him has, however, tempered their joy. They fear that he will be kicked out of his job in Jamaica and return to DLSR to resume his behavior, which was both ill-intentioned and detrimental to the Division’s activities.

Of course, the granting of the illegal leave of absence to Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi could have been possible only with the collusion of the Personnel unit of DIR, the office of the Director, and most likely the Director, Chuck Cake, himself. Thus, the persons who have been entrusted to uphold the State laws are the very ones who violate that law, and so far, with impunity.

We are non-partisan and we do not advocate any political line. Our only interest is to help arrest the decline in professional and ethical contact in State service and to contribute in elevating the quality of public sector to the level envisioned by the statutes and expected by the citizens of the State.

With that clearly stated we would like to commend on one of the recent pronouncements by one of the candidates in the upcoming gubernatorial elections. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that if he were to be elected he would “clean house in Sacramento”. But that will not be enough. What is needed is for someone to clean house in DIR, starting with DLSR.