BERNE — Shawn Duncan, who had worked at the Berne transfer station since 2019, was fired at the Aug. 13 town board meeting.

Duncan believes the firing was triggered by an Enterprise story in which he shared complaints about Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger.

“The charges against you include violations of town policy, failure to comply with workplace standards, insubordination, reports of harassment against both colleagues and residents, as well as creating a hostile work environment,” said the one-page Aug. 14 letter that was sent to Duncan signed by Human Resource Coordinator Kristin De Oliveira, who is also the Berne town clerk. 

The letter goes on to say, “This behavior is not in line with the Town of Berne’s expectations and policies which are clearly outlined in our Employee Handbook.”

The letter concludes, “Your access to all Town Properties as an employee is revoked immediately. We trust you will take this opportunity to move forward positively.”

Duncan was particularly upset that on July 23, as he was being suspended from his job after talking to The Enterprise, Supervisor Dennis Palow had accused him of sexually harassing women at the transfer station. Duncan this week noted that the sexual-harassment charge didn’t appear in writing.

“If I did that, wouldn’t I have gotten arrested?” Duncan asked. He feels the allegation has maligned his reputation in town.

“I never touched anybody … I never smacked anybody. I never did anything like that … I heard around town that they said I did … They were just spreading rumors,” Duncan said.

New York state requires all employers to adopt a sexual-harassment prevention policy and to provide interactive, annual sexual-harassment prevention training to every employee.

Asked how he is now supporting himself, Duncan said he has not applied for unemployment benefits but, with a background in construction, is doing odd jobs.

He also said, “I have a family. I have a whole household that lives with me, you know? … Like everyone is blown away by this.”

Asked if his former arrest record — as a teenager he was jailed for burglarizing homes with others and, in 2003, the sheriff’s office found 37 marijuana plants in his home — had anything to do with his being fired, Duncan said, “They hired me. That’s on them.”

He also said, “That was my life. That all happened but, you know, that’s in the past. I’m just not that person anymore.”

Duncan was not at the Aug. 13 meeting but he talked to The Enterprise later, saying he had never faced any disciplinary measures at his transfer-station job.

“I never had no write-ups,” he said. “I do incredible work.”

In 2022, Supervisor Palow, in a town newsletter, praised Duncan and another town worker for doing “an excellent job with plowing, mowing, help[ing] maintain the Transfer Station just to name a few. They are called upon to do so many tasks at our buildings and grounds and are so dedicated and never complain about the hard work they need to do.”

Palow also wrote that Duncan and two other transfer-station workers “are doing a great job maintaining the Transfer Station, helping the residents with their trash, cardboard, and recyclables and we are receiving excellent feedback from our residents on how hard they are working helping the residents when they pull in.”

The Enterprise has filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the town for any records on Duncan but has not yet received a response.

Duncan says he never heard complaints about his work from Bashwinger or anyone on the town board until the day after he spoke out against Bashwinger to The Enterprise.

The Enterprise asked each of the town board members whether there had been previous complaints about Duncan, if he had been informed about them, counseled, or given a chance to explain himself.

Deputy Supervisor Thomas Doolin alone responded, “In my opinion, discussion about a particular person’s employment, promotion, discipline, or dismissal are considered private, and I do not feel are open for a public discussion.”

When Doolin was asked further questions, in general terms, about the procedures the town of Berne uses when complaints are made about an employee, he responded by citing the “Corrective Action and Discipline” section of Berne’s employee handbook.

“When a rule, policy, or procedure is violated, the employee’s Department Head, or other designated supervisor, will review the specific nature of the violation with the employee. Your input is extremely important to ensure that all of the facts have been considered,” the handbook says.

The handbook also says, “The Town retains the right to discipline employees without engaging in progressive discipline or prior counseling if the situation so warrants and retains the right to discipline employees in any manner it sees fit.”

Duncan had spoken to The Enterprise in July about various concerns he had with Bashwinger’s leadership of the highway department and also alleged that Bashwinger had the highway department workers pose for a photo that he then posted on Facebook, where Bashwinger claimed — falsely, Duncan said — that he had the endorsements of all the employees as he seeks re-election this November. 

Duncan said that Bashwinger referenced these allegations and The Enterprise’s attempts to reach the involved parties as he was suspending Duncan without pay on July 23, accompanied by Palow, town board member Joseph Giebelhaus, and an Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy.

“They had a sheriff there, waiting …,” Duncan said this week. “They tried to set me up.” He said of being suspended, “I wasn’t thrilled about it but I didn’t do anything stupid.”

The meeting

After gathering briefly in executive session at the start of the Aug. 13 board meeting, all four town board members — Supervisor Palow, Deputy Supervisor Doolin, and councilmembers Melanie laCour and Giebelhaus — voted in favor of Palow’s motion “to terminate Shawn Duncan effective immediately.”

Palow had called for the closed session “to discuss personnel matters on a town employee.” And, after the private meeting, he said, “No action was taken in the executive session.”

The state’s Open Meetings Law does not list “personnel matters” as one of the reasons an elected board can meet privately. However, the law does allow a closed session for discussion of “matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person.”

There was no public disclosure of the reason for Duncan’s dismissal.

Later at the Aug. 13 meeting, Bashwinger said, “The transfer station, obviously with the situation that happened, we need somebody for Saturdays.”

Bashwinger went on to name a “gentleman” who had worked at the transfer station for four years previously and had shown “interest in coming back.”

“So that’s something that you guys have to discuss … but we do need to get somebody in there quickly,” said Bashwinger.

Palow said an ad for the part-time job would be posted on the town’s website.