Derek Fenton, the New Jersey Transit worker who was fired after he burned a Koran, has been ordered re-hired, paid back wages, with a $25,000 solatium payment from the public agency. Larry McShane of the New York Daily News reports:
Fenton, a train conductor, will return to work next week if he completes a physical and a drug test on Monday, said Deborah Jacobs, New Jersey executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Fenton was not working when he arrived at the site of the controversial Islamic center to mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center.
The father of two burned three pages of the Koran to protest the planned center's proximity to the site of the attack by Muslim terrorists who flew planes into the twin towers.
He was led away by police and never identified himself as a NJ Transit employee. Yet two days later, Fenton was fired.
The ACLU filed suit on Fenton's behalf, and the deal was brokered before the case went to trial. The state also agreed to reimburse the ACLU for a $25,000 legal tab.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had backed Fenton's firing, saying the transit worker's behavior was "unacceptable."
The typically talkative governor's office did not return a call for comment.
There are a couple of shockers here:
1. The ACLU stood up for him;
2. Chris Christie supported his firing.
What's next? Trump winning the presidency? Strange things are happening.
No word yet on what, if any, penalties the morons who ordered him fired will receive. They cost the State of New Jersey $50,000 cash, extra labor cost (to replace Fenton, their own attorneys' fees, and a ton of bad publicity. Most likely, they will not suffer at all, as public employees tend to be immune to the consequences of failure.
