"TSA cracks down on screener sick time at Newark airport"

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Sick time crackdown at airport 
Newark security lapses tied to screeners' absenteeism 
Sunday, March 13, 2005
BY RON MARSICO 
The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger


A total of 210 security screeners, or nearly one-sixth of the force, have
been disciplined at Newark Liberty International Airport during the past six
months for abusing sick time, according to federal officials. 

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration -- continuing a crackdown on
the hub's chronic security lapses and absentee staffing problems -- has
warned the screeners they have taken too many sick days. In addition,
employees were told they must produce a doctor's note for future absences
and that they may be fired for further violations. 
     
Newark, one of the airports breached by terrorists on 9/11, has the
equivalent of 1,320 full-time screeners. 

"These individuals represent the chronic abusers and management is taking
all steps necessary to ensure the abuse does not continue," said Ann Davis,
a TSA spokeswoman. TSA was responding to The Star-Ledger's request for
information on employee sick-time abuses at Newark. 

Absenteeism has become a major contributor to the continuing security
troubles and poor morale at Newark, current and former TSA employees said.
Missed shifts often leave checkpoints short-handed, they say, and force
screeners to work long shifts in areas where alertness and vigilance are
essential. 

In December, the newspaper reported Newark Airport screeners missed an
average of six work weeks -- on top of regular vacation and holiday time --
during the first 9 1/2 months of 2004. Projected across a full year, the
average time missed would be eight weeks. 

Screeners logged 74,450 hours of sick time during that period, nearly 25
percent of the total 329,000 hours missed, according to payroll records
obtained by the newspaper. Other absences were attributed to injury,
maternity and personal leaves, as well as unauthorized leaves (AWOLs) where
employees simply failed to show up. Entry-level screeners are allowed 13
sick days a year, and anything beyond is unpaid unless it is a disability
situation. 

At the time, another TSA spokeswoman said it was "really only a handful of
employees that are contributing to the bulk of the leave" at Newark Airport.


In a telephone interview Friday, Rep. Robert Menendez (D-13th Dist.) praised
TSA for stepping up discipline, but said he sees a greater continuing
problem. 

"We don't have the appropriate staffing. We don't have the appropriate
vetting," said Menendez, who has pushed for airport security improvements.
"You just shouldn't have that many lapses at one of the most critical
airports in the country." 

Sick leave is just one problem TSA is trying to solve after years of lax
security at Newark, which handled nearly 32 million passengers last year. 

In addition to sick-time abusers, at least 17 other screeners and
supervisors have been punished -- or have disciplinary actions pending, TSA
officials said. One incident involves two staffers accused of pouring
cleaning alcohol near an X-ray machine conveyer belt and lighting it afire,
officials said. 

Superiors identified the screeners involved as Raheemah Meadows, 24, and
Ricardo Oquendo Jr., 23, but said they were not intent on doing harm during
a lull in activity at the Terminal A-3 checkpoint in December. 

"That's not true," said Oquendo of the allegations against him. "I can't
speak to you about that stuff." Meadows could not be reached for comment. 

'A SECURE AIRPORT' 

David Stone, a retired Navy admiral and assistant secretary of Homeland
Security who heads the 45,000 employees of TSA, said the crackdown in Newark
"shows the leadership is confronting issues that were not being executed
properly by the screeners." 

Stone also voiced support for Marcus Arroyo, TSA's federal security director
at Newark Airport. 

"The management (staff) under Marcus has been found wanting in some areas,"
said Stone during a telephone interview. "I think Newark is a secure
airport. Marcus has done a good job. There's room for improvement. Marcus
knows that; our management knows that." 

Another screener recently disciplined was Peter O'Hagan, a former Morris
County freeholder and ex-director of the state Office of Highway Traffic
Safety, according to individuals familiar with an incident involving him.
O'Hagan, 72, who attained the rank of colonel during his years in the Marine
Corps Reserve, has worked as an entry-level checkpoint screener at Newark
Airport since fall and says he took the job to help stay active. 

Full-time entry-level screeners earn about $30,000 a year at the airport. 

On Feb. 17, an armed U.S. Secret Service agent was improperly allowed by
O'Hagan and a supervisor to proceed past a Terminal B checkpoint without
initially being cleared as required by a Port Authority Police officer,
according to TSA officials. The agency is moving to dismiss the supervisor
in part because of prior troubles, the officials said, while O'Hagan was
issued a letter of counseling. 

Letters of counseling are formal admonishments that do not become part of a
TSA employee's permanent record. 

Reached by phone the night of the incident, O'Hagan declined to comment. 

Critics of the TSA, which replaced private security companies at Newark
Airport in mid-2002, contend the lapses should not be occurring with such
frequency. 

"We must have zero tolerance," said Issac Yeffet, former head of security
for Israeli's El Al Airlines. "It's too much to accept. ... Newark Airport
became, unfortunately, one of the worst airports when it came to security." 

Other recent lapses and disciplinary actions at Newark Airport have varied
in scope, according to TSA. 

On Jan. 30, screeners briefly lost track of a female passenger at a Terminal
C checkpoint, resulting in a shutdown of the terminal's three main
checkpoints for up to 20 minutes before the woman was located and
rescreened. The passenger, traveling from India, was wearing metal bracelets
that apparently set off the alarm, and she left the area before screeners
were certain she had been rechecked with a hand-held metal detector. 

That incident cost one screener his job, while two others were given
remedial training and still face other potential disciplinary action,
officials said. 

On Feb. 6, a screener missed a box cutter inadvertently brought through a
Terminal B checkpoint by a Utah man. The screener received remedial
training. 

On Feb. 12, a Terminal A security screener was temporarily reassigned before
receiving remedial training after missing a steak knife with a 5-inch blade
in a passenger's pocketbook, according to Davis, the TSA spokeswoman. 

On Feb. 13, a Terminal A screener improperly allowed a Federal Aviation
Administration inspector to bypass a security checkpoint and will be issued
a letter of reprimand, according to individuals familiar with the incident. 

Letters of reprimand are placed in an employee's permanent file at TSA's
headquarters. 

Additionally, a TSA official confirmed early this month that another
employee was allowed to quit amid accusations that he had fabricated his
amount of time worked. And a TSA supervisor received a suspension for not
properly reporting a potential security incident in Terminal A, another
agency official confirmed last week.


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