Union Claims Victory In Fainting Janitor Case

After weeks of community outrage, Saintely Paul, the Harvard janitor allegedly fired for fainting on the job, will return to work, according to labor leaders.

On Wednesday, the local branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the University, and Paul reached a verbal agreement allowing Paul to regain his job, as well as full back pay for time missed and coverage of medical expenses related to his condition, the union said.

The agreement comes after several rallies staged on Paul’s behalf by students, union members, and local and state politicians.

Shortly after the last rally on Sept. 22, William Murphy, Harvard’s director of employee and labor relations, contacted SEIU 615 organizer Courtney Snegroff to set up a meeting. The two sides met on Oct. 4 and reached an agreement, according to Snegroff. In an interview, Paul said he still had not received any official paperwork from Harvard.

University spokesman Joe Wrinn said the University has been seeking “the most fair and mututally agreeable resoution to this.”

“There’s not a specific date [for finalizing the agreement] since both parties need to review it but there will be a joint announcement when that occurs,” Wrinn said.

Murphy did not respond to requests for comment last night.

The outpouring of community support led to the quick response on Harvard’s part, Snegroff said, though she added that it should have come even earlier.

“I wish it happened three months ago, but at least it happened before we had to go to arbitration,” she said.

The arbitration hearing, which would have been handled by the American Arbitration Association, was slated to begin at the earliest in late January.

Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) leader Adaner Usmani ’08 offered measured praise, calling the decision “fantastic” and adding that it “was tremendous how quickly it happened.” But, Usmani said, “It’s not something that they [Harvard administrators] did out of the benevolence of their heart. It’s something that took a lot of pressure from us, the community at large.”

Paul, who is 55 years old and has five children, also works part-time as a housekeeper in Boston’s Eliot Suite Hotel, but was unable to find a second job after being fired by Harvard.

Despite a growing number of unpaid bills that escalated throughout the summer, Paul “was just praying that they would give him the job back,” he said, speaking in Haitian Creole. His son, Steven, translated.

A week before fainting in William James Hall, Paul fainted in his Dorchester home. He then informed his boss of the incident, and upon his boss’s suggestion, went to a doctor prior to fainting again, Paul said.

—Staff writer Benjamin L. Weintraub can be reached at bweintr@fas.harvard.edu.