Jeremy Willett has worked for the state Office of People with Developmental Disabilities since November 2011, and up until this year he said he had not experienced any problems with his position.

That changed when Willett, a direct support assistant at a group home in Lake Luzerne, testified in a deposition in a suit that fellow employee Jeffrey Monsour had filed against the office in federal court.

“They had just asked me if I had seen any retaliatory actions toward Mr. Monsour for raising concerns and his whistleblowing activities,” he said. “I believe I had, it would appear that they have. I think that Jeff is a great advocate for the disabled and he’s really putting his neck on the line to try to make a change here, so I take my hat off (to) him.”

Willett, who has received several commendations from past supervisors, then went back to work and received a paycheck of $2.50 right before Thanksgiving, he said. When he inquired about the docked pay, he was told the office refused to honor his family medical leave act.

“When I received my paycheck, the day before Thanksgiving, I was really surprised to see it was for $2.50 especially because I do have a family here,” he said. “I have a wife and I have three children, I’m the primary provider for everybody. When I looked into it and spoke to members and personnel they said they had earlier in the year added a stipulation to my FMLA where I would be required to provide a doctor’s note for each individual usage.

“The thing is I was never informed of that,” Willett said. “They say they sent a letter to my house but I never received one. This went on from August into current, so any usage of my Family Medical Leave Act is lost time where I didn’t receive any pay.”

He said he spoke to his supervisor who was also completely unaware he was supposed to be providing the notes until November and she wrote him a letter stating she was unaware. Monsour said notes for the act are not a requirement.

“You’re only required to bring medical notes if you’re on restrictive medical leave,” Monsour said. “I don’t know where they made this rule up but they didn’t notify him of it anyway. His house leader, from my understanding, told him he needed to get notes for two days and he did, but they went back on other days and didn’t even notify her.”

Willett said he also knows of other employees who have FMLA, and they are not required to provide notes.

“To make things worse, I’ve now found out I’m also being fined an additional $832.00 because when they decided not to honor my FMLA, they said that that made me responsible for their half of my family plan health insurance,” he said. “It’s pretty devastating at the holidays.

“I talked to my union member before Thanksgiving and he told me to follow-up by email, which of course, left me with no income or a way to provide a Thanksgiving for my family.”

He said he tried to reach out to the office personnel to discuss his pay and had not received a response. However after the Albany Times Union published an article on Willett’s story, a management official reached out.

“The other day, a gentleman out of the clear blue, contacted me from OPWDD personnel and he does seem to be genuinely helping to try to correct the situation so I’m relieved with that,” he said.

Willett said he’s known Monsour for many years, working with him on and off at various group homes in the system.

“I’ve seen some very questionable things happen to Jeff,” he said. “One instance was at a group home in Corinth, where we worked together. Jeff actually showed up early for his shift and assisted in saving a consumer’s life while he was actually off-duty. Instead of commending Jeff, they tried to get him in trouble and say he did the first aid CPR incorrectly, even though he saved the gentleman’s life.”

Willett also said the office has barred Monsour from working in certain group homes through “questionable stories.”

“It seems like they’re doing a lot of fishing trying to get something out of Jeff,” Willett said. “I don’t believe he’s wanted there by management.”

Monsour, who has worked for the office since 1999, said he believes that Willett’s predicament is a direct result of his testimony at the deposition.

“A lot of this with Jeremy’s aspect of it, I think it was because he went down to Albany and he was subpoenaed as a witness in my lawsuit,” Monsour said. “I just felt horrible about that, that his kids were going to lose Christmas and his Thanksgiving was ruined. I tried to reach out to OPWDD and every time I try to reach out to them to discuss any matter of fixing anything wrong with the system, I get ‘Oh you have an ongoing lawsuit, we can’t talk to you.”

“The arrogance is just unbelievable and the problem is they have no one to answer to,” he said. “I really do think it was a deliberate act on the part of capital district DDSO. It’s my opinion that it was, to just try to maybe sway him to not testify at trial or give him a hard time.”

Willett credited Monsour with giving him advice, helping him through the process and telling him to reach out to the right sources, but Monsour said he was just trying to fix a system, which he perceives as broken.

“I try to help people in need and the individuals that we serve,” he said. “Without continuity of care, the whole system is jeopardized and it starts with the employees. You cannot mistreat the employees and expect great results in the field. OPWDD seems to have a great disconnect with their employees and upper management. There’s no understanding.”

Willett is currently on leave with a neck injury related to a work incident. He is unsure of when he will be able to return.

“I enjoy the job, I find it very fulfilling and I would like to continue working there,” he said. “As soon as I’m healed up from this injury and able to go back, I’m going to go back in hopes that I’m just treated like any other employee.”

Monsour also added the offices are overrun with waste and fraud, creating a disservice to both the employees and clients.

“They’re taking from the medically frail staffing resources and putting them in the forensic group homes. So the medically frail who cannot speak up for themselves and that are profoundly MR are not getting the outings, the community access or the staffing ratios.

“The state and the governor should be ashamed of themselves for taking these valuable resources away from the medically frail. I am going to continue to work, I have the pending lawsuit in June or July of 2017, so hopefully that can shed some light about what’s going on here in detail.”

An email to the OPWDD seeking comment was not returned by press time.