Thomas C. Zambito

The Journal News

Twenty employees were accused of cheating on safety tests after a probe led by the MTA Inspector General

Ten conductors and engineers pleaded guilty to criminal charges and performed community service

Metro-North conductors and engineers caught up in a cheating scandal saved their jobs by agreeing to serve months-long suspensions and, in some cases, agreeing to clean train cars and bathrooms, the Journal News/lohud.com has learned.

The job-saving deal is the product of a year-long negotiation between Metro-North labor lawyers and union officials to resolve allegations uncovered by a 2015 MTA Inspector General’s probe into widespread cheating on railroad safety tests.

Thirteen current and former employees faced criminal charges while others faced disciplinary action meted out by Metro-North.

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Locomotive engineers accused of receiving the answers to safety tests will continue to work as coach cleaners and custodians until January when they’ll be able to reapply for their jobs, according to James Fahey, the director of the executive board for the Association of Commuter Rail Employees who negotiated the deal. “There are no guarantees,” Fahey said. “It’s a total re-qualification.”

Conductors will have to serve at least two years as assistant conductors before they can re-apply for their jobs, Fahey said.

All of the 20 accused employees served periods of suspension of up to two months without pay and were forced to pass safety tests that are a central requirement for work on the railroad. Several lost pay or were demoted.

“Metro-North has taken this matter very seriously and took appropriate action against all individuals involved to the maximum extent allowable under collective bargaining agreements,” Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan said Wednesday. “Further, upon discovering the abuse, Metro-North immediately terminated the class where the abuse was discovered, initiated an investigation, notified the MTA Inspector General’s office, took steps to enhance security of exams, and began cooperating with prosecutors.”

Video surveillance cameras have been installed in test-taking rooms, union officials say, and prospective employees are given tests with a varied set of questions and answers.

Roughly half of the 20 accused pleaded guilty to criminal charges and were sentenced to perform community service under agreements reached with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, officials say.

'Excessive' punishment

Fahey said that the union considered the punishment “excessive.” In one instance, Fahey said, a conductor candidate was accused of receiving test answers even though he was sent a study guide by a member of Metro-North’s training department, Fahey said.

Fahey said he agreed to the deal to save members’ jobs rather than risk a trial before an arbitration judge. He hoped the entire affair would send a clear message to all prospective employees.

“If these kids don’t know the book inside and out they’re not only jeopardizing their own lives but the lives of everybody who they work with and their customers,” Fahey said.

The allegations against the 20 came to light in two separate waves.

In June 2015, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced the indictment of 13 Metro-North conductors and engineers accused of cheating on licensing exams that tested their knowledge of such things as speed limits and emergency safety procedures on locomotives.

MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger said the investigation uncovered long-standing practices that undermined the integrity of Metro-North’s testing process.

Nine defendants were accused of emailing photographs of three different tests and answers to conductor candidates. One of the accused accessed the exam and recorded a portion of it on his cellphone when an instructor left the room before emailing the test to classmates, prosecutors said.

In June 2016, The Journal News/lohud.com reported that a separate set of 10 conductors and engineers were suspended after the MTA Inspector General confirmed several more instances of cheating.

Popular conductor accused

Included in that group was conductor Michael Shaw, a veteran conductor and a ranking member of ACRE, sources say.

Under the deal announced this week, Shaw was able to keep his conductor job after serving a suspension, Fahey said. Shaw was accused of passing test answers to a conductor candidate, an allegation he denied, Fahey said.

“Mike Shaw has had an exemplary record for 33 years,” Fahey said.

Shaw has a loyal following among customers on the New Haven Line. In 2014, he left some 500 notes on car seats apologizing to customers for mistakenly telling them to wait for an express train that was cancelled.

The cheating scandal broke as Metro-North was dealing with a series of deadly accidents that raised questions about the railroad’s safety culture.

In December 2013, four passengers were killed when a Metro-North engineer fell asleep at the controls of a speeding train and crashed near Spuyten-Duyvil. Months before a Metro-North track foreman was killed while working on a section of track in New Haven. Robert Luden was killed when a trainee working at the rail traffic control center at Grand Central Terminal mistakenly opened up a section of rail to train traffic.