YSU union chief placed on leave as criminal complaint surfaces on leave pending

Photo

Ivan Maldonado

By Harold Gwin

Another employee told police she feels threatened by the leader of the classified workers union.

YOUNGSTOWN — The president of Youngstown State University’s 380-member Association of Classified Employees union has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation of a criminal complaint filed against him.

Ivan Maldonado, a 20-year YSU employee, was handed notice of the university’s action against him Friday afternoon.

The campus community was also notified in a general e-mail message sent out about that same time.

Ron Cole, a YSU spokesman, said Maldonado, an employee in the payroll office, was placed on administrative leave with pay “as a result of a formal police complaint filed by another YSU employee accusing Maldonado of harassment and threats.”

The leave will continue while an investigation is conducted, Cole said.

He declined further comment and said YSU President David C. Sweet would have no comment on the matter.

Maldonado, reached by telephone Saturday, also declined any immediate comment.

YSU police said a female employee of YSU’s facilities department, who is a member of the ACE union, filed a menacing complaint against Maldonado Wednesday morning alleging that she “believes that the suspect will cause either physical or emotional harm” to her.

The police report said her allegation stemmed from “an incident that took place on Tuesday 3/10/09,” but the report doesn’t give any details of that incident.

The investigation follows a dispute between Maldonado and the university over a pay-scale dispute that is headed for binding arbitration.

The university has maintained that Maldonado had incorrectly received a $21,000 pay raise under terms of the new ACE contract negotiated last summer and unilaterally began reducing his pay in January, cutting his $82,613 annual salary by that amount.

The move triggered a pair of grievances by the ACE union, which the university denied. They will now be resolved by binding arbitration.

The pay-scale dispute resulted in Craig Bickley, the university’s former chief human resources officer/chief negotiator, being placed on administrative leave in December. He resigned his post late that month.

gwin@vindy.com