Lordstown police dispatcher fired

By Ed Runyan | June 9, 2011 at 12:04a.m.

Jim Luonuansuu

WARREN

Jim Luonuansuu, a Newton Falls city councilman who survived a recall election earlier this year, has been fired from his job as a dispatcher with the Lordstown Police Department.

Lordstown Village Council approved a resolution Tuesday terminating Luonuansuu immediately.

The firing followed several incidents in which Luonuansuu was caught sleeping while working the midnight shift.

Specifically, Luonuansuu was fired Tuesday for violating terms of a last-chance agreement Luonuansuu signed last year that prevented him from filing any type of complaint or legal action against the village in the future, said Councilman Arno Hill.

A complaint Luonuansuu filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the event that triggered his firing, Hill said.

Atty. Mike Hostler of the Fraternal Order of Police union in North Royalton, which represents Luonuansuu, said Luonuansuu filed the EEOC complaint because the village reduced his compensation by $880 — payment for an evaluation the village required Luonuansuu to have before Luonuansuu was deemed fit to return to work last August.

Hostler said the incidents in which Luonuansuu fell asleep triggered medical treatment for a disorder protected by the federal Family Medical Leave Act.

As such, the village had no right to order Luonuansuu to pay for the evaluation.

Hostler said the union will continue to fight for Luonuansuu to get his job back, adding that the treatment Luonuansuu received has helped with the medical condition Luonuansuu suffers from. Hostler said Luonuansuu has no work-related problems with sleeping since he returned to work in August 2010.

Luonuansuu referred all questions to Hostler.

Paul Dutton, Lordstown’s legal adviser, did not return a call seeking comment.