Workers go from City Hall's 'clout list' to the disabled list
John W. Spilotro, a city truck driver at O'Hare Airport, has been off work since January, when he fell backward onto the pavement while getting out of a street sweeper. It was the third time that's happened to him in 10 years driving a truck for the city.
John L. Resa, a hoisting engineer for the city water department, has been off work for more than three years since he reported injuring his neck, back and left arm while riding in a city truck that struck a viaduct.
Joseph Womack, a water department laborer, has been off work for more than 19 months since his "back went out'' while he was turning a pipe on the job. It was the fourth time he reported injuring his back while working for the water department.
Spilotro was tending the manicured landscape of his bungalow in the Montclare neighborhood on Chicago's Northwest Side when a Sun-Times reporter and photographer approached. He said his latest injury happened Jan. 31, as he was getting out of a street sweeper to talk with a boss. It was the fifth case he filed since he was hired in December 1995.
"I went to get out -- you go out backwards -- I lost my balance because it was slippery," Spilotro said. "I fell backwards nine feet. I fractured my spine. Let me tell you, it f------ hurts.''
Spilotro had slipped and fallen backward from city trucks twice before, first in November 1996 and then in September 2000, while working for the transportation department, according to accident reports he filed. The second fall kept him off work for six months. Spilotro filed three workers comp claims over those two incidents and collected $43,502 from the city, state records show.
"You get hurt, legitimate hurt, so what's the problem?'' Spilotro said. "There's a lot of people who take advantage of the system. I'm not one of them.''
For eight months, Spilotro has been on "duty disability,'' collecting 75 percent of his $1,148 weekly salary. The state requires employers to pay injured workers 66.6 percent of their salary. But city pension funds give injured employees an additional payment, bumping the disability payments up to 75 percent of their pay.
Two days after a reporter talked with Spilotro, he filed a sixth workers comp claim. His attorney, Anthony Cuda, said that claim is over a blood clot that formed in Spilotro's leg when he was doing physical therapy for his back.
Asked about Spilotro's healthy appearance while he was bending over to care for his yard, Cuda said the yard work might have been related to physical therapy. "He has to do some stretching, some bending, some lifting,'' Cuda said.
Spilotro's political sponsor, according to the clout list, was Dominic Longo of the Coalition for Better Government, a group that has helped get city jobs for political workers.
Spilotro, though, denied getting his job through Longo. He pointed out that he had driven a truck for nearly 20 years when the city hired him.
He also had filed two workers comp claims against a previous employer, citing injuries to his left foot and a finger, and collecting nearly $10,000.
Like dozens of other city employees, Resa is deemed unable to return to his job because of his injuries. But he's well enough to return to work in a less-physically demanding job, according to a city document obtained by the Sun-Times. Still, he remains on leave, waiting for the city to find him something to do.
Resa's political patron is Al Sanchez, the former city streets and sanitation commissioner, who also sponsored other Resa relatives who got city jobs, according to the clout list. Resa and his relatives have filed eight workers comp claims against the city.
Resa, 48, has been a political worker for Sanchez, a founder of the mayor's Hispanic Democratic Organization, a political army caught up in the hiring scandal at City Hall. Resa has continued doing political work while on leave, according to sources familiar with him.
Resa wasn't home when a reporter knocked on his door on two occasions. He left a phone message in response, referring reporters to his lawyer, who didn't return calls.
While his claim is pending, Resa has collected more than $119,000 in disability payments from the city and more than $23,000 from a city pension fund.
It's his second case against the city. Resa got $19,000 from an accident nine years ago.
Resa got his city job in 1993, shortly after he had filed three workers comp cases against a previous employer, state records show.
He got about $8,100 to settle his two workers comp cases with the Park District, and $72,848 for his first two back injuries while with the water department. City officials and Womack agreed he suffered a "permanent, partial disability," determining he lost 30 percent use of his body.
He kept working as a laborer for the water department, reporting he reinjured his back in February 2003 and again in March 2005. He hasn't worked since, collecting more than $62,152 in disability payments while awaiting the outcome of his latest pair of claims.
Though Womack, 62, of West Garfield Park, denied obtaining his job through clout, his name is on the City Hall clout list, showing his sponsor was Ald. Ike Carothers (29th).
Womack briefly discussed his injuries with a reporter, saying he hasn't had surgery on his back.
Womack, who is also among the city employees deemed able to return to work on light duty, said he remains on disability leave because the city hasn't found him a job he can do. "Not yet," he said.