An Illinois Tollway employee responsible for supervising a maintenance garage has been fired -- for the third time -- for being caught sleeping on the job and for intimidating his coworkers.
Joseph Caffarello's termination was first brought to light in a Thursday report from the Illinois Tollway, wherein the agency's Office of the Inspector General summarized the findings of its investigations dating back to last October.
According to CBS Chicago, the worker, hired in 2000, had already been fired twice by the agency, in 2001 for head-butting and arguing with a coworker and in 2004 (after being rehired in 2002) for infractions including testing positive for drug use following an accident that involved an agency vehicle.
But Caffarello -- first identified in a Chicago Sun-Times report -- was rehired again, after arbitration, in 2005. He was next suspended late last November before he was terminated in February.
In addition to allegedly being caught dozing off at work, "there was intimidation, abusive and condescending behavior" that contributed to the worker's most recent firing, the Daily Herald reports.
According to the Sun-Times, Caffarello was making $78,444 a year at the time of his firing. He told the newspaper he feels he was "absolutely" "screwed" by the agency and that he plans to appeal his termination, which was apparently set into motion by Democratic state Rep. Rita Mayfield.
Mayfield, who had reportedly caught wind of prior complaints concerning Caffarello, received photos from the man's coworkers showing him sleeping at work and passed them along to the Illinois Tollway.
“Let’s hope he stays fired," Mayfield told the Sun-Times.
Photo by HelveticaFanatic via Flickr.
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