MPS must rehire felon, give him $150,000 in back pay
      Supreme Court refuses to hear case
      By TOM KERTSCHER
      of the Journal Sentinel staff
      Last Updated: Oct. 3, 2001
      Milwaukee Public Schools has been rebuffed by the state Supreme Court and 
      is now legally obligated to give a job and about $150,000 in back pay to a 
      former janitor who was fired for not disclosing he had injured a child 
      with hot grease during a domestic incident, an attorney for MPS says.
      But first, MPS must try to find Mark Moore, who reportedly moved to 
      Mississippi earlier this year, to see whether he wants the job.
      Regardless of what happens with Moore, said Assistant City Attorney 
      Leonard Tokus, the Legislature needs to address the results of his case.
      "It's a significant and dramatic impact for school districts throughout 
      the state, being forced to hire a person who has been convicted of 
      reckless endangerment, particularly involving" a child, Tokus said.
      David Nance, a lawyer for the state agency that was pivotal in Moore's 
      victory, said Wednesday that he expects the Legislature will take up the 
      issue. But he disagreed that the Moore case will have a major impact on 
      schools because the circumstances of his case are so rare.
      Moore, who left Milwaukee officials only a Milwaukee post office box for 
      an address, could not be reached for comment. Tokus said Moore told him 
      earlier this year that he was moving to Mississippi.
      Moore, 39, had worked for 12 years as an MPS janitor when he pleaded 
      guilty in 1992 to injury by conduct regardless of life, a felony. He had 
      thrown hot grease at his girlfriend in a domestic dispute in 1988, missing 
      her but hitting her 20-month-old daughter, who suffered second- and 
      third-degree burns over 16% of her body.
      Moore was sentenced to a 90-day jail term with work-release privileges and 
      kept his job. But in 1995, after becoming a boiler attendant trainee, he 
      was fired for having failed to disclose his conviction on his application 
      for that job.
      In 1996, Moore again applied for a boiler attendant trainee job, this time 
      disclosing the conviction. MPS rejected the application, citing his 
      conviction, and Moore began a series of appeals.
      The key decision came from the state Labor and Industry Review Commission, 
      which ruled in 1999 that MPS had discriminated against Moore in refusing 
      to hire him on his second application. The commission concluded that 
      Moore's crime did not substantially relate to the duties of a boiler 
      attendant trainee, and it ordered MPS to hire him and give him back pay.
      Nance, the commission attorney, stressed that the commission was simply 
      applying the law in Moore's case. He said the commission has not taken a 
      position on whether the law, which prohibits job discrimination based on a 
      criminal record, should apply to school districts.
      After the commission ruling, MPS began a series of court appeals, most 
      recently by petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the case. The high court 
      refused.
      Tokus said he would write to Moore to tell him the outcome of the case and 
      to determine whether he still wants to work for MPS. Moore has said in the 
      past that he badly wanted the boiler attendant job.


      Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Oct. 4, 2001.


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