By Jeff Lipton
But the 68-year-old former Woodmere resident, who now lives in Valley Stream, said that because he was denied a medical leave, he failed to complete his lifeguard recertification test this spring, and was not allowed to work this summer ‹ even though he was given the OK by his doctor. Now he¹s not sure if he will be back patrolling the waters next year at Jones Beach, where he has been a lifeguard captain for several years.
Lieberfarb believes his poor treatment by state parks officials has something to do with his being Jewish, and he is not the only one making this claim. At least five other lifeguards at Jones Beach who are also Jewish ‹ including a Hewlett resident who has been a lifeguard for nine years ‹ have complained of biased treatment for various reasons. They have recently accused state parks management, which runs Jones Beach, of a pattern of harassment against Jewish lifeguards, who make up between 5 and 10 percent of the force of 500 lifeguards safeguarding state beaches on Long Island.
State parks officials do not deny undertaking criminal investigations for possible fraud and for other violations of rules and regulations, and said that disciplinary actions have been taken against some lifeguards, but vehemently dismissed accusations that they have targeted Jewish lifeguards.
Thus far, of the six Jewish lifeguards who have complained of bias, only Lieberfarb has formally filed a complaint of religious discrimination with the state Division of Human Rights and for age discrimination with the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The Jewish lifeguards said they have been picked on by state parks administrators because five of the nine current members of the Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps union¹s executive board are Jewish ‹ the first time that religious group has held a majority on the board. Members of the executive board, which is involved in job negotiations with state officials, have complained of harassment.
The state told executive board members in June that they would no longer have the authority to negotiate with their employers.
Roy Lester, the head of the lifeguard union at Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park, said park and beach administrators have harassed the Jewish lifeguards they don¹t want working for them. ³We started seeing this pattern, which seemed to be discriminating against and singling out Jewish lifeguards,² said Lester, who is a lifeguard on the weekends and is not Jewish.
Lieberfarb, who lived in Woodmere for 15 years before moving to Valley Stream about seven years ago, has been a lifeguard at Jones Beach since 1956. He said he was unable to complete his annual lifeguard test, which included a 100-yard swim in 80 seconds, because of a medical problem. At the time, he said, he was experiencing problems with his breathing and had an abnormal heartbeat. He said that when he filed for a medical leave of absence from the lifeguard corps, it was denied.
Lieberfarb said he has since received a medical OK from his doctor, but he was replaced by another lifeguard officer, which means he may lose his captain¹s rank and all that he has built up over the last 50 years. ³I love doing this,² Lieberfarb, a union activist, said of his lifeguard duties. ³These things never happened before. I think they are harassing Jewish lifeguards.
³I still want to help people,² he added. ³This is a job where you serve the public, and I¹m physically able to do this.²
³To throw away that kind of experience,² Lester said of Lieberfarb¹s medical leave denial, ³it makes no sense. They could take away his captainship and make him start all over again.
³When it happened to him it wasn¹t right, but things like this kept happening, and then something started to stink,² Lester continued. ³When things like this are happening, we have to look at the common denominator, and they are all Jewish. It was all happening to Jewish lifeguards.²
Lester said that others would follow Lieberfarb¹s lead and file grievances with the state Division of Human Rights if their complaints are not resolved.
Critics of the six lifeguards pointed out that several of them were longtime union leaders who have had adversarial relationships with beach administrators.
One Jewish lifeguard who lives in Hewlett, and whose name is being withheld at his request, said he was a lifeguard for nine years at Jones Beach. He is one of two under investigation by state park police for possible fraudulent CPR certification. ³I¹ve never been in trouble or had problems with management before,² he said, explaining that his problems began this year, when he became a member of the executive board.
He said he had been a CPR instructor for the American Red Cross for the previous six years, and that at the beginning of the beach season he accepted the position of lead CPR instructor for Jones Beach lifeguards. But in mid-June, he said, he had to resign from the position because ³I had too many things on my plate.² He said that ever since he quit, he felt ³they have been out to get me.²
The lifeguard said he has been under investigation for working one-on-one with another lifeguard on CPR. That lifeguard then went to Australia to participate in the Maccabi Games. The instructor said he helped his student become recertified in June, but the certificate was dated July 2, which is when the trainee was out of the country. The lifeguard from Hewlett said he intentionally post-dated the certificate because he thought it would make it easier for administrators to deal with paperwork, since all lifeguards¹ CPR certifications expire at the same time. But now, he said, he is under investigation, accused of possibly lying and granting certification for a class that never took place.
³There are men going around here questioning people about me, my name, my integrity,² said the Hewlett resident. ³That is unbelievably wrong. Anyone who knows me knows that I am the most committed person. What they have done is absolutely unfounded, ridiculous and absurd. They could have come to me first.
³I¹ve never been in trouble before and never had problems with management,² the Hewlett resident said. ³There have been a lot of harassment and a lot of police investigations by state parks officials this summer of Jewish members.²
George Gorman, regional director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said that since the investigations were ongoing, he was limited in what he could say, but he addressed the accusations in a general way. ³These accusations are completely baseless and really offensive,² he said. ³It is very upsetting that these charges are being made up.²
Gorman added that it is merely a coincidence that Jewish lifeguards have been under investigation by state park police. ³We have no idea that individuals under investigation are Jewish,² Gorman said. ³When we receive information that someone is breaking the rules and regulations, they don¹t tell us what religion any one of our staff is. We never ask an employee¹s [religious] affiliation.
³If they did nothing wrong, we have no reason to take disciplinary action,² he added. ³But either way, we have no idea what religion they are.²
On one occasion, two Jewish lifeguards were accused of insubordination and threatened with arrest after they walked into an administrator¹s office barefooted to complain about a lack of lifeguards on a section of Jones Beach. ³We live in a world in which terrorists are running around, and they were going to have two guys arrested for not wearing shoes,² the Hewlett resident said. ³You¹ve got to be kidding me.²
