Exclusive
In line to get Semper fired

BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, May 3rd 2007, 4:00 AM

A former marine working as a subway conductor is on the verge of being fired - even though he says he's done absolutely nothing wrong.

Darren Ottey said he was hired more than a year ago after taking a Civil Service exam and receiving the extra test-score points granted to military veterans.

But the city Department of Administrative Services recently told Ottey, 44, who served two noncombat tours of duty between 1981 and 1990, that it made an error.

Because Ottey didn't serve during wartime, he was ineligible for the bonus points. And so his ranking was improperly inflated.

The city's response is to fire Ottey and bump him down on the list of potential conductors without giving him credit for his year's experience. The blunder was discovered after he applied to become a Bridge and Tunnel officer and his file was reviewed.

"I'm disgusted," Ottey, of Hempstead, L.I., said. "I served my country honorably. I was not sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I don't think veterans should be treated like this. Nobody should be treated like this. I didn't do anything wrong."

Administrative Services spokesman Mark Daly said the department, which oversees Civil Service exams for NYC Transit, must follow the letter of the law.

"However regrettable in this case, state law provides the specific periods and circumstances for which military service personnel can claim veterans' credits," he said. "Detailed information about veterans' credits is part of the standard application paperwork, which we encourage applicants to read in full before they claim special credits."

Ottey - a conductor on the F line - said he served as an aviation supply clerk on the West Coast and Asia, receiving an honorable discharge in April 1990, just months before the Persian Gulf War began.

Marines were fighting in Lebanon, Grenada and Panama during his period of service, but according to law only veterans who received ribbons acknowledging their participation in those conflicts receive bonus points.

Kevin Harrington, a vice chairman with Transport Workers Union Local 100, said the law needs to be amended.

"This guy joined the U.S. Marine Corps when Marines were being killed in Lebanon and other places," he said. "The law should be changed to cover anybody who serves in the military. He was in for nine years. That's not a short amount of time."

An NYC Transit spokesman said it had not yet received notification that Ottey should be axed.

Adding insult to injury, Ottey said he quit a more lucrative job as a stockbroker to become a conductor, ignoring friends' advice.

"I always wanted to work on the trains," he said. "I guess maybe they were right."

pdonohue@nydailynews.com

Ellie