Published: July 22, 2008 12:15 am      

Ex-CamTran worker denies he received improper disability pay

EBENSBURG — A former CamTran worker who’s being sued by the county transit authority over disability pay is denying any misrepresentation in collecting the money.

Douglas Greenwood of Carrolltown is being sued in county court for $17,589, plus interest and costs, the amount the authority says it paid him while he allegedly worked elsewhere.

He’s asking that the court toss out the authority’s civil lawsuit.

CamTran said that records from Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation showed he worked there from March 7, 2007, until late December, at a time when Greenwood was collecting disability pay.

In an answer filed to the lawsuit, the former maintenance supervisor said the authority had extensive knowledge about his medical condition, including a heart attack on July 11, 2003.

When he eventually left the job, Greenwood did so “on the advice of his doctor that he was not to go back to this workplace that had a high stress level as those conditions would be very harmful to his health,” Altoona attorney Frederick Gieg Jr. said in the answer.

Gieg said that Greenwood provided consulting services to the Fayette agency. In his consulting work at the agency, “The same stressful environment did not exist,” the lawyer said.

Greenwood had never signed any documents with CamTran agreeing not to do other consulting for other transit systems. The authority should have known through its own supervisors that he had consulting work as a sideline, Gieg said.

Greenwood was employed by CamTran from Nov. 28, 1977, through his retirement Jan. 1.

The authority said he began an extended leave on Feb. 18, 2007, for what was described as a medical condition. He initially used paid leave until June 29, 2007, and then apparently received disability pay until his retirement.