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City Service Commission upholds discharge of Equal Rights specialist Omar Barbarena
Summary
After hearing months of browsing logs and witness testimony, the City Service Commission found cause and denied Omar Barbarena’s appeal of his Jan. 21 dismissal, citing evidence that more than 28,000 nonwork URLs were accessed on a city-issued device.
The City Service Commission on March 13 upheld the Jan. 21, 2026 discharge of Omar Barbarena, an equal rights specialist, finding that the department had proven cause for discipline.
Mary Reid, temporary systems analyst senior for the City of Milwaukee, told commissioners the department’s review of IT records showed “more than 28,000 non work related personal Internet browsing URLs” on Barbarena’s city-issued device and presented a sample week in December showing roughly 35 of 40 work hours spent on personal browsing. Roberto Sarita, information services manager in the city’s ITMD, confirmed the URL lists were derived from the appellant’s work device.
The commission’…
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