SAN FERNANDO : Worker Rejects Suit Despite Hearing Loss

In these litigious times, where workers’ compensation claims and high-stakes personal injury lawsuits are sometimes more brutal than the injuries themselves, 61-year-old William Van Aalst is an anomaly.

A 15-year employee of the city of San Fernando, Van Aalst suffered severe hearing loss after driving a rumbling diesel street sweeper from 4 a.m. to noon for five years. Instead of filing a workers’ compensation claim or seeking to sue over his injuries, the Glendale native had one request of the San Fernando City Council: help him buy a hearing aid.

Rejecting an initial proposal to have Van Aalst pay back the city at the rate of $20 a month, the council voted two weeks ago to pay for the $1,590 device in full. For Van Aalst, that’s the end of the story.

“You can’t always be sue-happy,” he said. “Suing people is not always the correct way to take care of things. Sooner or later it gets back to you. You’re going to have to pay the bills.”

Van Aalst still works for the city, now as a back-flow technician, making sure water users comply with federal and state laws that prohibit water from flowing back into the water delivery system. He switched jobs about 1 1/2 years ago, when the city hired a private company to sweep the streets.

Christine Lissik, personnel director for the city, said that without the hearing aid Van Aalst would not have been able to keep his job.

Van Aalst, who lives with his wife, Lily, in Sylmar, said he has no desire to seek restitution or even assign blame for his hearing loss. He said he is not even fully convinced that his street-sweeping job caused the injury to his hearing.

“This was a personal matter and I’m happy with the outcome,” he said. “I have no intention of going any further than that.”

Councilman Doude Wysbeek, who spoke against the initial proposal to have Van Aalst pay the city back, said the purchase of the hearing aid was a good investment in an employee who has been loyal to the city for many years.

“I think I would have done that for any long-term employee,” Doude said. “We’re a little city. We’re like a family.”