A little perseverance was all Andrew Fidone needed.

The Elmhurst man returned Monday to a job in the food service program at York Community High School after ARAMARK officials decided to waive a portion of its contract with Elmhurst Community Unit District 205 that barred the district from hiring Fidone.

Fidone believes ARAMARK officials waived their rule due to discussions with his lawyer and press coverage of his circumstances.

“They came to realize I wasn’t going to give up on it, and my attorney made it clear I wasn’t going to go away quietly,” he said.

ARAMARK officials would not comment on exactly why they allowed Fidone to return to District 205.

“Due to unique circumstances, we were able to amicably resolve the situation,” said Karen Cutler, ARAMARK’s director of communications. “We are happy that Mr. Fidone will be able to continue his employment with the district.”

Fidone felt the Philadelphia-based food and hospitality giant was violating his employee rights by preventing him from taking a position at York after ARAMARK lost its contract with the district in the spring.

In April, District 205 officials decided to bring the district’s hot-lunch program in-house. ARAMARK had provided school lunches for the last two-and-a-half years, but school officials thought an in-house program would offer better food and solve issues the district had with ARAMARK.

Fidone began working for ARAMARK about two years ago so his schedule would mirror that of his 13-year-old son, William, who attends District 205 and suffers from Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a developmental disorder similar to Down syndrome.

When the district parted with ARAMARK, Fidone assumed he could continue working at York as a district employee. In fact, the district sent a letter offering him a job.

But district officials later had to retract the offer because of a clause in its agreement with ARAMARK prohibiting them for at least 12 months from hiring employees who had worked in supervisory positions. Requesting that clients refrain for a period of time from hiring certain ARAMARK employees if their contract ends is a fairly standard procedure, said Cutler.

Fidone has argued he was never given a supervisory title and ARAMARK should have negated that part of the contract from early on.

“It should have been that simple all along, but I guess all’s well that ends well,” he said.
Fidone now will be given the title of food service supervisor at York, said Pat Masterton, assistant superintendent for finance.

ARAMARK officials did not inform the district of why they released Fidone, she said.

“I think they just figured that it wasn’t worth having a fight over it,” said Masterton. “After all, they didn’t have a job for him. I think that’s really where it came from.”