Contending that an allegedly punitive reassignment to the night shift in 2000 led to a sharp decline in his son’s already precarious health, former Daily News reporter Kevin Haney is suing the paper’s parent company, Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., over “willful violation” of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Haney contends that his then-14-year-old son -- who suffers from a "rare and life-threatening ... malformation of the brain" and Tourette's syndrome, according to the complaint filed last week in federal court -- experienced "additional emotional problems including delusions" after Haney was taken off the education beat and assigned to work nights in June 2000. The reassignment, the suit says, came a few weeks after a "minor dispute about office files" with managing editor Ellen Foley.

PNI in-house counsel Katherine Hatton relayed the following comment: "PNI is committed to treating its employees fairly and its policy of equitable treatment was followed by the Daily News in this case. In addition to receiving the benefits of the Family and Medical Leave Act, Mr. Haney benefited from the more generous provisions of the contract between the company and the Newspaper Guild."

Haney claims that at the time he was informed of the schedule change, and on various other occasions over the following months, he asked for consideration of his family situation, because he was needed at home at nights to care for his son. But the suit alleges he was repeatedly denied either a return to day work or a chance to use leave time intermittently -- even after Haney's son's doctor asserted in a July 2000 letter to Daily News management that the lack of contact between Haney and his son in the evening was exacerbating the boy's mental condition. The letter followed his hospitalization for "symptoms of psychosis and delusions," according to the lawsuit.

In an interview, Haney says that working nights greatly reduced his ability to help get his son ready for school in the morning, and to spend meaningful amounts of time with him during the five-day workweek.

The suit states that in September 2000, prior to submitting another, more detailed letter from his son's doctor, Haney "had a loud emotional interaction" with a supervisor -- the result of "additional pressures put on [Haney] and his family due to the change of shift" -- and was placed on involuntary medical leave.

In August 2001, while still on involuntary medical leave, Haney was placed on Family and Medical Leave. "There was no explanation," the suit states, "concerning why [PNI] acted on [Haney's] requests over one year after it was requested."

Then in December, Haney was "unlawfully terminated," the suit states, "based on false assertions. ..." Those assertions are related to Haney's "request for reasonable accommodation," says his attorney, Patrick McHugh, and are spelled out in a complaint already filed with the state Human Relations Commission -- a necessary first step before suing PNI for wrongful termination, McHugh says.

The suit does not describe the "dispute [with Foley] about office files" that Haney alleges led to his reassignment. In an interview, Haney says he returned to the office one day in May 2000 to find that the custodial staff had moved files from his desk in an effort to find the source of an odor -- which turned out to be a bagged lunch that had fallen behind his desk and rotted over the weekend. Haney says Foley asked him to move the files or put them back where they belonged -- he says he was never entirely clear on what she wanted -- and when he noted that he had a deadline to meet, she accused him of insubordination and told him to come to her office. He insisted that a union rep be present, and, according to the suit, "Foley reacted with anger and animosity ... which thereafter never abated."

Haney says he's currently freelancing and job hunting. His son's condition -- a vascular disorder that causes blood vessels in his brain to grow wildly out of control -- has required three surgeries since January 2001.