Wednesday, June 9, 2010

METRO TIPLINE LEADS TO UNEMPLOYMENT WHEN USED

Yep I know bold statement and I hate to say I told you so. But I did tell you so. Last year STOP I.T. group led by President Ray Pierce, and Operations Manager Paul Holliger, introduced the independent tipline at (502)410-1009. They told everyone that an independent tipline was needed for the sake of integrity.

Last year STOP I.T., Senator Dan Seum, Chris Thieneman, and myself held a press conference offering the Metro employees an alternative to what we knew would happen with the Government run "anonymous" tipline.

Today in the CJ proved just exactly why Whistleblower lawsuit filed against Louisville Metro Government courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal

This story involves Metro employee Eric Garrett.

According to the CJ, Garrett generated work orders for about 1,000 pieces of heating and air-conditioning equipment that were being "neglected," the lawsuit says, adding that he eventually complained directly to Public Works Director Ted Pullen.

In February 2010, Garrett contacted the Louisville Metro Ethics tip-line to report supervisory and financial mismanagement in the department, the lawsuit says.
After making the complaint, Garrett met with officials from the city's departments of Internal Audit and Human Resources. Sidebottom said his client also met with Metro Council member Hal Heiner.


About a week later, Garrett was notified in by a Public Works manager that a complaint had been made against him by another employee of the department. Sidebottom said Garrett was suspended without any further information about the alleged incident.

Yet according to Attorney Shane Sidebottom said the complaint against Garrett was that he was "being mean" to another employee. He said a third employee has testified to Human Resources that Garrett did nothing wrong during the incident, but the suspension has not been rescinded.

Excuse me?

Garrett was suspended without pay for being mean? Hell that can apply to Abramson himself who has a very short temper privately when pushed for answers. Can we suspend him for the same thing?

It was, and is, a pathetic display of harassment for using the tipline and for what it was intended to do. Just one more way to control Metro employees and one more reason for Abramson and cronies to go.

Of course we get the usual from Abramson's overpaid mouthpiece Chris Poynter who says the city "encourages all workers at all levels ... if they see inefficiencies, or things that are illegal or unethical, to report those."

Yep you bet they do. They love nothing better than to see who will try to do something about a bad situation so they can rid themselves of them.

I believe Sidebottom's version much more when he stated "Once Mr. Garrett met with the council member, that's whey he was mysteriously accused of some kind of misconduct."

This is what happens in the real world everyday just about anywhere in the workplace. Metro included.

What will be the costs of this one Jerry? You love wasting our money trying to cover your butt so how much will this cost?

Angry yet folks?

3 comments:

  1. Well it wouldn't have mattered which councilman the guy went to cause none of them have any "Nuts" to do the right thing!....they just mull it over and decide as to how what they do will affect their political career.

    ReplyDelete
  2. While I will agree with you on Council Dimocrats not having a pair, in this instance I believe Garrett did the right thing. Considering this involved HVAC equipment and maintenance issues, speaking with Hal Heiner was probably the best option when all else failed.

    Heiner has an engineering degree and the content would warrant someone able to understand the problems. Being a Mayoral candidate certainly could not hurt either.

    Thanks for writing

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it's all a bunch of crap. The corruption is right in front of everyone's eyes and people are just to blind to see it. It is true that people are too scared to stand up for what is right because of the retaliation that is brought on by the city officials. I think the whole administrative tree needs to be cut down and regrown. If not, then people will be dealing with the same thing over and over again.

    ReplyDelete

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