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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Was Courthouse Canning Retaliatory?

Yesterday, I told you that two Register of Wills employees have been fired on what certainly appear to be trumped up charges. They used courthouse computers to gossip with each other about other workers They also had some graphic exchanges with former boyfriends. If this is a basis for firing someone, 99% of the courthouse staff better start cleaning out their desks. Everything about this Thursday Termination, from the supposed two-year investigation to its timing, smells like a big, fat bullshit burger.

It now appears that the firing may very well have been retaliatory. Director of Court Services Archie D'Isidore had a secretary who left for another department. But he was bringing her back after hours to work overtime, while keeping that work from everyone else.

The Deleted Duo somehow discovered what was happening, complained, and the practice was stopped. And now, they're both out of a job.

In fairness to Archie, I need to point out that he is unable to discuss personnel matters. So I have not approached him. It's kinda' shitty to write about this without getting his side of the story. But I don't feel too bad because he still has a job, unlike the two people he fired.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did he get a replacementsecretary? If so why wasn't that person getting the OT

Bernie O'Hare said...

He did. But as I understand it, he brought his old secretary back after hiurs to do work that would be done by others. It was not his secretarial work. I stressvthat i do not have his side of the story, but this is what i have learned from several other sources.

Anonymous said...

BO,

U r my hero.

you have captured on film a gracedale union goon eating the food intended for at least 12 old folk. Please continue with this type of hidden camara investigation

Anonymous said...

I don't fget it. There are courthouse emlpoees who have and had in the past, full on bang bang with Administrators and they don't get canned. In fact, some get promoted. So what is the big dealwith the emails.

Anonymous said...

This does sound like unfair firing
But who would allow the supervisor to "bring back" another worker from another department to work "after hours." The very term "after hours" has a mixture of meanings and most are not attractive. Who paid this secretary for her after hours efforts? Whose computer did she use? Where did she store the files? How would the supervisor have handled a "Right to Know" request if he didn't even have his own staff doing the work in the first place?

Anonymous said...

They used company computers for personal biz, some of which was tawdry. I've fired employees for less. Can't some people just work for eight friggin hours? Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

Archie has knowingly violated County Rules and Union Agreements (Not to mention possible violations of privacy). There are laws that protect the County and then there are laws that protect the privacy of an employees. You must have just cause to invade the privacy of an individual (even if it is on a company computer). You may not go on a witch hunt. This guy Archie sounds like a nut job with too much time on his hands. After these employees get their jobs back its time to take a look at what this guy does eight hours a day. An outside audit of his job should be ordered by County Council and the report given to them for their perusal. Let's see which County Council person has the backbone to do domething about this matteer. Knowing how detailed you are on your reporting, I tend to believe you're on the right track. What a shame COuncil won't intervene and stop this debacle and miscariage of justice.

Anonymous said...

8:11
.....Before anyone says anything, I realize that some words are mispelled. crazy computer errors with some keys sticking today. OOPs. I'm not a former County employee.

Anonymous said...

Ironic that you are the champion of the publicly funded worker after you got red-faced and indignant over "summer hours."

You are a piece of work, that's certain.

Anonymous said...

Like Bernie said Mr. 7:00 AM,

If that were the case everyone in the county and elsewhere would be fired, including you..Oh, I'm sure, you never, ever, used a work computer for personal business..Give me a break. If so, did they receive warnings first, then a reprimand, then a suspension, and then the dismissal. Doesn't sound like it..This is a reason unions are needed..Period!

Anonymous said...

"They also had some graphic exchanges with former boyfriends."

That is enough to fire someone anywhere in the real world.

What's worse, look at what's coming straight from the horse's mouth:

"...full on bang bang with Administrators and they don't get canned. In fact, some get promoted. So what is the big dealwith the emails."

What's the big deal? Your post is just more evidence of what I, and anyone else with any sense, have been saying forever:

The whole goddamn place, administrators and rank-and-file alike, is a cesspool of waste and incompetence. A shelter for people who just couldn't cut it anywhere else.

-Clem

Bernie O'Hare said...

6:20, I do not mean to suggest anything inappropriate was going on, other than possible favoritism.

Bernie O'Hare said...

^:20, This person was being paid by the County.

Bernie O'Hare said...

8:49, Let me get this straight. Because I spoke out against the supposed Summer Hours, it necessarily follows that I favor unfair and retaliatory firings of public sector employees? That makes no sense, and sounds like the rants of someone who just took her drug cocktail.

I don't like it when people get screwed.

In the case of the supposed Summer hours, we all get screwed. In the case of these two workers, I think the firing was an over-reaction and possibly retaliatory. It is unfair. When a lynch mob, led by McClure, wanted to sting up an unpopular HR Director and have her fired, I thought that was unfair.

Bernie O'Hare said...

". An outside audit of his job should be ordered by County Council and the report given to them for their perusal. Let's see which County Council person has the backbone to do domething about this matteer. Knowing how detailed you are on your reporting, I tend to believe you're on the right track. What a shame COuncil won't intervene and stop this debacle and miscariage of justice."

A few points.

1) I do not favor witch hunts, whether it is a county clerk or cabinet member. I detest the lynch mob mentality.

2) The firing happened on Thursday, and Council does not even meet until this Thursday. So I do not see how Council can be tagged.

3) Council is hamstrung bc this is a personnel issue involving a union employee. There is little they can do without setting the county up for an unfair labor practice.

Anonymous said...

I love the attitude of 8:57. It's telling. He or she assumes 7:00 is another county goldbrick (like they're even awake at 7:00). I my own business and had already been working for an hour. I'll be at it until 6:00.

"Everybody does it" is why the honest and hard working hate government workers. If you're not working on your boss's time, you are stealing. You are a thief. Period.

Bernie O'Hare said...

There is no doubt in my mind that the practice is wrong if it is done too often. But email and the Internet are now facts of life. And just like personal phone calls from work, there are times when single mothers or fathers may need to make calls or send emails, even on company time. I see no reason why these workers should be treated like grade school children.

Now if someone abuses email or the internet, by all means impose some discipline. But don't fire them. That's an over-reaction. It's like imposing the electric chair for littering. It's unreasonable.

And in this case, on top of the draconian sanction, i question the real motives. is it really an attempt to stop the abuse? If so, why no sanctions against others? Or is it possibly a retaliatory measure against two workers who complained about their boss?

I have no dog in this hunt. My interest is what is best for the county. It seems to me that the best interests of the county are ill-served by unnecessarily harsh measures like this.

By the way, thanks for taking a break from your busy day to stop by and comment on this matter instead of working. It must have been really hard. Maybe you should fire yourself.

Anonymous said...

Bernie you are succombing to rumors and gossip which are rampant in the NC courthouse. Some employees there are miserable and have too much time on their hands. They whine to you in the cafeteria and when you pass them in the halls. You realize that management is handcuffed in presenting their side of the issue so you just flail away with rabbit punches. If Stoffa confided in you about this personnel matter then he is a sap for trusting you. Your hatred for Disadore, cultivated by your mancrush Angle, has blinded you on this story.


Anonymous said...

Since both these employees belong to a union, it is suprising that the union did not file an action against the County for allowing someone from a different department to perform their work. Sounds like a very winnable grievance. But when one of your own engage in this practice almost every day, maybe they don't want their "cash cow" uncovered. One only needs to look at a clerk in the sheriff's department and the incredible amount of overtime money earned for doing the work for other departments that those in the departments could perform themselves. Sounds like the same problem these two women were exposing. If audits are done, one should include this issue. Hopefully these girls get their jobs back soon!!

Mark Baker said...

anon 6:50,

Just shows you how useless public union leaders are . They have thiers - why should they worry about others. Must be dems

Bernie O'Hare said...

4:18, I do not succumb to employees who whine in the cafeteria or anywhere else. When a group of them formed a lynch mob to get the Director of Human Resources, I stood up for her. I stood against a group of deputies who were prancing into Council to complain about OT for football games, of all things. I stood against judges when they thought they were courthouse engineers and architects. I stood against anther lynch mob, this one from Gracedale, when they vilified me and everyone else who supported the sale of the nursing home. And now, I am standing up for two workers who are being fired over bullshit by an administrator whose motives are suspect. And contrary to your assertion, I never backed Ron when he went after D'Isidore in the past. Until this incident, I had nothing but good things to say about him.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Since both these employees belong to a union, it is suprising that the union did not file an action against the County for allowing someone from a different department to perform their work. Sounds like a very winnable grievance."

I believe a grievance has been filed on this point.

Anonymous said...

AFSCME needs to find out why one of our own is continually taking work away from fellow members. Our members in the district attorney's office should be offered the work the shereiff clerk does at the tune of about $10,000 in overtime per year. Must be nice to write your own overtime.

Anonymous said...

When Callahan takes over the hall walkers will be gone, the OT will be cut and the union crybabies will actually have something to cry about as they sit on their worthless butts and watch helplessly as their bs benies are striped from them.

Callahan will come in swinging with an axe in each hand in hand. I and many other citizens will celebrate the blood letting.

Bernie O'Hare said...

The above comment was posted by one of McMud McClure's hacks to scare everyone.

Jackie Rossnage said...

For all of you who don't know me...My name is Jackie and I am one of the girls who out of the blue got taken up to HR to get fired. When just two weeks prior I was told to keep my ideas fresh for the new boss to come in. I might not have been the best employee over the years but I took pride in my job. Anyone can say that it is wrong or have your own thoughts on the matter. The fact of the matter is I worked hard for 12 years in the county. I knew my job and did it well. So all of you who think of me as any less of a person because of stupid emails you don't know me or my children. I gave my all working in the Orphans' Court all those years and it might of been my own fault for getting fired but there is more too it then meets the eye. I am not going to let some of your comments bring me down because I can still hold my head high and proud for what I did in that office and for the public. That was my job to serve the public and I did. I would try and help people to the best of my ability sometimes a little more then I should have but it was my self gradification to know that I possibly made a diffence in someones lives. Thanks Bernie for trying to make a little bit of difference for us. I don't know you that well just to say hi and if you ever needed help in my old office.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I am not surprised to hear this at all. The County is as crooked as can be. They know how to clean themselves up very good. The big shots can do whatever they please and leave the little man to struggle. They don't care if they fire you and leave your family to suffer. Like you said, Mr. Disadore still has a job. He doesn't care what happened to those two employees. They will get what is coming to them. Boy do I have a story for you Mr. O'Hare if you are interested. I am in the process of filing a law suit against the county myself.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Interested. Since you are filing suit, please tell me your story.