stevegeddes
New member
Kansas
Good morning. I am writing, not for legal advice but to get your opinion/guidance as to what direction I need to look at for my situation. On October 8th of this year, I was in my mind wrongfully terminated. I have retained an attorney and we are currently negotiating with my former employer but a thought has came up that I wanted to see if you felt had any merit. I will next give a brief background on my situation. I worked for governmental entity, a subdivision of State/Local government, for over 33 years. During my 33 year career, I was never written up, disciplined or suspended due to inefficient or unsatisfactory work performance. On October 8th of this year I was terminated. The reason given was that I had splintered the relationship between the employer and the governing bodies (School Board) due to my unreasonable opposition to a request for a re-audit of the financial records and audits by the School Board. I have retained an attorney to review the above situation as well as wrongful termination due to retaliation. This stems from the fact that my daughter filed a Kansas Human Rights Commission complaint against my employer in early 2018 for failure by the employer to investigate a sexual harassment incident she had reported to them and the employer stated that they blamed me for her filing of the complaint. In fact, one employer Board member stated to me and the City Administrator that I had better get my daughter to drop her KHRC complaint or I would be fired. Additionally, after I was terminated the same employer Board member that made the above comment to myself and the City Administrator, stated to a current employee that he had been wanting to fire me since February when my daughter filed her KHRC complaint but couldn't get 2 other Board members to agree with termination but now he had support. But this is not why I am writing or the area that I would like your opinion/guidance. Since my termination, Ive had adequate time to reflect on the circumstances surrounding it. To make a long story short, I feel that since I was officially terminated due to a splintered relationship between the employer and the governing bodies the School Board, I feel that the Whistleblower Protection Act may be appropriate in my situation. In August of this year, the School Board made a motion to have a 5 year re-audit of our financial records and audits conducted, without reasoning or merit. The day after the School Board meeting that the request was made, I contacted the Executive Director of the Kansas Recreation Park Association, two well respected colleagues in the recreation industry, the City Administrator and our long standing Auditor. All indicated that the School Board did not have the authority or right to request such an audit and ALL recommended seeking legal council. BUT, I did not proceed or seek legal council until DIRECTED TO DO SO BY THE RECREATION COMMISSION BOARD PRESIDENT. Page 2 Why do I feel that the Whistleblower Protection Act could be considered? It states that the law protects whistleblowers who work for the government, that report possible violations of law, rules, regulation or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, etc I contend that 1 the Valley Center School Board and their mandate to their two employer Board representatives violates 1 abuse of authority but more importantly 2 gross waste of funds. In 1, the Attorney that the employer hired to review the State Statues and determine whether the School Board had the legal authority to require their request, discussed his findings with the School Board Attorney. In response to being advised that the School Board DID NOT have the statue authority to require such a request, the School Board attorney stated that this was just the School Board flexing their muscles. Concerning 2, it was pointed out by numerous individuals that the RE-AUDIT of our financial records and audits would come at an astronomical and unnecessary cost to the tax payers I believe that this would satisfy the section in the Whistleblower Protection Act of gross waste of funds since the financial records of the employer have already been audited. Additionally, I believe that the request by the School Board and consideration of said request by the employer Board constitutes gross mismanagement. And finally, contact with an attorney was at the direction of my immediate supervisor so in my opinion I did not splinter the relationship with the School Board, the DIRECTIVE from the employer Board President, to seek legal council did. All I was doing was FOLLOWING A DIRECTIVE by my supervisor. If you feel that I in fact have a legitimate claim to a possible Whistleblower Protection Act violation, please advise.
Good morning. I am writing, not for legal advice but to get your opinion/guidance as to what direction I need to look at for my situation. On October 8th of this year, I was in my mind wrongfully terminated. I have retained an attorney and we are currently negotiating with my former employer but a thought has came up that I wanted to see if you felt had any merit. I will next give a brief background on my situation. I worked for governmental entity, a subdivision of State/Local government, for over 33 years. During my 33 year career, I was never written up, disciplined or suspended due to inefficient or unsatisfactory work performance. On October 8th of this year I was terminated. The reason given was that I had splintered the relationship between the employer and the governing bodies (School Board) due to my unreasonable opposition to a request for a re-audit of the financial records and audits by the School Board. I have retained an attorney to review the above situation as well as wrongful termination due to retaliation. This stems from the fact that my daughter filed a Kansas Human Rights Commission complaint against my employer in early 2018 for failure by the employer to investigate a sexual harassment incident she had reported to them and the employer stated that they blamed me for her filing of the complaint. In fact, one employer Board member stated to me and the City Administrator that I had better get my daughter to drop her KHRC complaint or I would be fired. Additionally, after I was terminated the same employer Board member that made the above comment to myself and the City Administrator, stated to a current employee that he had been wanting to fire me since February when my daughter filed her KHRC complaint but couldn't get 2 other Board members to agree with termination but now he had support. But this is not why I am writing or the area that I would like your opinion/guidance. Since my termination, Ive had adequate time to reflect on the circumstances surrounding it. To make a long story short, I feel that since I was officially terminated due to a splintered relationship between the employer and the governing bodies the School Board, I feel that the Whistleblower Protection Act may be appropriate in my situation. In August of this year, the School Board made a motion to have a 5 year re-audit of our financial records and audits conducted, without reasoning or merit. The day after the School Board meeting that the request was made, I contacted the Executive Director of the Kansas Recreation Park Association, two well respected colleagues in the recreation industry, the City Administrator and our long standing Auditor. All indicated that the School Board did not have the authority or right to request such an audit and ALL recommended seeking legal council. BUT, I did not proceed or seek legal council until DIRECTED TO DO SO BY THE RECREATION COMMISSION BOARD PRESIDENT. Page 2 Why do I feel that the Whistleblower Protection Act could be considered? It states that the law protects whistleblowers who work for the government, that report possible violations of law, rules, regulation or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, etc I contend that 1 the Valley Center School Board and their mandate to their two employer Board representatives violates 1 abuse of authority but more importantly 2 gross waste of funds. In 1, the Attorney that the employer hired to review the State Statues and determine whether the School Board had the legal authority to require their request, discussed his findings with the School Board Attorney. In response to being advised that the School Board DID NOT have the statue authority to require such a request, the School Board attorney stated that this was just the School Board flexing their muscles. Concerning 2, it was pointed out by numerous individuals that the RE-AUDIT of our financial records and audits would come at an astronomical and unnecessary cost to the tax payers I believe that this would satisfy the section in the Whistleblower Protection Act of gross waste of funds since the financial records of the employer have already been audited. Additionally, I believe that the request by the School Board and consideration of said request by the employer Board constitutes gross mismanagement. And finally, contact with an attorney was at the direction of my immediate supervisor so in my opinion I did not splinter the relationship with the School Board, the DIRECTIVE from the employer Board President, to seek legal council did. All I was doing was FOLLOWING A DIRECTIVE by my supervisor. If you feel that I in fact have a legitimate claim to a possible Whistleblower Protection Act violation, please advise.
