Lassen County Worker Reinstated

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

An employee for the Lassen County Child Support Department was terminated from her employment in August 2009. The Union, on behalf of the employee, filed an appeal with the State Personnel Board immediately after the termination.The Union contended that the termination was discriminatory in nature, unnecessarily punitive rather than corrective in nature, and the County failed to adequately consider reasonable alternatives to termination. Dave Ritchie and Mike Lyon attended a Pre-Hearing/Settlement Conference Hearing in Oakland, California with the employee and representatives from Lassen County. Judge Regina J. Brown facilitated the conference in which Mr. Ritchie successfully convinced the County to allow the employee to return to work under a last chance agreement. The employee waived any back pay and agreed to the terms that Mr. Ritchie and County Counsel laid out. 

Even though the Union was successful in getting the employee’s job back prior to implementing the agreement a change occurred in the employee’s family life. The employee has now resigned from her employment prior to taking her job back and the County has removed the termination documents from her personnel file. The employee and her family will possibly be moving from the County.