More on the Metro Parks whistleblower shenanigans? Yes, of course.
Lynn Fleming claims Joey Sears wasn’t speaking to his supervisor when he called in to work. Unfortunately, the guy most certainly was a supervisor:
How the Assistant Director of Human Resources doesn’t know someone is a supervisor, we’ll never know.
And, unfortunately for Fleming, telephone records prove Sears was never required to speak to Geoff Feige, the guy Fleming claims he needed to contact.
Want a look?
All those calls were to and from Tommy Hill.
The records also make it clear that there was an established history of Shawnee employees contacting Hill instead of Feige.
Why would Fleming continue to play this game? Could it be because she didn’t do her job when she was contacted by Sears regarding Mike Heitz drinking and driving in a city-owned vehicle? Could it be because she’s still bitter over Tommy Clark showing up at her office in May 2011 to make sure something was being done about the matter?
In the ongoing drama of Greg Fischer’s Metro Government firing a whistleblower and protecting a drunk driver, the mess gets worse.
Tommy Hill, the guy Sears was required to call as his supervisor, says he didn’t receive a call from Sears on the day that Mike Heitz, Marty Storch, J.T. Conroy, Nancy Ray and Lynn Fleming claim Sears didn’t call into work (July 1, 2011). But he absolutely did:
Before anyone gets fired up, there’s only one instance of Sears speaking with Feige in the three month period he was calling Hill, his acting supervisor:
Interesting how this all works, isn’t it?
Everything Fischer’s folks claim is based in reality regarding the Parks whistleblower gets disproved.
12 responses so far ↓
1 40229 // Apr 23, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Yet Heitz is still employed and the whistle blower is unemployed. its looking like a cover up to me. I can’t wait until the political TV ad’s come election time.
2 readyourcontract // Apr 23, 2012 at 3:08 pm
If an employee has been calling into work using the same phone number for months. management can’t change the rules trying to claim the employee did something wrong. “Past Practices” where the hell was this guys union ?
3 Gil // Apr 23, 2012 at 4:39 pm
His union steward was part of the problem, so it seems
4 wtf // Apr 23, 2012 at 6:53 pm
So what else is going on with management in the parks department?
5 readyourcontract // Apr 23, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Gil I see now that I have read the back story. in the real world this guy would have never been disciplined. I see no reason why they would claim this guy didn’t call his supervisor. looks like he was just doing the same thing he had been doing for months. sounds like this Tommy Hill guy was covering his ass for some reason. after reading the back story his union was part of the problem. if this guy had no prior history of no call no show’s then any respectable union steward would have told management to shove it where the sun don’t shine. this man should have been back to work the next day and paid for the day they sent him home. after reading that his union steward was the son of someone in HR is mind boggling. a total conflict there. as far as Lynne Fleming goes I see she has a history of not doing her job and covering things up. just google the Eric Garrett fiasco Lynne had a hand in that mess. I would surely file a complaint with what ever union he was in.
6 G'town Reader // Apr 23, 2012 at 11:39 pm
Hey, folks, the CHIP has hit the fan…! Stay tuned for spin & job retention at LG&E…
7 Erin // Apr 24, 2012 at 11:01 am
Quietly keeping up on this story. looks like they were looking for a reason to fire Joey Sears. just make up a lie about an employee not calling into work. how would someone from HR not know an employee is a supervisor ?
8 Iknowalittlemorethanyoudo // Apr 24, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Mistakes the union made.
Nick Keen failed to notify anyone that he was going to be on vacation. Union stewards are required to provide notice when they will be on vacation.
Nate Cole was also out of town.as a union steward he is also required to make prior notice that he was unavailable.
both of these men failed to notify anyone and make arrangements to have another steward cover for them while out of town.
Rick Bannister the union business agent made no effort to defend Sears while J.T Conroy made it clear to everyone while shouting and acting unprofessional that he had a personal reason to fire Sears and that Sears should have never been hired
there was no excuse for Mr.Sears to not have a union representative present on July 5th when he was told he didn’t call into work.
being that Nick Keen was on vacation with his mother Nancy Ray there is no doubt that Mike Heitz. Marty Storch and J.T Conroy knew that Nick was unavailable, and considered this a perfect opportunity to say the Sears didn’t call into work. they didn’t take into account that Sears had already been allowed time off by his supervisor and his time card had been marked with vacation time as well as being signed by his supervisor.
on the day that Marty Storch and J.T Conroy made the decision to tell the staff at Seneca golf course that Sears was suspended they didn’t realize that Sears was taking Bereavement leave from July 6-8 because his uncle had passed away on July 3rd in a auto accident. Sears wasn’t even aware if he was suspended because Nate Cole couldn’t get an answer from Nancy Ray due to her being on vacation.
a total botch on the part of the union and a bigger botch on the part of HR. based on the collective bargaining agreement and the evidence Lynne Fleming should have awarded Sears all of his back pay for the week of July5th-8th. there should have also been some disciplinary action on the part of Marty Storch and J.T Conroy for providing proprietary information of an HR matter to non metro employees (the staff at Seneca Golf Course) they had no business knowing any personal information regarding Sears, and in no way should anyone other than HR the union or a supervisor notify a metro employee of their discipline status. in this case it was Cindy Shannon the kitchen manager at Seneca golf course who notified Sears he was suspended from work. (the employee of a private contractor) something that J.T Conroy and Marty Storch had her do.
Its clear that Management was playing games and retaliating against an employee based on personal reasons. Its also clear that as Sears provided the proper evidence to discredit management they began to cover their tracks and stack the deck. 1st saying he was a no call no show on July1st then changing it to 2 no call no shows one on June 30th the other on July1st. then later blowing a minor situation out of proportion that lead to the termination of Sears.
I can go on and on I have seen and heard all the evidence phone records from everyone involved, recorded messages, recorded meetings, written statements, pictures, the contradictory unemployment testimony transcripts from Nancy Ray, Cindy Shannon and Kirk Dolan. its not good !!!!. in my opinion there was a cover up that included a huge lack of competence on the part of Lynne Fleming and the HR dept investigating the complaints that Sears had made and a serious lack of effort on the part of Nancy Ray and Lynne Fleming investigating the alleged incident on July11th. I can only hope that Jake has as much evidence as I have seen. if so it would be best for Storch and Ray to just stop talking and better for the Mayor to step up while he has a chance to get that egg off his face.
9 Eastern85 // Apr 24, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Tommy Hill still making less money than the drinking buddies. I don’t guess the ass kissing is paying off.
10 Cavemouse // Apr 24, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Looks like another payout for a wronged employee coming! How many MORE do we have to pay out before this administration is gone?
11 Staffer // Apr 25, 2012 at 9:14 am
Marty Storch you have made it clear you read the villevoice.
I bet you didn’t know someone leaked to us information that while employed as a park worker at Charlie Vettine Larry Harrod failed to report or call into work on more than one occasion.
nothing was done to him.
Marty why wasn’t anything done ?.
was it because he is related to Rick Johnstone the former deputy Mayor under Abramson
Harrod is also related to Jennifer Maupin the Personnel Coordinator for EMS and daughter of Rick Johnstone.
how many times did you and your staff allow Mr Harrod to get away with violating parks policy before you decided to let him resign due to personal reasons?
Harrod was employed with the parks dept for less than 2 years yet he violated policy several times. not showing up to work on several occasions that were covered up by his supervisor. catching a mower on fire. putting a mower into a lake
I sure hope you don’t write this off as hear say because we have written proof.
12 LMMS // Apr 30, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Bunch of lying bastards. Fischer knew Heitz was a drunk driver. everyone knew it. its not like it was a big secret. Heitz was even a contributor to Fischer’s campaign. Tommy Clark wasn’t just the only one telling him about the BS going on in parks. Just ask Larry Clark. I would love to see an outside audit of the parks dept sometime soon.
Leave a Comment