• 25
  • October
    2011

Politics seem to permeate everything. From your child's high school hockey team to the way professional decisions are made. In this day and age, it seems like you cannot avoid the problem. Even "private" businesses are often swayed by political decisions when they are given tax breaks or other benefits from the city. When the politics affect your ability to earn an income, there is some legal recourse.

The former vice president of a savings and investment bank in California filed a wrongful termination lawsuit this past week in the Riverdale California Superior Court after being fired shortly after requesting city payroll disclosure.

According to the lawsuit, the former vice president requested a disclosure of the salaries that city officials were being paid out of taxpayer funds. He made his request at an Aug. 4 City Council meeting. After the request was denied, the employee made a Facebook comment about the pension being paid to the city manager.

The city manager's response was to email the bank's CEO to say that "[the employee] must understand that such public discourse comes at a price. As a representative of First Foundation Bank, [the employee] will be held accountable for his comments now and into the future." The CEO asked the employee to refrain from making any more requests and to "tread carefully" because the bank was amidst serious acquisition negotiations.

After the employee ignored the request to stop, continued his pursuit and complained to other city council members about the refusal to disclose the information, the city manager sent an email to the employee himself. The email accused the employee of being untrustworthy and told him there were consequences for involving himself in politics. One day later, the employee was fired.

The bank claimed that the termination was due to a "failure to meet certain unspecified goals." The employee said that "the real reason for the termination was to curry favor with the powerful local officials."

Source: Business Insurance, "Former bank vp alleges wrongful termination after he requested city payroll disclosure," Matt Dunning, Oct. 24, 2011