One week since No-Senate-Confirmation-Needed Acting Labor Commissioner Robert Jones threatened me with termination...

Back in 06/2006, Jones offered me a month's salary (07/2006) if I would go away. Not only did I refuse, but the DLSE acted in such a manner that provoked me into filing a preliminary injunction against the DLSE. A judge agreed. They acted; I reacted. Had the DLSE chose a wiser course of action, they would not be where they are today.

Fast forward eight months, and the same players made the same time-wasting offer. They'd pay me for 03/2007 if I would resign, but I didn't attend the court's voluntary settlement conference to discuss my separation of state service. It was incredulous that Mr. Jones was so incompetent to make the same offer he made eight months ago, knowing that his bargaining powers were currently weaker. Mr. Jones wasted the court's time, wasted my time, wasted my lawyer's time, wasted the state's time, he wasted taxpayer money (by flying down to So Cal and not settling), and failed to further the mission of the DLSE.

There's this State Personnel Board case file where they placed a state employee on a 30-day paid suspension for stealing two rolls of paper towels (click here to view a copy of SPB's Precedential Decision) and lying about it. I'm no mathmatics wizard, but two round-trip airline tickets for Mr. Jones and Mr. Almaraz is a helluva lot more costly to the taxpayer than two rolls of paper. What about Jones' fiduciary duty to the taxpayer? Isn't it his responsibililty to keep costs down?

Jones, as Acting Labor Commissioner, will always find a way to mitigate his taxpayer-paid expenditures. He steps inside a DLSE office and looks around, well then-he's inspecting the operational efficiency of that office. By him initially communicating to me that settlement offer of one month's pay, how can he say (without laughing) that he expected me to take it, since I didn't in 06/2006? Did he really think I would accept his offer after he (then) threatened to fire me? Is he so financially negligent (on behalf of his employer) that he would terminate someone who has current First Amendment litigation pending? He made the threat: I didn't. All I asked for was to work and to be free from their harrasment. Jones couldn't live with that, so he threatened me with termination.