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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Ind. Gov't. - "Clark County auditor receives notice of tort: Former employee claims she was unfairly fired"

Braden Lammers reported Feb. 11, 2011 in the Clark County News & Tribune:

CLARK COUNTY — A former Clark County auditor’s office employee has filed a notice of a tort claim for being fired when newly elected Auditor R. Monty Snelling took over the position.

Shirley Bell, a long-time county employee, was fired six-and-a-half months before she was set to retire and on the first day Snelling took over the office.

The notice of tort claim alleges Bell was terminated Jan. 3 from her job as clerk for “political retaliation.” Snelling is a Republican and Bell serves on the Jeffersonville Township Board as a Democrat.

Snelling denies Bell’s claim.

“What I [did] had absolutely nothing to do with political motives,” he said. “In fact, I believe everyone I hired are Democrats.” * * *

Bell’s attorney Steve Voelker said the timing of his client’s dismissal raises the question of whether the termination was politically motivated.

“Ms. Bell was fired on the first day Mr. Snelling took office,” he said. “Time raises the inference it was political.”

Voelker added that his client was not given an adequate review before being dismissed and that her performance should have been evaluated for at least six months before a determination on her employment was made.

Snelling claimed that Bell, like all employees, was given a review.

“This office had scathing reviews from the state and I made a promise to the taxpayers to straighten it up,” he said. “And what I’ve done is basically reorganize the office. Job descriptions have changed in here. In fact, the job description that Ms. Bell had is no longer there.” * * *

Because of the lack of review and that Bell was not a policy-making employee, the notice of a tort claim was filed.

“[A person] cannot be fired for political association or affiliation,” Voelker said. “She was a non-confidential, non-policy making employee. She was only a clerk in the auditor’s office.”

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 13, 2011 10:32 AM
Posted to Indiana Government