Wrongful termination after turning in child molester.

[04fivefour]

Hello everybody, Just trying to get a feel on some opinions if I may have a case or not. Please read and offer any opinions thank you.

I worked at a dealer for almost 3 years and one day a co-worker who I was at the time friends with, confessed to me that he molested his 13 year old adopted daughter, he was 43 at the time. I turned him in with the help of my California Highway Patrol relatives and he got his kids taken away immediately by CPS. As you can imagine this made my work environment very hostile, I did as I was told by the state and kept my head down and mouth shut and let them do their job. Once the trial came up I was supposed to testify against him, along with a school counselor, and a sheriff who his daughter confessed to, also a local PD dispatcher was to testify against him. It was an open and shut case, the judge told him he had zero defense and it was clear he was guilty, if it went to trial he would certainly lose. He lost his kids and took some sort of a settlement.

Additionally he had the service manager, service foreman, and another technician on his defensive witness list for the trial.When he lost the case my work environment immediately went south and I felt as if I had a target on my back.One week after the case I was written up for "work related reasons". Shortly after that I got hurt and went on disability for 7 weeks and was not at work.When I returned they wrote me up a week later for "work related reasons". Less than a month later, the child molester quit and two days later they fired me for more "work related reasons". My ex co-worker who quit told everybody that I fabricated the whole story and he was proven wrong and the management immediately started articulating ways to get rid of me even though he lost his case and his kids, and everything I said was proven to be the truth.I think the management was very angry that they "lost" especially against an employee. I believe I really got screwed over by this dealer and would like to know if I have a case. I still have all my write ups, subpoena's and all the other paperwork. Please let me know if you need more info. Thank you.

I should also add that I never got in any disciplinary issues with the company and even received a couple raises and good reviews before all this went down. Once the shit hit the fan I was the bad guy even though I never told anybody about it or even tried to cause any problems, I do not believe I was the victim here, the girl was. I just believe I really got screwed and want to know what to do about it. i have emailed a couple attorneys and waiting on their call back.

 

[thepizz]

I think not working there anymore is better for you anyway. Why would you want to be surrounded by people who stand by a child molestor? Consider yourself lucky to not be in their presence.

Btw, you did a good thing and should be happy with your decision to get that scumbag put away. Just start spreading the word and contact an internet child advocacy site that this dealership supports pedophiles.

 

[1QUICK10TH]

I would go talk to an attorney. It's going to be a tough battle either way, your probably better off just washing your hands and holding your head high knowing you did the right thing

 

[Devious_Snake]

I think not working there anymore is better for you anyway. Why would you want to be surrounded by people who stand by a child molestor? Consider yourself lucky to not be in their presence.

Btw, you did a good thing and should be happy with your decision to get that scumbag put away. Just start spreading the word and contact an internet child advocacy site that this dealership supports pedophiles.

yea please let us know what dealership this was and more than likely the guy is now labeled a sexual offender/ or predator for the rest of his days

I would go talk to an attorney. It's going to be a tough battle either way, your probably better off just washing your hands and holding your head high knowing you did the right thing

absolutely. Consulting an attorney wont hurt, you might have something if you want to get money out of it. However, I think spreading this story on the internet is far better to get them back and I also commend you for doing your part as a citizen and turning the scumbag in. Take solace in that and just live your life without them, they lost you not the other way around :beer:

 

[04fivefour]

I think not working there anymore is better for you anyway. Why would you want to be surrounded by people who stand by a child molestor? Consider yourself lucky to not be in their presence.

Btw, you did a good thing and should be happy with your decision to get that scumbag put away. Just start spreading the word and contact an internet child advocacy site that this dealership supports pedophiles.

Well it wasn't like I enjoyed working there after all this, I was just kind of "stuck" because their are not a lot of dealer jobs available in the area and I liked being with "Brand X" as I have a lot of experience with that make.They really cut my hours and the quality of high hour or good jobs (flat rate) once it all started going down, they tried to starve me out so I would quit and it didn't work. I knew if push came to shove I most likely had a god case and could collect unemployment if I had to.

I would go talk to an attorney. It's going to be a tough battle either way, your probably better off just washing your hands and holding your head high knowing you did the right thing

Yes sir that is what I have been telling myself and I am not one to be very "sue happy" or want anything for free so I was trying to just do the right thing and make my peace with it. It is just so hard for me to accept that I got screwed out of a good job and have a termination on my record. The State advised me that they would back me up if this happened so that is good.

yea please let us know what dealership this was and more than likely the guy is now labeled a sexual offender/ or predator for the rest of his days



absolutely. Consulting an attorney wont hurt, you might have something if you want to get money out of it. However, I think spreading this story on the internet is far better to get them back and I also commend you for doing your part as a citizen and turning the scumbag in. Take solace in that and just live your life without them, they lost you not the other way around :beer:

I am not ready to disclose the dealer until I talk to a lawer, once I do and they advise me on what i can and can't talk about I will be more than happy to make this dealer known throughout the community if it is ok with them. I just don't want anybody to have any ammo against me yet.

I seriously had such a hard time turning him in, I try to stay out of things and people's business, but I was the only person who knew and felt I had to do something, so I confided in my relatives who are all LEO's and they helped me out alot.

 

[Explosive]

I've worked at a couple dealerships. I worked in service as it sounds like you did. Overall dealerships suck to work at, most people have no idea. Can I ask what your "work related issues" they wrote you up for were ? I had a similar issue with a couple write ups at my last place. Did you sign an employee handbook ? I know they made us sign one that stated they could fire us for any or no reason at any time. Just asking because it seems dealers often have a good bit of pull with local stuff and would shock you what they can do.

Owners of my last place got a guy out of his 3rd DUI in like 7 years. He did like 30 days got out and the owner "took the judge to lunch" and he got off with damn near no punishment. Later the dude was asking us to sign his AA meeting sheets. He'll be busted again when he's off probo for sure.

 

[Planter]

Hello everybody, Just trying to get a feel on some opinions if I may have a case or not. Please read and offer any opinions thank you.

I worked at a dealer for almost 3 years and one day a co-worker who I was at the time friends with, confessed to me that he molested his 13 year old adopted daughter, he was 43 at the time. I turned him in with the help of my California Highway Patrol relatives and he got his kids taken away immediately by CPS. As you can imagine this made my work environment very hostile, I did as I was told by the state and kept my head down and mouth shut and let them do their job. Once the trial came up I was supposed to testify against him, along with a school counselor, and a sheriff who his daughter confessed to, also a local PD dispatcher was to testify against him. It was an open and shut case, the judge told him he had zero defense and it was clear he was guilty, if it went to trial he would certainly lose. He lost his kids and took some sort of a settlement.

Additionally he had the service manager, service foreman, and another technician on his defensive witness list for the trial.When he lost the case my work environment immediately went south and I felt as if I had a target on my back.One week after the case I was written up for "work related reasons". Shortly after that I got hurt and went on disability for 7 weeks and was not at work.When I returned they wrote me up a week later for "work related reasons". Less than a month later, the child molester quit and two days later they fired me for more "work related reasons". My ex co-worker who quit told everybody that I fabricated the whole story and he was proven wrong and the management immediately started articulating ways to get rid of me even though he lost his case and his kids, and everything I said was proven to be the truth.I think the management was very angry that they "lost" especially against an employee. I believe I really got screwed over by this dealer and would like to know if I have a case. I still have all my write ups, subpoena's and all the other paperwork. Please let me know if you need more info. Thank you.

I should also add that I never got in any disciplinary issues with the company and even received a couple raises and good reviews before all this went down. Once the shit hit the fan I was the bad guy even though I never told anybody about it or even tried to cause any problems, I do not believe I was the victim here, the girl was. I just believe I really got screwed and want to know what to do about it. i have emailed a couple attorneys and waiting on their call back.

sounds like you certainly have a case, but it's going to be hard to prove it.

i would think something like this falls under the Whistleblowers Protection Act, but I don't see anything on their website that states as such, so it would be a better question for an attorney to answer.

Compliance Assistance By Law - Whistleblower Protections

my 2 cents, find another job as quickly as possible and move on, and next time mind your own business and worry about you. this is why i separate work and my private life.

you can't trust people at work, and it can cost you in more ways than one. the people at my work, they are co-workers and nothing more. not friends, not phone buddies, not go to the bar and grab a few drinks, don't invite them over to my house, and I don't get involved in their personal business. they don't have my phone number, I don't have theirs.

I have enough friends I trust, don't need any from work. that's why there's so much damn office gossip and drama all over the nation, everyone's up in everyone else's shit all the time. that's how affairs start, people get hurt emotionally, and then next thing you know, someone flies off the cuckoo's nest and starts shooting people.

 

[04fivefour]

I've worked at a couple dealerships. I worked in service as it sounds like you did. Overall dealerships suck to work at, most people have no idea. Can I ask what your "work related issues" they wrote you up for were ? I had a similar issue with a couple write ups at my last place. Did you sign an employee handbook ? I know they made us sign one that stated they could fire us for any or no reason at any time. Just asking because it seems dealers often have a good bit of pull with local stuff and would shock you what they can do.

Owners of my last place got a guy out of his 3rd DUI in like 7 years. He did like 30 days got out and the owner "took the judge to lunch" and he got off with damn near no punishment. Later the dude was asking us to sign his AA meeting sheets. He'll be busted again when he's off probo for sure.

The first write up which was exactly 7 days after the trial, was for "poor work quality" and they said I damaged a hood on a new unit. Sure, exactly a week after the trial and you bastards say I "damaged" a hood on a vehicle from a month ago that I can't even remember. Even worse if they knew about it the whole time why did they wait to write me up till after the trial? Because they were all pissed off at me cause their co-worker and friend lost and is now a known child molester and they wanted to get a jab in on me. Why wait to write me up for something from weeks ago and not ever say anything?

The second write up which again, was for "poor work quality" was after I came back from disability right after the trial (I was hurt about 2 weeks after the trial and off for 7 weeks). They said they had a bunch of customers come back from my repairs before I went on disability and the shop foreman found "poor work quality". Well I couldn't really defend myself since the customers were long gone and all the comebacks seemed "fabricated", especially since the shop foreman and service manager were close friends with the guy who lost his case, (not to mention on his defensive witness list) and the foreman oversees, and has the right to judge any and all the comebacks if they are the techs fault or not. Funny how the shop foreman and all his close tech friends that work there have zero comebacks and no issues,and they get away with everything.

Well a week later no shit he called me in his office and said that a car came back that day with a oil leak from an oil pan reseal that I did. I asked to see it and he said it was fixed and gone. Whenever something like that comes in they always show us so we can see it first hand, every time . So I asked who said it was leaking and it was the guy I turned in and just lost his kids and the foreman agreed it was leaking. I asked my boss if that seemed fishy or out of the ordinary and he blew me off, I told him I knew what he was up to and it was clear they were trying to get rid of me. I said why didn't you let me see it, and he didn't have an answer.I didn't not find out till later that day that the child molester guy put in his two weeks notice two days before they fired me. I am 100% the 2nd and final write up was all fabricated, and setup especially cause the ones responsible for me being fired are the three guys who were to be testifying against me and lost.

The place is such a joke, the service managers son in law worked there for a long time with no experience and used to damage cars on a daily basis, I saw him break a windshield once cause he was pissed off and he didn't get written up. He would forget to torque wheels, leave oil drain bolts off, scratch interior/exterior parts, have lots of comebacks, even get caught taking customers cars to lunch all the time, and blah blah blah and never receive any write ups or disciplinary actions.Well one day the cheated on the bosses daughter (who he was married to) and they got divorced. All of a sudden after the divorce went down and finalized and the former son in law was let go. Weird.

 

[Explosive]

Sounds like typical dealership BS. As shitty as management treated us at both dealerships I worked come backs were never handled that way. Usually kept on the DL and it almost always goes back to the tech that fugged up so he can see and handle it himself. You may have damaged the first vehicle. I've also seen shit where something happens, manager says eh whatever. Yet then later down the road when he wants to get shitty with you they will suddenly start listing of this and that. I don't doubt they were trying to can you. Neither of the write ups sound very solid, just a reason to get it on paper so they could nail your ass. I've been down that road and it ultimately led to me quitting my last place.


EDIT: also, always seems the BS write ups come from nowhere and the service manager never lets you get a word in on any of it, no ifs ands or buts.

 

[04fivefour]

sounds like you certainly have a case, but it's going to be hard to prove it.

i would think something like this falls under the Whistleblowers Protection Act, but I don't see anything on their website that states as such, so it would be a better question for an attorney to answer.

Compliance Assistance By Law - Whistleblower Protections

my 2 cents, find another job as quickly as possible and move on, and next time mind your own business and worry about you. this is why i separate work and my private life.

you can't trust people at work, and it can cost you in more ways than one. the people at my work, they are co-workers and nothing more. not friends, not phone buddies, not go to the bar and grab a few drinks, don't invite them over to my house, and I don't get involved in their personal business. they don't have my phone number, I don't have theirs.

I have enough friends I trust, don't need any from work. that's why there's so much damn office gossip and drama all over the nation, everyone's up in everyone else's shit all the time. that's how affairs start, people get hurt emotionally, and then next thing you know, someone flies off the cuckoo's nest and starts shooting people.

Yes sir I agree, everybody there always thought I was arrogant or something because I never went to company party's, never did company bowling tournaments, and never even hung around for company lunchtime bbq's or pot lucks.People would want to hang out all the time and I always declined. They all thought I was an asshole because I didn't wanna be part of their world. But I did receive good reviews and a couple raises before everything started going south. I also consistently was one of the highest hours producers and most efficient in the shop at around 130-160% every month. Mainly because I didn't stand around and bullshit with everybody and I would take anything they gave me and get it done on time.

 

[04fivefour]

Sounds like typical dealership BS. As shitty as management treated us at both dealerships I worked come backs were never handled that way. Usually kept on the DL and it almost always goes back to the tech that fugged up so he can see and handle it himself. You may have damaged the first vehicle. I've also seen shit where something happens, manager says eh whatever. Yet then later down the road when he wants to get shitty with you they will suddenly start listing of this and that. I don't doubt they were trying to can you. Neither of the write ups sound very solid, just a reason to get it on paper so they could nail your ass. I've been down that road and it ultimately led to me quitting my last place.


EDIT: also, always seems the BS write ups come from nowhere and the service manager never lets you get a word in on any of it, no ifs ands or buts.

Yeah I take responsibility for the first write up. Just seems the timing was way off and the were waiting to throw "anything" at me. If it had been one of the more popular guys who were tight with management and the foreman they would have let it go for sure. As for the BS write ups part I agree completely.

One thing I did that was smart is that I kept all my flag sheets that show the date, and all my hours. I wrote down every time I was standing around and they didn't give me work, which happened a lot after the trial because the dispatcher was that guys homeboy and he gave me as little work as possible. It directly reflects how they tried starving me out and how much work they stopped giving me.

The state attorney from the trial told me all these things were bound to happen and that I have a good case if they pull any bullshit or fire me. He also said he to let him know if anything happens. I plan to do so very shortly.

 

[01cobravortech]

Have to give you props. Took a lot of courage to do what you did. You actually did that "co-worker" a favor. Guy was probably so guilt ridden he had to tell you or he's the type that gets off on bragging about how he got away with the crime. Either way that guy wanted to get caught. It wouldn't surprise me though if he told other people at that dealer that he did this. I wish you well if you pursue legal action against your former employer. Sounds like there is a bunch of weirdos working there.

 

[04fivefour]

Have to give you props. Took a lot of courage to do what you did. You actually did that "co-worker" a favor. Guy was probably so guilt ridden he had to tell you or he's the type that gets off on bragging about how he got away with the crime. Either way that guy wanted to get caught. It wouldn't surprise me though if he told other people at that dealer that he did this. I wish you well if you pursue legal action against your former employer. Sounds like there is a bunch of weirdos working there.

Ya know that is what a lot of people said about him. That he wanted to get caught and told me so he could have clean conscience and dump it on me to do the right thing. At first he told me he cheated on his wife, and I didn't really care because it just isn't my problem or my business. The next day he told me with who and explained what happened and everything, very graphically. That is when it hit a nerve and bothered me.

 

[svtcop]

Props to you for doing what you did. :beer:

You're going to have a difficult time proving their reasons to discipline you were not valid since it's so late in the game.

But either way, tell your story to an attorney or two. If they offer to pick up your case and you have the time and resources....that's entirely up to how much effort you're willing to put into sticking it to them.

 

[Iceman II]

10-4, I commend you for Turing in that sorry b_____! It looks to me you may have a case. Guess a lot of it depends on how many times you were written up before turning that guy in. It would be good if you could find a witness in that company who would be willing to tell their story about how they conspired against you.

 

[RDJ]

my 2 cents, find another job as quickly as possible and move on, and next time mind your own business and worry about you. this is why i separate work and my private life. .

this is about as stupid advice as I have ever seen you give. when you have been told by the perp that he is abusing a minor you would just sit back, keep your mouth shut and let it continue? says a lot about your character and moral fortitude.

Op did the right thing. and I would take the see an attorney advice and ignore this crap.

 

[svtcop]

this is about as stupid advice as I have ever seen you give. when you have been told by the perp that he is abusing a minor you would just sit back, keep your mouth shut and let it continue? says a lot about your character and moral fortitude.

Op did the right thing. and I would take the see an attorney advice and ignore this crap.

After you quoted that I thought "how the hell did I miss that crap?" But then realized it was Planter. Not gonna lie, I quit reading anything more than a line or two from him lately.

 

[04fivefour]

10-4, I commend you for Turing in that sorry b_____! It looks to me you may have a case. Guess a lot of it depends on how many times you were written up before turning that guy in. It would be good if you could find a witness in that company who would be willing to tell their story about how they conspired against you.

Thanx man. I never received any write up's before the trial. I actually received a raise just before I reported him. I had plenty of witness's including a local PD dispatcher, a sheriff,and a school counselor. As for people to attest to them conspiring and "bullying me" I have enough paperwork to prove so, additionally I could easily dig somebody up from that time period as I had a few good standing relationships with co-workers who saw the whole thing unfold.

this is about as stupid advice as I have ever seen you give. when you have been told by the perp that he is abusing a minor you would just sit back, keep your mouth shut and let it continue? says a lot about your character and moral fortitude.

Op did the right thing. and I would take the see an attorney advice and ignore this crap.

I appreciate your enthusiasm and support but I think you may have understood the post incorrectly. I believe he was implying that he keeps work at work and doesn't engage with anybody if it has nothing to do with the job at hand. That way he would have never had to find out about any of this in the first place and could focus on being a asset to the company and not any drama.

Basically just avoiding the whole situation from the get go, and not giving anybody the opportunity to share things good or bad.:beer:

 

[RDJ]

I appreciate your enthusiasm and support but I think you may have understood the post incorrectly. I believe he was implying that he keeps work at work and doesn't engage with anybody if it has nothing to do with the job at hand. That way he would have never had to find out about any of this in the first place and could focus on being a asset to the company and not any drama.

Basically just avoiding the whole situation from the get go, and not giving anybody the opportunity to share things good or bad.:beer:

but that is not what he said. that MIGHT be what he meant but I doubt it. whe he tells you to mind your own business he is saying keep your nose out of others. which means if you hear something or see something keep your nose out of it. which is the cowardly thing to do.

I am all for keeping work and play separate for the most part. but I guarentee you that if I over hear someone saying they are molesting a minor I am going to do what you did, get involved. He would not do that according to his post.

 

[neatofrito1618]

and next time mind your own business and worry about you. this is why i separate work and my private life.

Seriously?:nonono:

I almost universally support this mindset, but cases of child molesting are one of the rare few in which all rules go out the window.