BENTONVILLE — The firing of a county Road Department employee was upheld Tuesday by the Grievance Committee.
At A Glance
Grievance Procedure
Benton County’s employment policy allows employees who think they have been unjustly fired to appeal to the Grievance Committee. The committee of five justices of the peace hear evidence. The justices of the peace may also ask questions. The panel then considers a range of questions, including whether the employee has met the burden of proving they were entitled to their position.
Source: Staff Report
The panel of five justices of the peace — Michelle Chiocco, Joel Jones, Rey Hernandez, Kevin Harrison and Susan Anglin — voted unanimously to deny Rick Austin's appeal, who was fired Friday.
Chiocco, head of the Grievance Committee, announced the decision after a 25-minute executive session.
Austin told the justices of the peace he had been fired from a job he had taken on only to help the county. He was promoted from grader operator to a supervisor after three top-level administrators resigned or were fired earlier this year in connection with allegations of theft from the county.
“I was the one who showed up to keep your department together,” Austin said. “I could have played it safe and stayed at my road grader operator level but I chose to help.”
In his appeal, Austin asked he be reinstated as a grader operator rather than returned to the supervisory job he was fired from.
Terry Nalley, public services administrator who oversees the Road Department, and Jeff Clark, the road and bridge construction superintendent, both said Austin was fired for not following specific directions, a problem that came to a head during the recent snow and ice storm. Both men said Austin left the Bentonville office without supervision and failed to properly keep track of employees and equipment during the storm. Nalley said Austin at one point was out running a grader himself.
“Instead of taking care of his duties at the Bentonville office he was out running a piece of equipment,” Nalley said. “We couldn’t reach him by radio or by phone.”
Nalley said the department’s three offices — in Bentonville, Decatur and Garfield — were all tasked with similar duties during the storm and Austin was the only supervisor who failed to keep his office running properly.
“Two of them got managed,” Nalley said. “One did not and that was the Bentonville office under Rick Austin.”