A police department terminated a non-sworn records manager for dishonesty. The manager had secretly recorded a counseling session she had with a subordinate and shared the recording with a co-worker. The recording was then shared with a supervisor and resurfaced later.
During the internal investigation, the manager lied multiple times by stating: she did not make the recording; she did not recall the counseling session she recorded; and she did not remember the telephone call she had with the police captain regarding the recording.
The manager requested an appeal to challenge her termination. The hearing officer found that the manager was dishonest because: 1) the lie concerned a workplace matter; 2) the manager’s statements were false; 3) the manager knew that her statements were false at the time she made them; and 4) the manager made the false statements with the intent to have the department investigators rely upon them. The hearing officer highlighted how Oldendorph had elicited testimony from the manager that proved that the manager knew that her statements were false at the time she made them.
The hearing officer also determined that the penalty of termination was reasonable since the manager should have known that presenting false information in a workplace investigation would be met with severe consequences.