illegal investigation

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romeo4662003

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Can an investigation report by a city police dept. said to be illegal in an indictment against the head of the investigation unti for that city by the florida dept. of law enforcement be used in a case against them? and would a person have a case in this instance. I was terminated for falsifying hours after the city police dept reported I had been investigated. Later the head of the investigation dept was arrested on many charges and in his indictment it stated one of the charges was the illegal invest. of city employees. Since that indictment the chief of police has been terminated for his involvement and even more recently another investigator came forward saying he was involved in illegal activities such as planting evidence and was terminated.
 
So, DID you falsify hours? What were you investigated for? And do you work for the city?

What the investigator or chief of police did or didn't do is totally irrelevant to whether YOUR termination was legal.
 
I reported on my time sheets the hrs I was instructed to by my supervisor as he stated it would be easier for payroll to keep up with. He said if I work over the hours i need due to games running in to extra innings or for whatever reason to only put the hours needed for that day and just come in late to keep things even. I am not the only employee that was told to do my time this way. I have no idea why I was singled out for investigation. My dept head and my supervisor tried to tell the council that my time was okay the way I did it but they used the police report to terminate me. The report actually shows that some days I worked 9 hrs but only turned in 6.5 on my time sheet. I did work for the city for 18 years. The last 13 years consecutive and was 2 months shy of my 55 birthday in which is retirement age. I was told I would not get full retirement due to being terminated before age 55.
 
Okay, I get that you put down the hours you were told to put down. WERE THE HOURS YOU PUT DOWN THE HOURS YOU ACTUALLY WORKED?
 
As I stated above, if I worked 9 hrs I only put down 6.5 hours and if I had 2.5 hrs over one day I would only work 4 hrs on a day I could leave early and put down 6.5. There was only about a three week period during the entire year i could take time off and that was the time they did their investigation. I had many hrs built up from working extra hrs and special events throughout the year and my supervisors knew this but the council wouldnt understand. At one time during my employment I lost over 400 hrs of time I had built up because they said if I didnt use it within a certain time frame I lose it.
 
Okay, a few things.

1.) This was NOT an illegal investigation
2.) While I understand that you were doing what you were told, it WAS LEGAL to fire you for falsifying hours. Even though you put down less hours than you actually worked, you essentially caused the employer to break the law by not paying you correctly. It was a lose-lose situation.
3.) You have a claim against the employer for the hours you worked and did not get paid for. Unfortunately, FL does not have a state DOL and defers all claims to the Federal DOL. The Federal DOL will only support your claim up to minimum wage (that's Federal minimum wage) plus overtime. Your other option is to file a civil suit.
4.) The fact that you have a claim for wages does not mean that either your termination or the investigation was illegal.
5.) You should file for unemployment immediately.

I agree that you were treated unfairly, but it does not appear that you were treated illegally.

One thing. While there was nothing inherently illegal about your termination, the timing is a bit suspicious. It couldn't hurt for you to contact the US DOL and get their opinion on whether terming you so close to retirement age raises any flags for them.

Was your pension vested? If so, you will still be able to collect it.
 
Yes Sir, I was vested after 10 years and will recieve all but the 215 dollars per month they are penalizing me for not being age 55. Due to me having a part time job I cant file for unemployment. On what grounds would the civil suit be filed? Thankyou kindly for taking time out of your life to answer my questions, God Bless
 
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