Chutzpah files: NC DOT employee canned for dozing asks for reinstatement

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1428003.html

Dozing employee wants her job back

A DOT boss took pictures of her asleep

Mark Johnson - Staff Writer

2009/03/04 05:02

RALEIGH -- Elsie Hinton is fighting to get back her job at the state Department of Transportation after being fired for sleeping on the job -- five times.

Agency officials dismissed Hinton, who was an artist in the department's communications office, after a sleep episode last July. She had received four prior warnings about nodding off, dating to 2003, according to documents filed with the state Office of Administrative Hearings, which is handling Hinton's effort to get her job back. She was suspended without pay in 2006 for sleeping on the job.

Hinton's case came to a head as she dozed in her cubicle last summer.

Three supervisors and her office manager gathered as witnesses. One took photos with a cell phone and filed a report that chronicled Hinton's four-minute, head-bobbing slumber as the work day began.

Hinton's dismissal was also based on using a department van without approval, according to state documents.

Hinton, who was paid $55,200 a year, says she has sleep apnea, which prevents her from getting uninterrupted sleep. She uses a breathing mask and special device at night to help her sleep, but the device was malfunctioning, leading to the nap that got her fired, Hinton wrote in a statement submitted with her complaint.

She says her bosses knew of her condition and she has filed a discrimination complaint based on a "handicapping condition."

Efforts to reach Hinton on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Her attorney, John Campion of Raleigh, said Hinton had no control over falling asleep at her desk. "The problem with sleep apnea is you really don't get a good night's sleep," Campion said, likening the condition to epilepsy.

Dana Cope, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, offered no sympathy.

"There are lots of people in North Carolina, inside or outside the state work force, who have sleep apnea and that's not an excuse for sleeping while on duty," Cope said. "When performance of a state employee is found to be not up to standard ... we're not going to defend them. It sounds like the absolute right thing was done in this case."

Sleeping caught on camera

Transportation officials chronicled Hinton's final sleeping episode last July in a memo and subsequent letter to Hinton in the file at the Office of Administrative Hearings. Communications Director Ernie Seneca wrote to Hinton last August that she was observed at 8:58 a.m. "with your head leaned backward as you sat in your chair in your cubicle."

The sleeping went on for four minutes, Seneca wrote.

Seneca observed the slumber. Then he called over his deputy, Nicole Burris, who observed the sleeping. Hinton's supervisor and the office manager were called over.

"I took several photographs of you sleeping with my cell phone camera," Seneca wrote.

Department officials would not release the photographs, saying they were not public records because they are part of Hinton's personnel file.

Seneca described Hinton stirring, and wrote that after he spoke to her she "shuffled some papers" on her desk and didn't respond to him. Hinton later asked to leave for the day.

Hinton's statement filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings said she was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2006 and she required a new mask every six months to ensure a tight fit. At the time of the July incident, she said, her new mask was not sealing properly, so her sleep was interrupted.

"This caused me to be drowsy at work and caused me to involuntarily drop off to sleep for about four minutes," Hinton wrote. "As a result, [the department] terminated my employment."

Hinton wrote that she had asked her supervisor for three days off until the new mask arrived, but her request was refused.

The case has been scheduled for a hearing in November.

[Peikko 1,575]

Her colleagues sure as hell don't like her, for whatever reason.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Her colleagues sure as hell don't like her, for whatever reason.

Actually, the reason is quite obvious--Hinton is a chop!

[Craneman 2]

Her colleagues sure as hell don't like her, for whatever reason.

Most likely because she snores when they are working.

[Peikko 1,575]

It's likely, based on the article. However, I'm not going to go so far as to say I know, because work bullies do exist.

[panamania79 2]

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1428003.html

Dozing employee wants her job back

A DOT boss took pictures of her asleep

Mark Johnson - Staff Writer

2009/03/04 05:02

RALEIGH -- Elsie Hinton is fighting to get back her job at the state Department of Transportation after being fired for sleeping on the job -- five times.

Agency officials dismissed Hinton, who was an artist in the department's communications office, after a sleep episode last July. She had received four prior warnings about nodding off, dating to 2003, according to documents filed with the state Office of Administrative Hearings, which is handling Hinton's effort to get her job back. She was suspended without pay in 2006 for sleeping on the job.

Hinton's case came to a head as she dozed in her cubicle last summer.

Three supervisors and her office manager gathered as witnesses. One took photos with a cell phone and filed a report that chronicled Hinton's four-minute, head-bobbing slumber as the work day began.

Hinton's dismissal was also based on using a department van without approval, according to state documents.

Hinton, who was paid $55,200 a year, says she has sleep apnea, which prevents her from getting uninterrupted sleep. She uses a breathing mask and special device at night to help her sleep, but the device was malfunctioning, leading to the nap that got her fired, Hinton wrote in a statement submitted with her complaint.

She says her bosses knew of her condition and she has filed a discrimination complaint based on a "handicapping condition."

Efforts to reach Hinton on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Her attorney, John Campion of Raleigh, said Hinton had no control over falling asleep at her desk. "The problem with sleep apnea is you really don't get a good night's sleep," Campion said, likening the condition to epilepsy.

Dana Cope, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, offered no sympathy.

"There are lots of people in North Carolina, inside or outside the state work force, who have sleep apnea and that's not an excuse for sleeping while on duty," Cope said. "When performance of a state employee is found to be not up to standard ... we're not going to defend them. It sounds like the absolute right thing was done in this case."

Sleeping caught on camera

Transportation officials chronicled Hinton's final sleeping episode last July in a memo and subsequent letter to Hinton in the file at the Office of Administrative Hearings. Communications Director Ernie Seneca wrote to Hinton last August that she was observed at 8:58 a.m. "with your head leaned backward as you sat in your chair in your cubicle."

The sleeping went on for four minutes, Seneca wrote.

Seneca observed the slumber. Then he called over his deputy, Nicole Burris, who observed the sleeping. Hinton's supervisor and the office manager were called over.

"I took several photographs of you sleeping with my cell phone camera," Seneca wrote.

Department officials would not release the photographs, saying they were not public records because they are part of Hinton's personnel file.

Seneca described Hinton stirring, and wrote that after he spoke to her she "shuffled some papers" on her desk and didn't respond to him. Hinton later asked to leave for the day.

Hinton's statement filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings said she was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2006 and she required a new mask every six months to ensure a tight fit. At the time of the July incident, she said, her new mask was not sealing properly, so her sleep was interrupted.

"This caused me to be drowsy at work and caused me to involuntarily drop off to sleep for about four minutes," Hinton wrote. "As a result, [the department] terminated my employment."

Hinton wrote that she had asked her supervisor for three days off until the new mask arrived, but her request was refused.

The case has been scheduled for a hearing in November.

I just thought that stuff happened in RI.

[almaty 19]

i deal with workplace issues daily..and no biggie..i ahd a drunk guy ride his motorcycle into the lunch room of a factory and eat.....he got reinstated, after he was termed by arbritration

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Her colleagues sure as hell don't like her, for whatever reason.

Most likely because she is a chop who snores when they are working.

rectified