City to sue to recover improper bonuses

No surprise here.

Making good on a months-old threat, city lawyers went to court today seeking restitution from four employees fired after allegations that they took $143,000 in improper bonuses while working in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem.

The largely identical lawsuits, filed in state district court, raise numerous causes of action that form a collective allegation: that the employees conspired to use their city positions to profit from taxpayer money.

The city wants to recover damages from the employees - Rosita Hernandez, Florence Watkins, Christopher Mays and Theresa Orta - under the Texas Theft Liability Act for the bonus amounts they received in 2004, 2005 and this year.

"It is our responsibility to do what we can within the parameters of the law to make sure that the public trust is protected," said Don Fleming, the senior assistant city attorney handling the cases.

Fleming wrote the employees in May, demanding that they repay the bonuses or face court action.

The attorney for Hernandez, the former pro tem office manager whom city officials allege took $51,000 in bonuses, said his client would be vindicated in court. He also accused the city of unlawfully withholding $18,000 owed Hernandez for accrued vacation and sick time.

"We look forward to the opportunity for the first time to present Rosie's side of the story in a legal forum with appropriate and constitutional rules," said the attorney, Walter A. Boyd III. "I don't believe the city has proved its case."

Well, he'll have his chance to demonstrate that. I wouldn't bet against the house on this one, but you never know.

And of that other part of the saga:

The Harris County District Attorney's office, meanwhile, is conducting a probe of the four employees and possibly other current and former city officials.

District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said the lawsuits would not affect his investigation. He said he expects to present his investigators' findings, at least about the former pro tem employees, to a grand jury soon.

"I'm getting anxious for our aspect of it to conclude, or at least get to the grand jury," he said, noting that his office has been busy on another high-profile, public-integrity case involving former Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade.

"It seems like it's been a long time to me since we've been looking at this without being able to bring something to the grand jury."

You could say that. It's been almost six months by my count. Time to show some results, Chuck.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 02, 2006 to Local politics | TrackBack