A fired Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic, who found a bottle of booze allegedly planted in his desk and a city-installed spycam to catch him with the contraband, was reinstated to his job a year ago. It took a bit longer for the city to agree to pay the $16,000 in legal fees he racked up fighting his termination. Last week, the city’s insurance company agreed to an undisclosed settlement amount, according to his attorney.
“I’m glad it’s over with and it’s done,” says J.R. Harris, who returned to work last March. “I hold no grudge.”
“We’re happy they were willing to settle,” says attorney Janice Redinger. “I applaud the city for doing that in an area of law in which they might have prevailed.”
The city is not owning up that any payment will be made to Harris. “I have absolutely no comment about a settlement,” says Assistant City Attorney Allyson Davies, who demanded to know how a reporter was aware of one. She would neither confirm nor deny a settlement to Harris had been made. “No comment,” she reiterated.
Harris, a teetotaler who had repaired the city’s fire trucks for 15 years, as well as the personal vehicles of many in the department, received a letter of termination in October 2014 that cited possession of alcohol and shoddy workmanship.
During a 10-hour hearing February 23, 2015, attended by a couple dozen firefighters in support of Harris, Redinger said her client was set up and a paper trail created to justify the termination. His immediate supervisor claimed he found a bottle of alleged alcohol in Harris’ desk, and a decision was made to install a spycam in his office.
From more than a week’s worth of surveillance, the city provided one three-minute grainy video showing Harris taking the bottle, wrapping it and removing it. Harris contends he removed it so the person who put it there wouldn’t hide alcohol in his desk again.
The city’s case wasn’t enough to convince a three-person personnel appeals board, which issued a one-sentence statement three days after the hearing saying it disagreed with the decision to fire Harris.
Harris got his job back, as well as back pay and benefits, but still left hanging was the $16,000 he spent on attorney fees.
A year ago, Human Resources Director Galloway Beck said there’s no legal authority for the city to reimburse employees for personal legal expenses—even if the city’s actions caused the employee to require a lawyer.
Redinger filed a notice of claim, but never filed a lawsuit, which she acknowledges would have been a tough case to make. “Virginia law is not particularly employee friendly,” she says.
Harris does not report to the two supervisors who made the case to fire him, and he says things have been going well since he returned to work. “They’re treating me good,” he says. “They don’t bother me, they don’t hassle me.”
Within two weeks of Harris returning to work March 23, then-chief Charles Werner announced his retirement. He was succeeded by Andrew Baxter, whom Harris praises. “The new chief is awesome. He went above and beyond to make sure I feel comfortable.”
And Harris says his fight for his job and for attorney fees was never about the money. “I just don’t want it to happen again to any firefighter or city employee,” he says.