Mike Mason Exposes Questionable Hiring Practices in Lee County



Lee County Manager Karen Hawes

 A Four in your Corner investigation uncovers more questionable hiring practices at Lee County. The county manager has already ordered an audit into the Department of Transportation's hiring procedures after what we exposed. Now investigator Mike Mason finds Lee County *doesn't even have a policy* when it comes to advertising for job positions. Since we began our investigation, Lee County D.O.T. employees have complained about the county's hiring policies. For instance, late last year, brothers Shane and Jason Hinman were promoted as crew supervisors at the D.O.T. and both of their positions were only advertised for 3 days.


Many workers feel the positions should have been advertised longer. It’s one reason some D.O.T. workers feel supervisors are hiring their favorites and not giving other employees an equal opportunity. We confronted Shane Hinman about this last month and he said, “You'll have to take that up with Downtown man, I don't know, I couldn't tell you."

So we did take our questions Downtown. Lee County manager Karen Hawes told us Hinman's position should have been advertised longer saying, “It's not the norm.”

Lee H.R. Director Christine Brady

We then went to Lee County's Human Resource Director, Christine Brady, to find out what 'the norm' is. She told us the county's un-written policy is to advertise a position for about 3 days. We wanted to see the county's written policy but couldn't find it in the employee manual, or anywhere else.

Then Hawes sent us an email on July 15th stating the county's “Current policies do not require a minimum or maximum time for advertising a job position." So essentially the county can do whatever it wants to. Things are different in Collier County. Collier's policy requires jobs to be advertised on the county website, posted in all county facilities and available to the public on the county’s job hotline. The position must also be posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The City of Cape Coral also requires jobs to be posted no less than ten calendar days or two weeks.

Darryl Plym has a big problem with Lee County's hiring policies. He was fired from D.O.T. last year when the Director at the time sent him a letter stating "Your position as Senior Equipment Operator at D.O.T Operations is being eliminated due to a reduction in workforce”.
But a few months later Plym’s old position was re-instated and someone else was hired. Even though the county said the job was being eliminated, for some reason it suddenly reappeared. The job was only advertised for four days before another person was hired. Plym says he had no chance of getting his old job back, "That's the way the county works it, if they want to get rid of somebody they will come up with any reason possible to get rid of you."
The audit into D.O.T is set to look into issues including the county's hiring policies. No word on when that audit will be complete but we will let you know.
To view the Fox 4 report click here: http://www.fox4now.com/news/toprotator/126149338.html

DOT Whistleblower fears for job after coworker fired for talking to Fox 4

Steve Sherman - Fired DOT Whistleblower

I've spoken with dozens of disgruntled DOT workers, but Steve Sherman was the first one to go on-camera. He thinks the county is trying to send a strong message to whistleblowers.

Minutes seemed like hours as DOT worker Steve Sherman waited to find out if he still had a job.
Finally, Sherman and 2 of his supervisors were met by Stephanie Figueroa with Lee County's Human Resources, and that's when he got the news.  "They terminated me and wrongfully I may add." Steve Sherman says. Sherman was officially fired. Officials claim it's because they just realized Sherman violated several county policies. One of the policies included having his driver's license suspended back in 2004 for a DUI arrest, when his position required him to have a valid driver's license.

But documents show supervisors accepted this and re-assigned Sherman to a position that didn't require him to drive. Fox 4 asked Sherman if he thought HR even gave him a chance? "No this is a total railroad whitewash in my opinion, personally. They didn't even want to discuss item by item the material that I supplied them with last week." Sherman says. County officials claim Sherman was fired now because they decided to change his job title, and while looking through his records they found some baggage that was overlooked in his past.

Sherman says he was really fired because he spoke with FOX 4 about problems at DOT. Our reports prompted the county manager to order an audit of DOT. Sherman then filed for whistleblower protection.

"I think they're trying to instill a fear that if you speak out and you're not a team player in line with HR or the county managers, you're going to be out of a job.” Sherman says.

That has another DOT worker very nervous. I’m sure I'm next on the hit list." Bob Maxey says.
Bob Maxey also spoke out about problems at DOT and feels Sherman's termination will have a chilling effect on all county workers. "It's gonna scare the hell out of them it scares people and it's a sure way to shut people up." Bob Maxey says.

Maxey now plans to file for whistleblower protection himself. Maxey hopes county workers will stand together and speak up despite what happened to Sherman.

I asked Maxey why’s he decided to talk to FOX 4.
"Because someone needed to light the fire, buddy. Someone needed to let people know what was going on." Maxey says.
Sherman plans to sue the county if his job is not reinstated.
An attorney tells us that Sherman has a good case because he filed for whistleblower protection and the county terminated him for issues that seem very suspicious.
To view the Fox 4 report click here: http://www.fox4now.com/news/toprotator/125860983.html

D.O.T Whistleblower fired after speaking with Fox 4's Mike Mason

Steve Sherman - Lee County D.O.T. worker

LEE COUNTY - Lee County officials drop a bombshell, firing a D.O.T. worker just one day after he applied for protection under Florida's Whistle-blower's Act. That whistle-blower spoke with Fox 4 and feared retaliation after exposing numerous problems with Lee County’s troubled Department of Transportation. One attorney says the county may be in hot water because of this. Four in your Corner investigator mike mason broke the story into problems at D.O.T and has the latest. D.O.T worker Steve Sherman has spoken out several times, accusing officials of wasting taxpayer money and harassing employees. He says supervisors intimidate employees along with being chastised and heavy handed. Sherman hoped things at D.O.T would improve with the help of Fox 4 and says that’s why he turned to us when county officials began retaliating against him. Sherman says, "I have nothing to hide. Bring ‘em on, let them do what they've got to do.” And Wednesday Steve Sherman was fired. He was handed a document notifying him he was being terminated for violating county policies such as:

Having his driver's license suspended back in 2004 for a DUI arrest and failing to notify management after being arrested for violating an injunction in 2008.

Attorney Jason Gunter says, “They wanted to get rid of this guy." Gunter says it's suspicious how the county fired Sherman for issues that happened several years ago and questions why they decided to terminate him just one day after he filed for protection under the state’s Whistle-blower's Act.

Florida's Whistle-blower's Act was established to "prevent agencies from taking retaliatory action against any person who discloses information alleging improper use of governmental office, gross waste of funds or any other abuse or gross neglect of duty on the part of an agency or public office."

Fired Director Rony Joel

Gunter represents several county employees who were fired after blowing the whistle and says Sherman meets that criteria. A Four in your Corner investigation has already sparked 3 investigations into D.O.T., led to the firing of its new director and triggered an audit by the Clerk of Courts. When Gunter was asked if he had faith that he Clerk of Courts would conduct an audit that's going to protect the employees he replied, "Not based on what I've seen thus far."

Gunter also feels the media is a powerful tool when it comes to exposing corruption. He says, "If individual employees want to come to Fox 4, yourself particularly, and disclose information they can do that on a confidential basis and you can agree not to share that information with anyone and nobody will ever know and you're not legally obligated to share that information with anyone."
Sherman has been given two days to contest his termination. The best ways employees can protect themselves from retaliation include the following: put complaints in writing, give them to a supervisor so there's a paper trail, contact an attorney, file charges with Florida’s Commission on Human Relations and apply for whistleblower protection. You can get the forms on our website, it's ‘Fox4 now.com’ and click on the Big Red 4.

To file for protection under the Florida’s Whistle-blower’s Act click here:
http://fchr.state.fl.us/complaints__1/florida_s_whistle_blower_s_act