Board of Directors out of line

[penopp]

I was employed by an appraisal district. In an open meeting the Board came back from Closed Session and made a decision to terminate the Chief Appraiser. I took minutes for the meetings. I feel the Board was out of line and did not have reason to terminate the Chief Appraiser. Two days after they terminated the Chief Appraiser the Board came in accepted a verbal resignation from me. One week later I went back to work and was terminated the next day - due to being told that it was in the best interest of the appraisal district to terminate me since I may have possible litigation against them. Can they do this? Also, I would like to get the closed session tapes opened because I feel there was slander taking place in the closed session, due to the fact that one Board of Director resigned. Who do I contact and please help me get some answers. This has been a bad deal and it was not the first time the Board was out of line.

 

[cbg]

Unless the Chief Appraiser has an employment contract that specifies the terms under which he can be terminated and that contract was violated,or unless you are in the state of Montana, the Board does not have to have a reason to terminate him. He can be fired for any reason that does not violate the law. Even if they were "out of line" that does not mean they acted illegally.

You resigned, and they asked you to leave a week later. That's legal. No law requires them to allow you to work out your notice.

You have no standing to force the opening of closed session tapes.

 

[penopp]

If the Board of Director that resigned thinks there was slander brought forward during the closed session, can they request for the tapes to be opened?

 

[penopp]

I also know that the Board of Directors turned the tape off during the open session meeting. District Attorney first mentioned that this could be a criminal act when it was first brought to his attention.

Any thoughts on this

 

[cbg]

You're getting outside the realm of employment law, which is all I'm qualified to speak about. I have to know something about slander because of employment references. The DA knows more about criminal law than I do. Please understand that I don't even know what kind of organization we're talking about here. Given the facts you've presented, I can't see why it would be a criminal act to turn off the tape but you haven't given us anywhere near all the facts.

To the best of my knowledge, while the board member can *request* anything he wants, I'm not aware of anything short of a court order that would *require* the tapes to be released.

What does the DA say?