I worked for the railroad for 14+ years. Terminated 1/08 for mishandling the company money. I had one employee working under me who had approx 6 years with the company. Some of the other locations he worked in prior to my location, had concerns about his handling of money there. My site was reviewed normally twice a year, but in the previous year it had been reviewed about 6 times. The supervisor never informed me of anything wrong. They were actually investigating the other person and when he was brought up on charges, he retired. The company actually allowed him to retire, and since I was the other employee, the supervisor told me that since he was gone "someone would have to pay". The other employee had keys to the location, the combination to the safe and was allowed to live in his RV on the company property. He had access to the location 24 hours per day. I had repeatedly asked the supervisor for security cameras and was denied because "it wasn't in the budget". There was a hearing and because I was advised by my union rep not to say anything, I said nothing. My feeling is and was how can I comment on something I know nothing about. I had no idea how much money was taken, over how long a period of time. The company had 30 days to notify me of the shortage of funds, but did not do so until almost 18 months after the first incident. Charges were brought against me about 9 months after the investigation into the other employee began. My case was appealed by the union, and my case was to have been heard in April 2009, July 2009, and to this date it has not been responded to. Do I need a lawyer, or do I have to allow the union to do it's job, wait for a response, then get an attorney? Have I already missed the deadline to sue them, or am I wasting my time?