Fired bus driver deserved hearing, court says

[alp227]

A Contra Costa County bus driver with a history of absences should have been given a hearing before he was fired in 2006 for failing to show up for work, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Kerry Walls, a driver for the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority since 1995, was initially fired in January 2006 for unauthorized absences, which he attributed to illness. After he filed a grievance through his union, the agency reinstated him in March 2006 under an agreement that specified he would be fired for any unexcused absences that occurred over the next three months.

Walls accepted the agreement after the transit agency denied his request to be placed on sick leave. A day after returning to work, he was absent again, saying afterward that he was suffering from depression and sleep deprivation.

The agency fired him and said he had waived his right to the hearing that public employees normally receive before termination.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/03/BAQ21KIVTI.DTL

[demosincebirth]

1. "a day after returning to work he was absent?" Some take it to the hilt. If he

was that sick his doctor should have put him on state disability.