Court backs fired officer
Neglect-of-duty probe flawed, panel says
The Times-Picayune
Sunday, August 24, 2008
By Andrew Vanacore
A state appeals court Friday upheld a New Orleans Civil Service Commission decision to reinstate a veteran police captain who was fired in 2006 for neglecting his duties.
Harry Mendoza, a 30-year veteran of the department, was fired after he was tailed for a week during an internal police investigation, which found he often was at home or working out at a gym during hours he said he was at work.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal agreed with the Civil Service Commission that the investigation was flawed because it failed to take into account Mendoza’s overall job performance or track the hours he spent working beyond what he recorded on his time sheets.
Mendoza has maintained that his job as head of the traffic division required a flexible work schedule and that he was on call at all hours, an assertion backed up by his immediate supervisor and other colleagues, court records show.
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