Michigan Worker Fired After Turning In Gun Found On The Job

**NJCardFan** · 05-16-2012, 11:41 PM

Michigan Worker Fired After Turning In Gun Found On The Job

Sometimes it doesn't pay to do the right thing. Just ask John Chevilott, a former public-works employee in Wayne County, Mich., who earlier this month found a loaded, snubnosed revolver while mowing grass in Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood, turned it in and was promptly fired.
"It was damaged, so it could've went off. Surprisingly, it didn't kill the guy on the mower," he told Detroit TV station WJBK. Chevilott (pictured at left) said the crew was waiting for Detroit police to swing by and pick up the gun, but they never showed.

So the veteran employee of the Department of Public Services did what he thought was the right thing: Finished the job and then turned the gun into police later the same evening.
Police told Chevilott he did the right thing by getting the gun off the streets, he said. A check revealed that it had been stolen from a nearby suburb in 2005.
Where he ran into trouble is with his superiors, who saw things rather differently.
A Wayne County spokeswoman told WJBK that according to department rules employees aren't allowed to possess a weapon on work property. Link

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But if he left the gun there and a kid found it and killed themselves, then what?

**Apache** · 05-16-2012, 11:52 PM

... and they wonder why people don't like Detroit? The logic is amazing!

**Janice** · 05-17-2012, 12:35 AM

City, county, state, fed ... dont you just love govt bureaucrats?

**Gina** · 05-17-2012, 01:53 AM

A Wayne County spokeswoman told WJBK that according to department rules employees aren't allowed to possess a weapon on work property.

....uhh, what?

It seems like they could get a better spokeswoman. The crap she said is what the lawyer for the employee will point to, to get his job back.

**txradioguy** · 05-17-2012, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by Gina

....uhh, what?

It seems like they could get a better spokeswoman. The crap she said is what the lawyer for the employee will point to, to get his job back.

Either that or sue the city for wrongful termination and a payday big enough he never has to work again.

**Gina** · 05-17-2012, 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by txradioguy

Either that or sue the city for wrongful termination and a payday big enough he never has to work again.

That should tip the scales to put Detroit in a bigger funk than they are now!

**Odysseus** · 05-17-2012, 08:18 AM

I love how they waited for the cops to show up to take it, but they never did. If his carrying the gun off of the work site is grounds for determining his custody, then he also has a suit against the police department. OTOH, if he'd kept the gun, not said anything, and sold it on the street later, how much do you want to bet that his union would have fought his termination?

**noonwitch** · 05-17-2012, 08:56 AM

Just remember, the city is just looking for reasons to get rid of veteren workers-firing them for work rule violations is a way out of having to pay their pensions.

He'll win his case in court, though. He was responding to a situation not addressed by policy or civil service work rules. His situation involved public safety, which is always a responsibility of an on-duty city employee.

**Odysseus** · 05-17-2012, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by noonwitch

Just remember, the city is just looking for reasons to get rid of veteren workers-firing them for work rule violations is a way out of having to pay their pensions.

He'll win his case in court, though. He was responding to a situation not addressed by policy or civil service work rules. His situation involved public safety, which is always a responsibility of an on-duty city employee.

Okay, so he'll be reinstated and receive damages. How does that save the city money?

Meanwhile, how many employees of the city genuinely violate work rules (such as police not showing up to collect a found weapons) and are not fired?

**noonwitch** · 05-17-2012, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Odysseus

Okay, so he'll be reinstated and receive damages. How does that save the city money?

Meanwhile, how many employees of the city genuinely violate work rules (such as police not showing up to collect a found weapons) and are not fired?

It doesn't. The dumbass boss who made the decision to fire him is probably not capable of that type of sophisticated thinking-he got told by his bosses to look for reasons to get rid of people, so he found one. It's not his job to think about legalities, that's for the city's legal department.

In defense of the Detroit Police, they don't currently have enough officers to handle everything that is happening in the city at any given time. They are closing the precincts now at 4:30, you're pretty much on your own or dependent on 911 services after that.