DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County sanitation worker wants his job back after being fired this week.
Sidarius Johnson, 33, says county leaders only fired him after a scathing corruption report was released.
The report by special investigators Mike Bower and Richard Hyde made note of how a DeKalb County sanitation worker was re-hired after he pleaded guilty to a DUI he received while driving a DeKalb County owned pickup.
Documents also confirm that in order to retrieve the vehicle, Johnson's supervisor paid for the $140 impound fee with his county issued P-card.
"It absolutely shows you there is no management, no leadership, no control in place financially or human resource-wise to prevent these things for happen," said DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester during a town hall meeting Tuesday night. "I'm certainly glad to see this addressed now but we had a risk going on for years after they re-hired him."
"The division did not seek reimbursement as this is inconsistent with divisional operations. The employee qualified for employment reinstatement 6 months after this incident and met the minimum requirements for reinstatement," said the press secretary for DeKalb County Government Burke Brennan in a statement.
Johnson was fired earlier this week after county workers did a periodic background check and discovered that he falsified a portion of his application, Brennan said.
"I am appealing my termination from DeKalb County. My discharge was unjust and a violation of the county's own employment policy. I cannot get into the details about the case because of my active appeal. I can only say that the county knew about the situation and failed to take any actions until after this corruption report was released. This is a violation of my rights as a county employee, and that's why I'm fighting for my job back," Johnson said in a statement.
WSBTV
