MADISON, Wis. — Two brothers finally get justice after the Wisconsin State Supreme Court finds they were wrongfully fired in 2014.
Gregory and Jeffrey Cota of Oconomowoc worked for the Oconomowoc Area School District over a decade ago on the grounds crew for the district, with one of their duties being to recycle scrap metal. Once the metal was taken to the processor, the processor would pay in cash or using a check made out to “cash” to be deposited back by the district.
According to the court documents, just over $5,600 in cash payments for the scrap metal recycling was not accounted for by the school district. The district’s Director of Human Resources Pam Casey launched a formal investigation, but was unable to determine who was responsible for the missing funds. She then turned the investigation over to the Town of Oconomowoc Police Department.
During their 11-month investigation, they were also unable to directly link the Cotas brothers to the missing funds. The Cotas were eventually cited for “municipal theft”, which is a non-criminal offense, even though the detective on the case was unable to prove any direct misconduct by the Cotas.
Roughly one year later, the city district attorney told the school district that “he believed he could obtain convictions and that he also believed the case could be settled. The assistant city attorney proposed dismissing the citations against the Cotas in exchange for a $500 payment, which he characterized as ‘restitution.’ The District indicated that it supported the proposal, but the Cotas had not agreed. The next day, the District terminated the Cotas’ employment”.
The brothers sued for arrest-record discrimination, which is a violation of the state’s Fair Employment Act. They never pled guilty to or were convicted of municipal theft.
The state’s high court agreed with the brothers on April 10, concluding that the Fair Employment Act “does not prohibit terminating employees with arrest records. Rather, it prohibits terminating employees because of their arrest records”, which was the primary rationale for the Cotas’ termination. So in a 5-2 ruling, the high court found that the brothers were wrongfully terminated in violation of the Fair Employment Act.
The Labor and Industry Review Commission has ordered the Oconomowoc Area School District to award the Cotas their old jobs, back pay, and pay attorneys’ fees.
