I was dumb but I wasn’t stupid. Things were a little too quiet and one bright sunny day, while waiting for the mailman,
he brought me a certified letter, which read:
Dear Mr. Phatdaddy,
Effective at 08:00
hours on March 13, 2002 your services with the Richland Sheriff’s office will no longer be needed. It is imperative
that you contact this office within five days of receiving this letter to arrange for the return of all departments issued
equipment. You will also need to complete paperwork in the payroll section to get a refund from the Virginia Retirement System.
Sincerely Captain Hickson
I read this letter to my wife but don’t remember what it was
she said because at that time all I saw was the tow truck taking our cars away. The mortgage company was sitting our furniture
out on the street; the lights went dim and the water stopped dripping in the kitchen sink. The room started spinning and my
heart stopped beating.
They hadn’t just turned off a couple of circuit breakers they had hit the main
switch. This time I was in shutdown mode but my wife said, “To hell with them we’re going to open the polish shop
full blast now, we don’t need them.” I had heard what she said but it still didn’t register. What happened
to the policy and procedures? What about my hearing? Many questions filled my mind. To me, this was illegal, so I contacted
my attorney. He told me he would get back to me.
He wrote the department once again. The letter stated:
Dear
Chris Hickson,
I am in receipt of a copy of your letter dated March 13, 2002. Unfortunately, I
do not believe that Deputy Phatdaddy was treated fairly by your office or your workers compensation adjustment company.
I wrote a detailed letter to the office of the Sheriff explaining the circumstances of the confusion
regarding the offer to light duty employment. I did not receive a response to this correspondence and can only assume that
it was not read.
The correspondence of March 13, 2002 does not indicate that there was any investigation
done. This is not surprising. Moreover, you gave information to Deputy Phatdaddy, which was incomplete and incorrect. It is
up to Deputy Phatdaddy to decide for himself whether or not he would like a refund of the contributions into the Virginia
Retirement System. You should not encourage him to remove that money from the retirement system if he does not want to do
so.
As Mr. Phatdaddy is no longer an employee with the office of the Sheriff, please do not write
to him again or telephone him regarding his workers compensation claim or employment.
Again, as
I stated previously in my unread correspondence, Mr. Phatdaddy has been instructed to return back to work and you have simply
refused that request.
I was on top of the mountain toasting marshmallows, listening to my CD player,
waiting for someone to come up on top with me. I kept looking over to see if someone was on his or her way to the top but
never did I see anyone. Each day I would lean over a little further til one day I fell off, there was no way to fall but down.
My attorney sent me a letter he had received from workers comp advising him that they were terminating my medical
and indemnity benefits as of February 25, 2002. Not only did I lose my job, I lost my benefits. Plus, I didn’t have
10 cents coming in. Along with receiving that bad news it seemed like my phone and doorbell never seemed to ring anymore.
Where were the friends? It seemed like I had fallen out of the loop, nobody wanted to be bothered with the sick and unemployed.
I went down to the unemployment office on March 17, 2002 and filed for benefits, and they were denied. I was
scheduled for a phone interview with a member of the sheriff’s office and the day of the interview, the investigator
was on the phone. He didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. He claimed he didn’t even know I had been terminated.
Now that was a lie because I turned my weapon in to him personally.
Unemployment asked who terminated me,
I replied “Captain Hickson.” The Investigator Games stated, “That can’t be true, he doesn’t
have the authority to terminate anyone, he stated he thought you had quit.” That was another lie.
After
Investigator Games refused to answer any questions, unemployment said, they would give them 24 hrs. to get the facts together
and would reschedule another hearing.
I received a letter from the unemployment that stated:
The
Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act provides that an individual shall be disqualified if it is found that he was discharged
as a result of misconduct in connection with work. Misconduct exist when it is shown that there was a willful, or substantial
disregard of the employers interest or standards of behavior that the employer has the right to expect of his employee.
In the absence of evidence to show that you were discharged for misconduct, it is the decision of
the Deputy that you are qualified for benefits effective March 17, 2002.
Now that was a relief, now
I had a few quarters rolling in to help with the bills, but it was nowhere near what I was used to making. The business was
put in my wife’s name and we hired a neighbor that live across the street to polish the small items. My friend D- Block
would now handle the bikes. This would at least allow the customers that got held up by the surgery get back on the road.
