Las Vegas Sun

December 5, 2009

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Editorial: Firing was warranted

Friday, Oct. 8, 2004 | 8:54 a.m.

Two days after being passed over for promotion, a state Transportation Department employee pulled out a 9 mm handgun during a meeting in Reno. He laid it on a table and turned to his boss, the person who had told him he wasn't getting the promotion. "You might want to switch places ... so I can get a better shot," he said.

Naturally, the employee was fired. State Hearing Officer Patrick Dolan, however, this week reinstated the employee. Dolan said the employee's actions were "juvenile and incredibly stupid" but not so wrong as to warrant his dismissal. At the hearing, the employee said he brought the gun to the meeting only as a joke.

In this age of workplace violence, there is no correlation between guns and jokes. This excuse was totally unworthy of even being considered. The firing was fully justified and should have been sustained. It's unthinkable and inexcusable that the state would allow any employee to get away with such an offense.

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