Burlington Corrections Officer appeals suspension

Burlington County Correction Officer Douglas B. Chilton, who is listed on Gannett's "DataUniverse" site as having made $63,755 in 2007, was suspended for 7 days for walking off the job on December 4, 2007. He allegedly volunteered for the morning shift but walked away after learning what his assignment was. He has appealed the suspension.

The records related to the suspension are on-line here.

Even though the incident occurred in 2007, the appeal was filed with the State Department of Personnel in December 2008 and transferred to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) in early 2009. The OAL has assigned Docket No. CSV4068-09 to the case, and, unless it settles, the matter will eventually be heard by an administrative judge, who will make a recommendation to the Department of Personnel affirming, modifying or reversing the discipline that Burlington County imposed.

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ABOUT ME AND WHY I'M POSTING THIS.

I chair the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project which seeks to increase governmental transparency and accountability, particularly at a local level.

As part of my work, I routinely check administrative Civil Service appeal dockets. Most often, the public does not get to see these records. I post them on-line for several reasons: a) because they sometimes reveal official wrongdoing by a government employee, b) because they sometimes suggest that a government agency is using the disciplinary process to retaliate (i.e. file trumped up charges) against an politically or otherwise unpopular employee and c) because these appeals and the underlying disciplinary charges cost public money and the taxpayers ought to be aware of how their money is being spent.

For more information on the Libertarian Party, click here.
For similar postings on other government officials, see my blog.

John Paff
Somerset, New Jersey