Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
By SUSAN WEICH
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
A medical billing clerk for the Lincoln County Ambulance District says she has been fired from her job because she spoke out about the suspension of Chief Financial Officer Mia Farmer.
Dorothy Balaban talked to a reporter for the Post-Dispatch earlier this month and decried the treatment of Farmer, whose duties have been reduced and salary slashed $10,000 to about $60,000 a year. Farmer was placed on paid administrative leave Feb. 22 and does not know if she will be asked to return to work. She has said she was suspended because she has fought with the union which has the backing of the district board. The board said she was suspended for poor performance and the union has denied any involvement.
She declined Thursday to comment about Balaban’s firing.
Balaban, 56, was the only district employee contacted by the Post-Dispatch who agreed to talk about the situation. Other employees said they feared retaliation at their jobs if they spoke to the media.
Balaban said on Wednesday morning she was handed a five-line letter telling her she was fired. It was signed by the district’s chief of operations, Jim Holloway. The board of directors decided to terminate her job effective immediately, according to the letter.
The letter cited Balaban’s “disruptive behavior and insubordinate conduct” as reasons for her termination.
Holloway declined to comment Thursday. The district’s attorney, Neil Bruntrager, could not be reached for comment.
“I’m sure it’s because of my name being in the paper,” Balaban said. “I think it was a warning to all the other employees to watch their P’s and Q’s or it will happen to them too.”
Balaban said the day before the newspaper article appeared, she was handed a memo reminding employees that it is the policy of the district to refuse to discuss personnel matters.
The memo reads in part: “Any disclosure of personnel matters by a Lincoln County ambulance employee is a violation of privacy rights and will subject the disclosing employee to discipline for violation of the policy.”
Balaban said the memo was the first she had heard of any such policy. She said she had talked to the Post-Dispatch before seeing it.
In a March 19 article, Balaban said that Farmer had done outstanding work for the district since taking over the finances in July 2002. She discounted district claims that Farmer had made nearly $15,000 in errors on payroll issues -- including $4,000 overpayments Farmer made to herself and Holloway.
Farmer has put the total of the errors at about $2,900. Balaban said Farmer had been singled out because she had butted heads with union paramedics and EMTs who asked for what Balaban said were “humongous raises and benefits.”
Since 2001, the starting base pay in the district has increased 20 percent for paramedics and 25 percent for EMTs. The average pay last year for paramedics was $48,011; for EMTs it was $42,615.
In addition, Balaban said one of the reasons Farmer had been disciplined was because she had allowed Balaban to take a few days off with pay to visit her mother in Indiana after she suffered a heart attack. Balaban was not entitled to the days off for two more months but did pay the time back.
In her four years as an employee of the district, Balaban said she previously had never been reprimanded for her job performance.
“I don’t recall any insubordination, and as far as disruptive behavior, I guess that’s because I talked to other employees about Mia; I was vocal,” she said.
Balaban said she had contacted an attorney about her termination.
“I need a job, and I need help,” Balaban said. Her husband Duane doesn’t work because he had back and heart surgery last year. Both had careers in the Air Force, but she needs to work to supplement their retirement, she said. Her job with the district had paid her about $29,000 a year.
Despite her plight, Balaban said she would speak out again if asked.
“I chose to use my name,” she said. “I thought it was right to support Mia, and I still do.”