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| Corrections employee blames unfair system for loss of job |
| By currentargus.com - Milan Simonich |
| Published: 07/15/2011 |
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SANTA FE — Four employees at the state prison in Los Lunas have been arrested at least twice on suspicion of drunken driving. Executives of the New Mexico Corrections Department fired one of them, officer Rudy Sais. The other three continue to work at the prison, leading Sais to contend in a state Supreme Court case that the department is guilty of a double standard. Sais, 24, sued the state to get his job back. He won in district court and in the New Mexico Court of Appeals. But the Corrections Department has appealed again, keeping him off the payroll at least until the state's highest court rules on whether the prison system was arbitrary in disciplining officers accused of taking the wheel while intoxicated. The department in June 2005 established a policy to punish prison employees arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Its general counsel said in his brief that drunken driving was epidemic in New Mexico, prompting the department to take a stand against it. A first arrest for drunken driving would bring a prison worker a suspension. If the employee was arrested a second time, he would be fired. But the department admitted in its own brief to the Supreme Court that the policy was not enforced consistently. Still, the department attorney says Sais' dismissal was justified based on his behavior. Sais counters that he was never convicted of any crime for which the department fired him. Read More. |
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