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A former D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles employee has lost his bid to get his job back after he was fired for essentially voiding $720 in traffic tickets and penalties, according to recent decision by the Office of Employee Appeals.
Brian Bacon worked for the DMV as an “adjudication services” employee with the power to “suspend” tickets for six months, city records show. He was fired for suspending several of his own tickets, sometimes more than once, he racked up while parking near his office, city records show.
“You used your position for private gain,” the DMV wrote to Bacon went it fired him in 2009. “By suspending your personal tickets late penalites were never assessed, collection notices were never mailed to your home and unpaid tickets were never referred to collections.” The DMV add that Bacon’s actions would “adversely affect the confidence of the public” in the DMV and the “District government as a whole” if publicly known. Now the public knows! Confidence affected!
In his defense, Bacon said the DMV didn’t have a clear policy on employees suspending their own tickets, and he didn’t purposely break any rules. The Office of Employee Appeal’s administrative judge disagreed, saying Bacon’s case was undermined by the fact that he’d previously “followed the proper procedures” for contesting his own tickets.