StarTribune.com content is available via e-mail, mobile devices and as RSS feeds.
Home | Local + Metro | The I-35W bridge collapse
Arbitrator upholds firing absent MnDOT employee
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on newsvine
Share on Digg
Minnesota bridges rated: An interactive map of bridges that are "structurally deficient," "functionally obsolete" or have gusset plates like those on the I-35W bridge.
Related Content
Sonia Morphew Pitt
More from Local + Metro
The former Minnesota Department of Transportation emergency management director, who was out of the state for 10 days after the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, won't be getting her job back.
An arbitrator ruled this week that the state was justified in firing Sonia Morphew Pitt.
She was placed on leave by the state in early September. In November, she was fired for unauthorized travel, making excessive personal calls on her MnDOT cell phone and conduct unbecoming to the agency.
Pitt was at a seminar at Harvard University when the 35W bridge collapsed on Aug. 1, killing 13 and injuring more than 100. After the seminar, she traveled to Washington, D.C., and didn't return to Minnesota until Aug. 11. Pitt contended she was able to perform her duties from there.
"In short, Ms. Pitt failed to justify her presence in Washington, D.C., following the bridge collapse," arbitrator Christine D. Ver Ploeg wrote in her ruling. "Just because Ms. Pitt was able to do portions of her job remotely does not mean that it made no difference where she was."
Ver Ploeg's decision "affirms our position that serious misconduct cannot be tolerated in the state's workforce," Patricia Anderson, state Employee Relations commissioner, said.
Pitt's attorney, John Fabian, noted the arbitrator's decision "also exonerates Ms. Pitt with respect to" several reasons the state gave for her termination.
Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478
- GOP stalwart arrested in 2-day St. Paul prostitution sting
- NWA, Sun confront virus-toting e-mail
- Wis. girl dies at Detroit Lakes music festival
- Morris chancellor defends instructor who defiled Eucharist, tore Qur'an
- 'Joe' fleeced couple of $400,000
- Case dismissed in Minneapolis girl's shooting
- Bayport teen found with man she met online
- Spurned by GOP caucus, Olson plans run for state Senate
- 3rd Congressional District hopefuls to hold first debate Aug. 21
- Paul rally blossoms into mini-convention
- NYC mayor making the rounds in Twin Cities
- Klobuchar presses for drug pricing scrutiny
- DFL files complaint over secret ballot ads
- National Press Club books Pawlenty as speaker
- McCain pulls even with Obama in Minnesota
- Property-tax problems plague First District GOP candidate
- Coleman, Franken to field questions on YouTube
  HomesGot designs on a new home? Victorian, modern, mansions and country cottage. View what's hot on the block. |
|