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Atlanta's Questionable HR Policies

From the October 2008 newsletter of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation:

Atlanta’s Questionable HR Policies: A Need for Enforceable Performance Metrics
By Tom Coffin, fired Sr. Arborist for the City of Atlanta

Background

On July 29, I was summoned to a noon meeting with Ibrahim Maslamani, Director of the Bureau of Buildings in the City of Atlanta. This was the first meeting we had had since Mr. Maslamani promoted me in October 2007 to a newly-created position of Senior Arborist in charge of field operations in the Arborist Division.

It was also our last meeting. Without warning, without explanation, without cause, without a shred of due process, Mr. Maslamani fired me.

News travels fast in the internet age. Within hours phone calls and email messages of concern, despair and outrage were piling up in the offices of the Mayor and City Council. Within a day Channels 2 and 11 presented on-air interviews with me and others. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Creative Loafing, the Buckhead Reporter and other media soon reported
on the event. The New York Times lead with the story, including photographs, in its National section on August 6. The Associated Press distributed a report to its affiliates. Internet blogs too numerous to count weighed in. Even the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation demanded an explanation after more than 50 of its members protested vehemently to its president, John Sherman." ... more

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