Politics

Did State Chief Justice Fire Grievance Commmision Official For Reporting Wrongdoing?

July 29, 2014, 4:43 PM by  Allan Lengel


Robert Agacinski

The head administrator for the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission (AGC)  is alleging that the state Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young fired him for reporting illegal misconduct of commission staff members. 

In a whistle-blower lawsuit filed late Tuesday afternoon in Wayne County Circuit Court, Robert Agacinski, the ex-chief grievance administrator for the AGC, alleged that he was fired after reporting that subordinate staff members used words like "cunt" and "bitch" and "DW (dirty whore) and "moron dipshit asshole" in emails to one another to describe fellow workers. Justice Young is the ultimate boss of the AGC.

The suit, which names Young and all nine AGC commissioners, alleges that the language in the emails sent among staff workers at the Grievance Commission violated the civil rights of the employees referenced in the emails, and violated the "Computer Systems Use Policy" of the agency. The commission polices attorney misconduct in the state.

The suit alleges that Attorney Grievance Commissioners failed to discipline the agency's workers and instead fired Agacinski for reporting the violations.

"Those who are responsible for the conduct of lawyers are not free from regulations, themselves," Joel B. Sklar, the attorney representing Agacinski, told Deadline Detroit. 

John Nevin, a spokesman for the state Supreme Court, said: "We don't have a comment."  Members of the commission could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The 10-page lawsuit states that in late February of this year Agacinski discovered and reported the "unlawful activity" to Barbara Smith, the chairperson of the AGC, with the thought she would communicate his reports up the chain of command to Chief Justice Young, the ultimate boss.

An investigation was undertaken by a private attorney chosen and paid for by the AGC, the suit states. That  attorney was a "close personal friend" of Smith, the suit states.

A report on the matter was given to the commission in April, and on May 3 "instead of taking any remedial or corrective measures," the suit says, Supreme Court Justice Young fired him.

"Plaintiff was shocked that he had been fired and his employee-personnel file articulates no reason for his termination," the suit says.

The suit, which asks for more than $25,000, says the firing was a "retaliatory discharge in violation" and that he suffered emotional distress, embarrassment, lost wages, anxiety, and depression.

 



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