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Former Potsdam code officer O'Brien wins wrongful termination case, village ordered to reinstate him

Posted 3/4/16

POTSDAM -- Former village code enforcement officer Timothy O'Brien will soon be back on the job following his victory in a wrongful termination case against the village. A document from State Supreme …

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Former Potsdam code officer O'Brien wins wrongful termination case, village ordered to reinstate him

Posted

POTSDAM -- Former village code enforcement officer Timothy O'Brien will soon be back on the job following his victory in a wrongful termination case against the village.

A document from State Supreme Court Judge Robert Main says the village must reinstate O'Brien immediately with full pay and benefits. 

There are five claims the judge addressed. All of them were dismissed except one, which O'Brien's attorney David Lenney of Clifton Park said was all they needed.

"They (village board) did a resolution on May 30, 2012 ... and the court said 'get rid of that,'" Lenney said.

The claim the court validated was that O'Brien was fired in violation of civil service law.

Claims two through five deal with retaliatory measures O'Brien and his attorney alleged the village took, but "because the court granted claim one, none of those really matter."

One of the claims alleged O'Brien was fired as retaliation "for doing his job," Lenney said. 

“You can’t fire somebody for doing their job," according to Lenney. “I took this case as one where Tim was fired for enforcing the law … the court said we don’t need to adopt that case because he was already back on the job.”

The complete court document is here.