Company's goose cooked after bird killingCity stops using temp agency after incident By Doug Pardue (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The city of Charleston has quit using temporary employees from an agency whose workers were accused of killing a Canada goose in a city park earlier this month. 
Susan Secrest The city of Charleston has stopped using a temp agency whose workers were accused of killing a goose. Staffing 2000 was dropped, city officials say, because the goose incident prompted a review of the company's contract and the city noticed it was not on a state approved list of contractors. Joseph Hughes, manager of the staffing agency, said he does not understand why his company and the 34 workers it provides the city, mainly for grounds work, have been suddenly dropped. He said his company has worked with the city for nine years with no previous problems. "All of a sudden, overnight. None of this came up until this goose incident," Hughes said. Hughes said he did all he could do as a manager to properly and promptly deal with the workers who killed the goose. He fired the three employees, all of whom were Mexican citizens, on the spot. He said he knows of no way he or anybody else could have expected what the workers did. Related storyAnimal cruelty charged - 04/10/2008 "Nobody thinks it was more insane than I did. I don't know what else I can do," Hughes said. He said the city told him Monday that his company was being removed from the work because it was not on an authorized list of state registered vendors. Hughes said he promptly got on the list and the city then told him that he couldn't keep the work because he was not on the city's bid system. He got on that and the city then told him it was too late because another company had gotten the bid, he said. The city said Staffing 2000 might have applied to be on the state approved list but is not yet on it. Staffing 2000 provides temporary workers to several businesses in the Lowcountry. The company averages about 300 employees at any time, many of them Hispanics. Hughes said all of his workers have proper work documents. A woman whose yard backs up to West Ashley Park said she saw three workers wring the goose's neck and hide it in a large bucket. The three men were working at the time for the city's Department of Parks. She called police, who ticketed two of the men on a charge of cruelty to animals. The third worker ran off and eluded police. Shortly after the April 2 incident, Steve Livingston, director of Parks for the city, said the three "will never work for the city again." A hearing for the workers is scheduled for next month. Reach Doug Pardue at 937-5558 or dpardue@postandcourier.com. |
Article tools |
|
Notice about comments: Charleston.net is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Charleston.net does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not charleston.net. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "suggest removal" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here. |
Comments
This article has 14 comment(s)
Posted by JohnS on April 26, 2008 at 12:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They say none of the three workers arrested where checked thru e-verify. It's sad that what prompted this is a dumb idiot had to kill the goose. I hope the IRS criminal investigation division and the Dept of Homeland security have taken files from Staffing 2000 office and started an investigation.
Posted by SomeTruthPlease on April 26, 2008 at 1:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
JohnS, I agree wholeheartedly. I also wonder if these three will ever be around for their court appearance next month.
Posted by rjcontego on April 26, 2008 at 2:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
glad the city was so diligent over the last 9 years...
Posted by TacrolimusAddict on April 26, 2008 at 5:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There goes the TurDucKen!
Posted by Puzzled on April 26, 2008 at 9:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So let me get this straight - kill a Goose and you lose your city contract. Lose 9 firefighters due to poor fireground management .... get hailed as a great fire department and keep your job.
Posted by spyderco on April 26, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Make up your minds people. When this story first hit all anyone could say was they should fire them, deport them have the company investigated for using illegal immigrants as their workers. When something is done about it you Bitc& and moan about that too....
Posted by oldglory on April 26, 2008 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds to me that the City was caught with its pants down or thought that would happen over this incident. No? Yes?
Posted by RTC on April 26, 2008 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr. Hughes says that his Hispanic employees all have proper work documents.
Can he show proof of this? The ones fired were Mexican citizens. What kind of proper work documents did they present? Social security numbers and/or driver's licenses belonging to someone else?
He better be able to prove that these men were working here legally, or HIS goose is cooked.
Really cute title for the article btw.
Posted by ccfirefighterchick on April 26, 2008 at 11:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I just want to know why DNR was not notified when this occured. These men could have been charged with hunting without a license, killing an animal out of season, and also killing a migratory bird without a state or federal bird stamp. DNR could have also taken the city's golf cart since it was used in the commission of a crime. I asked a DNR agent whether they got the case, and he said that as far as he knew, they were not notified.
Is this just the city's way of trying to cover it's butt when it comes to federal and state crimes???
Posted by ridgerunner on April 26, 2008 at 1:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
viva McCain pero el presedente United Mexican States
WE WILL ALL BE DOING LAWN WORK
Wont be any better with the other two
Posted by svilleswampfox on April 26, 2008 at 2:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Joseph Hughes, manager of the staffing agency, said he does not understand why his company and the 34 workers it provides the city, mainly for grounds work, have been suddenly dropped."
Mr Hughes - you hired 3 idiots. 3 idiots that were some sort of immigrant, whether legal or illegal. SOMEONE was going to check - since illegal immigration has been on the news 24 hours a day for the past 5 years - which you would know unless you have been living under a rock. These Mexicans drew attention to your crappy company. Squeeky wheel gets the grease. That's why you're fired. Can't make it any simpler than that.
If you don't like it - move North and join a union. This is a right to work state. That also means right to fire. Buh-bye.
Posted by svilleswampfox on April 26, 2008 at 3:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Staffing companies many times end up being cheaper than hiring employees, and usually carry less liability - such as Worker's comp and other compliance issues. It's not that wierd.
Thomas - you seem to have a conspiracy theory for every level of government, aimed specifically at you. Maybe there is and I know none of them are perfect, but I don't think is as bad as you NEVER posting anything positive.
Not that I care what happens to the City of Charleston (cause I loathe Charleston), but these workers are to blame, then the company, then maybe the city. Could be that the company CONSPIRED to defraud the city and provided false documents. That's just hypothetical (at this point), but it's certainly a counter to your constant government conspiracy crap.
Posted by moonpie on April 26, 2008 at 3:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"He said his company has worked with the city for nine years with no previous problems."
YEAH BUT THE CITY HAS NOW GOT TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT. THERE WAS A PUBLIC OUT CRY AFTER THIS AND THAT SIR IS WHY YOU WERE DROPPED. IF YOU OR ANYONE BELIEVES YOUR WORKERS WERE LEGAL THEY ARE BADLY MISTAKEN.
Posted by ForPnC on April 26, 2008 at 7:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm glad they got fired. I'm glad the company got fired. Those three should still serve jail time.