State court upholds firing in Greene County case
A Greene County woman who lost her job in the county’s Human Services Department for leaking confidential information about a drug bust that involved her son-in-law will not get her position back. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled Monday that Patricia Doman was correctly fired for breaching county confidentiality rules in 2002.
On Feb. 4, 2002, county drug and alcohol case management specialist John Fox told Doman that a client tipped him off that her son-in-law was going to be arrested as part of an undercover drug bust. Doman, who, according to court papers, told her husband and daughter, told a co-worker. That co-worker told the head of Doman’s department.
That woman called in the head of the county’s human resource department and Doman was fired. She appealed her termination to the State Civil Service Commission. The commission upheld the firing, and Doman appealed to Commonwealth Court, claiming she was wrongly let go.
Doman claimed the information Fox relayed to her was not necessary to do her job, and there was no cause to believe she was unfit to fill her position and had breached any confidentiality rules relating to her job.
The court ruled, however, that it was “rational and logical to conclude that such a breach of confidentiality touches upon her fitness for employment with the county.” The court also noted that telling her family could have put the client who tipped Fox off into jeopardy.
The court also debunked Doman’s argument that she was discriminated against because one of the co-workers she told could have also disseminated the information.
“There is simply no credited evidence that (co-worker Michelle) Howard disclosed confidential client information outside the agency or even within the agency for her own benefit or for the benefit of another,” ruled the court, noting that Fox also lost his job as a result of the breach.
The court also noted that both Doman and Fox faced criminal charges because the information was leaked.
Police charged both Doman and Fox with hindering apprehension or prosecution for disclosing the information. Doman was convicted and sentenced to one year probation earlier this year. Charges against Fox were dropped in exchange for his testimony against Doman.