in Pico Rivera and from one unincorporated county area last year.
A backflow preventer is a brass device that stops liquid from backing into the main water supply.
But Gonzalez only admitted to six thefts and told sheriff’s Detective Stan Avila he sold the brass devices to scrap metal yards.
Jeff Prang, assistant city manager for Pico Rivera, said he’s pleased Gonzalez was caught and liked the sentence.
“He did a lot of damage during the time he was still out in the community,” Prang said. “Fortunately, his vandalism didn’t cause any harm to people as a result. if those backflow preventers had needed to be engaged, it could have caused some real problems.”
The District Attorney’s Office originally charged Gonzalez with five counts of grand theft of personal property and one count of attempted grand theft of personal property.
The incidents happened from Oct. 20 to Dec. 10 and the victims included Kobe Chem Lab, the city of Pico Rivera, Los Angeles County Public Works and Gateway Management. Under the plea deal, he admitted to stealing from Kobe Chem, public works and Gateway Management.
Gonzalez had wanted to remain in the county program called called Maximizing Education Reaching Transformation.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department website, MERIT is comprised of three rehab programs and each program fosters accountability, peer-to-peer support, and positive behavior modeled in a social setting preparing participants for community re-entry.
However, the District Attorney’s Office objected.
“He’s trying to avoid state prison,” said Stephen Hauss, deputy district attorney.
“Just because he’s having buyer’s remorse doesn’t change the deal,” Hauss said.
mike.sprague@sgvn.com 562-698-0955, ext. 3022
I have worked for my father-in-law at a Electrical Wholesalers for around five years now and this morning he sacked me cause his daughter told him of our marital problems.
Can he legally do this ? I have done nothing wrong as far as the job is concerned and this is just a personal issue, but does his sacking me hold any ground ? Am I entitled to some sort of severance pay ? I've never had a contract, but have been there for 5 years now and have paid National Insurance and taxes…
Any advice would be appreciated.
It is an implied term of every contract of employment that employer and employee comply with the duty not to act in a way that is likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence between them. This is often called "the term of mutual trust and confidence". while your adultery would not on the face of it appear to have any impact on your work, there has certainly been a breakdown of that relationship of mutual trust and confidence and you are the one to have caused this breach of an implied term of your employment, not your employer.
Firstly if You have been working for him for five years and do not have a contract he is breaking the law He has to have a valid reason to do with your work to sack you you may be able to get some redress by taking him for wrongful dismissal. get some advice from the job centre about your rights
Generally speaking, I would say that he could sack you because if you cheated on his daughter, that means you are not trustworthy and cannot be trusted to keep your promises or do the right thing. Fortunately for you, you live in the UK and their employment laws are quite strict. I am thinking your father-in-law cannot sack you without compensating you. You should contact the Citizen's Advice Bureau to see what your rights are. good luck and God bless.
citizensadvice.org.uk/
In the UK there ae strict guidelines to be followed before sacking an employee. I suggest you visit your Citizens Advice Bureau to ascertain your rights. I fail to see why correspondents from the US bother to give their opinions on the outcomes on British Law when they don't know what they are talking about.
This is not sufficient reason to sack you. if he has not issued you with a contract, he is acting illegally. nonetheless, if you have worked under the same terms and conditions for five years, then these are deemed to be 'implied' in your contract. Yo need to talk to ACAS.
He was wrong to sack you and i hope you do sue him!
cheating has nothing to do with your work and in actual fact he is acting just as badly.
I also dont see why americans are answering when our laws are completely different to theirs??
contact a tribunal or ACAS and get some help.
Sounds illegal to me. what happens outside work is a separate thing unless it reflects on you as a company employee or the company as a whole. You have an uphill battle though. if it were my daughter, it would be a cold day in hell before I paid you another day's wages.
He may see you now as being unethical. In the US you can be fired for any reason other than ageism, racism, sexism, etc. I don't know your laws there. You could speak to your human resources department, if there is one.
If you had cheated on my daughter you would no longer have the ability to write your little ***** statements. find a pair of balls. Don't cheat. of course he can sack you. You are a poor representation of company standards.
Lots of advice here which is conflicting. on Monday phone ACAS and they will tell you your legal rights.
Personally I think he has sacked you illegally, but get the advice from the experts.
No he can't do it legally. try and have an amicable chat with him to get your job back. it is understandable that he is upset but that doesn't make it right.
You should maybe check out the citizens advice to see what they say, however, if you have no contract, i.e. no terms of employment, then you will struggle.
Probably illegal. but when you suckle at pa-in-law's teat, there's always the chance you'll be forcibly removed. want to get them both back? Prang your ma-in-law!! Cheerio, pip pip!
did you cheat on his daughter?
no he can't sack you for this and it is unfair dismissal
however, be warned, if you challenge this he is likely to come up with another, legal excuse to have sacked you and this could have consequences (not saying don't claim for unfair dismissal but just warning you he's going to try and cover himself probably)
you can apply for a case of unfair dismissal and must put in a formal grievance (ACAS have a template you can use) you must go through the grievance process before you can go to employment tribunal (which is where you get the compensation if you are awarded it)
you have 3 months less one day to put in for an employment tribunal – but this is expensive so check your home insurance to see if you have legal advice on this or speak to a union rep if you are a member
it might be a good idea to put the claim for employment tribunal in straight away cos if your father in law drags his heels about the grievance you could miss the deadline and then you're scuppered
No he cannot legally dismiss you.
A dismissal is 'potentially fair' if it is a result of:
your conduct – your ability to do your job – redundancy – retirement (from 1 October 2006)
a legal reason that prevents you from doing your job like losing your driving licence if you're a delivery driver for example – another substantial reason.
From what you write you appear to have been instantly dismissed without your employer following a Statutory Dispute Procedure. ie disciplinary process giving you the opportunity to put your case. if this is the case you have been automatically unfairly dismissed. An employer who is contemplating dismissal must follow minimum statutory procedures.
The Employment Act (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 set out the minimum steps that employers must follow (except in exceptional circumstances) when proposing to dismiss an employee.
If the employer fails to complete the appropriate Disciplinary & Dismissal Procedure (DDP) , the employee will (if they have at least one year's continuous employment) have been automatically unfairly dismissed. if it was the employer's fault that the procedure was not completed, the tribunal must increase the employee's compensatory award by between 10% and 50%,
If your FIL did follow a disciplinary procedure i.e. invite you to a formal meeting in order for you to 'put your case' before dismissing you. then give you the opportunity to appeal the decision to dismiss, it will be for him to demonstrate that your actions had a substantial detrimental effect on his business to render the dismissal fair at an ET.
Remember you have to make an application to an employment tribunal within 3 months of your last day of service. if you fail in this you will not get a hearing.
Hope this helps. if you would like further info feel free to contact me via my profile.
Maybe you haven't given us the full facts here.
Though I am neutral and I neither side with him or you, I tend to think that there may be a 'conflict of interests' that you are not really telling us about. The person you cheated with, was it during office hours? Was the person you cheated with a supplier or someone directly or indirectly involved in you FIL's business? if so, then a conflict of interest may have made your position untenable, and he may well be within his legal rights to dismiss you.
Edit…. okay – understood. if that's the case, then it looks on the surface like it could well be unfair dismissal, but what you did wasn't very fair either – though 2 wrongs don't make a right. This is a simple case of a Father-in-Law taking revenge on his daughter's behalf. I would tread carefully though and not try to cause even more hurt, and maybe even just walk away and find another job if I could. Prove to everybody that you can stand on your own 2 feet so to speak. everyone is always sueing each other these days and burning bridges forever, it's just not always a good way to carry on.
From a legal point of view he can't do that and you could take him to court and most likely get some compensation in the UK.
However if he is smart it will be hard to prove that is why you were sacked. For gross misconduct you don't need any warnings and he could easily make something up. also going to a tribunal is a long and drawn out process, often taking around a year to complete and it will drag up a huge amount of unpleasantness.
You don't actually need a written contract like many people think and they're more for your benefit that the companies. Now he can say you are dropped to 0 hours just because he doesn't have the work for you.
Really it's best to face up to what you have done, be a man and take it on the chin, even if that puts you in a bad financial situation. You should have thought about this before cheating and I think most fathers (and mothers) would do what your father-in-law has done.
Unless you have a contract that says otherwise – yes he probably can.
And most likely he can come up with a business reason to do so. You may have been doing well at the job, but you probably were not perfect. Most bosses can come up with a business reason to fire someone.
Don't know about where you are….but in the US, most employment is at will. Meaning you can be fired at any time for any reason – or no reason. Likewise, you can quit at any time for any reason or no reason.
People have been fired for facebook postings. what you do outside of work has been used as a cause for termination.
Your best bet is to update your resume and start looking for another job. it probably better not to be working for family. In the mean time, odds are you won't be able to count on father in law for a good reference.
Good luck in your job search.