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BC's Sergeant-at-Arms and Clerk of the Legislative Assembly placed on leave


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#341 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:07 AM

paying themselves cash for unused vacation seems to be the worst. but it’ll require proving they took some days off too. the missing fridays can easily be claimed as work from home days.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 January 2019 - 07:08 AM.


#342 Rob Randall

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:15 AM

paying themselves cash for unused vacation seems to be the worst. but it’ll require proving they took some days off too. the missing fridays can easily be claimed as work from home days.

 

They'd have to get a warrant to search their home computers for evidence of work, at that point the Crown would say "don't bother". A lot of this is going to get chucked out, like Duffy et al as people here are saying.



#343 Cassidy

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:15 AM

I think the key inference in Plecas's accusation is that this alleged activity may have defrauded the B.C. Taxpayer of money totalling up into the millions of dollars.

That's a lot more than taking Friday's off and working from home, or stealing a wood splitter.

 

I suspect we'll see, and hear much more detailed and damaging evidence in the days and weeks to come.

So far, these two guys don't seem to want to go down without a fight ... so that could prove interesting to the point that it all might just become one of those entertaining asides in B.C. politics we've all enjoyed over the last 50 or 60 years.

 

It's got the makings of a crime tale that might even surpass that told of Flying Phil!



#344 Mike K.

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:20 AM

If these guys had half a brain between them they would have concocted some better damage control.


Or there’s so much that went on that there was a concern they would end up before the cart, so they waited for the report.

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#345 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:21 AM

the paid vacation time is up to 20% of their pay. that is into million over the years for sure.

#346 LeoVictoria

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:35 AM

The “government” has a much to do with this investigation as aliens have to do with Victoria’s real-estate prices.

Didn't the current government claim it had no idea what was going on? Horgan even made a now famous remark regarding how he was completely in the dark.

I mean just days ago Plecas was a laughing stock facing a petition to have him removed. Now he’s a hero and the “government” is doing something about the spending? A huh.

The speaker is politically neutral in name only. In most cases he is selected from the ruling party and in all cases he is approved by them. Speakers will also generally vote with the party. Hence the government is doing something.

By the way, not only did the previous two speakers do nothing, they were told exactly what to do and did nothing, in fact arguably abused expense accounts themselves.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...e-ago-1.4989003

A culture of corruption that is now being dragged into the light. In the leg, in gaming, in money laundering. Governments need to be thrown out after 10 years max to avoid this kind of thing.

By the way the only people thinking he was a laughing stock were those who thought this was an opportunity to topple the NDP.

Edited by LeoVictoria, 23 January 2019 - 07:56 AM.


#347 rjag

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:44 AM

The speaker is politically neutral in name only. In most cases he is selected from the ruling party and in all cases he is approved by them. Speakers will also generally vote with the party. Hence the government is doing something.

 

 

Baldrey and Stirling (via Cheffins) explained in the event of a tie in the House the Speaker may cast a vote and it will always be in favor of the ruling party. The Speaker, however is only able to cast a vote on any current legislation going through the House and may not cast a vote on any new Legislation. Therefore if there is a theoretical tie in the House ie Nanaimo goes Liberal then the house will sputter along for a sitting but no new legislation can be brought forward



#348 Torrontes

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 07:50 AM

The irony in all of this is that the root cause was that Plecas was pissed-off that he couldn't get funding to hire his buddy Mullen, which in itself would be a questionable action. The continuing threat appears to be that if the legislative committee refuses to accede to that request, he will drag all MLA expense issues into the open.

 

Russian roulette.


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#349 spanky123

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 08:19 AM

paying themselves cash for unused vacation seems to be the worst. but it’ll require proving they took some days off too. the missing fridays can easily be claimed as work from home days.

 

Being paid for unused vacations is required under BC labour laws. There should have been a policy in place which required the two to take their vacations each year and limit the number of unused days being carried over. If no such policy existed then their employer is on the hook. 

 

This is the issue that I keep referring to. I completely understand how people are upset about expenses but being upset doesn't always translate into breaking the rules, especially if the "rules" didn't exist.


Edited by spanky123, 23 January 2019 - 08:22 AM.

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#350 spanky123

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 08:22 AM

They'd have to get a warrant to search their home computers for evidence of work, at that point the Crown would say "don't bother". A lot of this is going to get chucked out, like Duffy et al as people here are saying.

 

Under BC labour laws, the onus is not on the employee to prove that they did work, it is on the employer to prove they didn't. 



#351 spanky123

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 08:34 AM

It is worth looking at the tabulation of expenses of BC MLAs from the link that was provided earlier in this thread.

 

It is appears as though the vast majority of MLAs treat the taxpayer very fairly. In fact it appears as most absorb their smaller expenses and don't bother having the taxpayer pay at all. 



#352 jonny

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 09:24 AM

Being paid for unused vacations is required under BC labour laws. 

 

You can force employees to use their vacation or lose it. 



#353 Awaiting Juno

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 09:41 AM

You can force employees to use their vacation or lose it. 

 

Actually - there are limits to this.  An employer can direct an employee to use their vacation at a specified time (ie. during a Christmas shutdown), provided that employee is given enough notice in advance, however, that is generally not the practice.  For long term employees in the public sector - vacation entitlements can top 6 weeks per year.  Generally speaking, when I was with the government, vacation carryover was limited to 10 days and any vacation in excess of that carryover was "banked" at the rate it was earned and not available to be paid out until retirement or termination (and did not accrue interest in that "bank").  Outrightly losing it is not generally an option though as it has been earned.  I'm guessing though the rules that apply to rank file, did not apply to Lenz and James.  



#354 spanky123

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 09:59 AM

^ Either way it gets paid out.


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#355 LeoVictoria

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 12:29 PM

Weaver now calling on prep speaker Linda Reid to step down as assistant deputy speaker over whistleblower report

https://globalnews.c...impression=true


Down the rabbit hole we go.

#356 sdwright.vic

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 12:30 PM

This is all sounding like the "coffee is hot" warning on the side of coffee cups.

We all know the coffee is hot, we would in fact be angry if it wasn't.

Some idiot that knows all the above to be true, drinks said coffee, burns their mouth and sued.

Now we all get to look at the side of the coffee cup being told that it's hot.

Should we really have had to tell this "gentlemen" to not steal? Commit fraud? As a society do WE really have to tell someone in a position of trust that cufflinks are a personal expense, or is he going to turn those cufflinks in when he retires? After all the are property of the province.
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#357 tjv

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 01:53 PM

They'd have to get a warrant to search their home computers for evidence of work, at that point the Crown would say "don't bother". A lot of this is going to get chucked out, like Duffy et al as people here are saying.

Usually people who work from home are provided a laptop, etc which remains the property of the employer at all times.  Even if that wasn't the case I would assume he has to log onto a portal on his personal computer and I would trust there are records of login and logoff times, emails sent, etc, etc


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#358 spanky123

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 02:00 PM

Weaver now calling on prep speaker Linda Reid to step down as assistant deputy speaker over whistleblower report

https://globalnews.c...impression=true


Down the rabbit hole we go.

 

No doubt. Sounds like the whistleblower, who speaks of years of entitlement in the public sector, worked for the Government for 4 months and was let go.

 

I am not disputing the findings, but when your whistleblower starts suggesting that people need to be let go then it sounds a lot like sour grapes. 


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#359 Jason-L

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 02:08 PM

This is all sounding like the "coffee is hot" warning on the side of coffee cups.

We all know the coffee is hot, we would in fact be angry if it wasn't.

Some idiot that knows all the above to be true, drinks said coffee, burns their mouth and sued.

Now we all get to look at the side of the coffee cup being told that it's hot.

Should we really have had to tell this "gentlemen" to not steal? Commit fraud? As a society do WE really have to tell someone in a position of trust that cufflinks are a personal expense, or is he going to turn those cufflinks in when he retires? After all the are property of the province.

The "coffee is hot" warning is because takeout coffee is often served at unsafe temperatures so that by the time you get around to drinking it, it's cooled to a regular hot ... if it was served at regular hot temperatures, it'd be cold too soon.

 

And it was coffee that spilled into a woman's lap and caused 3rd degree burns leading to hospitalization and skin grafts.

 

What we're seeing here is just an example of one of the hypocrisies of the "rich & powerful", which is that apparently a lot of people when they become rich and powerful like to grift and take free handouts.  The same kind of thing they like to accuse poor people of doing with "welfare".  Only when you're "rich & powerful" its apparently just your due, and people shouldn't question it.



#360 Rob Randall

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Posted 23 January 2019 - 02:13 PM

Usually people who work from home are provided a laptop, etc which remains the property of the employer at all times.  Even if that wasn't the case I would assume he has to log onto a portal on his personal computer and I would trust there are records of login and logoff times, emails sent, etc, etc

 

Heavens! I doubt James would dare touch a common government-issue Lenovo laptop and instead it's likely his domain is graced by a top of the line desktop Mac.


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