But the clerk of the circuit court said Ted Jaynes was not following rules when his clerks made a habit of leaving early.
By MICHAEL SANDLER
Published September 3, 2003
CLEARWATER - Ted Jaynes does not deny letting his night shift at the Pinellas County Courthouse end work 15 minutes early.
But the supervisor blamed for a May scandal that ended with the entire night probate division being dismissed said he never forced the clerks to leave or falsify their time cards.
"I don't ever remember telling them to do it," Jaynes said. "I don't know if they were misconstruing what I had told them."
Jaynes and his three deputy clerks were fired in May after an assistant director stayed late and found the probate division empty shortly before 10 p.m., when their shift was supposed to end.
Elinor Fox, Kathy Quaranto and Dana Ritz all said Jaynes insisted they leave early each night at 9:45 p.m. Fox said they often worked through breaks to make up the time.
"We just assumed that because we worked eight hours, it wasn't wrong," Fox said.
Jaynes, 63, did not respond to phone calls or a knock at his Port Richey home in time for a story that appeared in Tuesday's edition of the St. Petersburg Times.
He phoned Tuesday to tell his story. He said he often let his workers leave early, but they made up the time working through breaks.
Jaynes pointed his finger at Colleen Ford, the assistant director in Court Services who caught them in April. She had recently come over from the criminal courts division.
"I really think I was singled out by this new director," Jaynes said. "It was her first week on the job."
The staff of Karleen DeBlaker, clerk of the circuit court, said they chose termination over suspension or a reprimand because the four clerks admitted they had made a habit of leaving early.
Last month Quaranto got her job back after going before the county's personnel board, who deemed her punishment was extreme. DeBlaker agreed, changed the punishment to a three-day suspension and reinstated her on the day shift.
Fox and Ritz did not have the same luck. Both were hired this year and were still probationary employees, so they could be fired without explanation and without the right to appeal.
Jaynes did not appeal. He said his termination came two weeks before he was scheduled to retire and the earliest hearing before the board would have been in August.
He had recently celebrated his 10-year anniversary with the clerk's office and said his termination does not affect his retirement benefits.
"At that point, the question would be moot," he said.
The clerk stands by firing Jaynes.
"We feel he was not following the rules and the regulations," Miriam Irizarry, chief deputy director for the clerk, said Tuesday in response to Jaynes' comments. "He was responsible for the group of employees and Mrs. DeBlaker pretty much feels his termination was justified. We don't feel he was targeted."
