PORT ALLEN — A former West Baton Rouge deputy fire chief and his previous supervisors reached an agreement Monday after he claimed he was wrongfully fired, but whether he gets his job back or a significant amount of severance pay won’t be announced until next week at the earliest.
The parish fire civil service board had said James Hartley was terminated in January for violating sick leave policies, but without specifying how he violated them. Hartley and his attorney appealed the termination later that month.
“He did not engage in the misconduct that was asserted against him, and it seems to us, based on our preliminary investigation, that Mr. Hartley may not have actually been terminated by any lawful appointing authority of Fire District 1,” Hartley’s attorney, Kevin Vogeltanz, said in February…