RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the ruling by the state Court of Appeals on the firing of a former Alcohol Law Enforcement agent (all times local):
4:55 p.m.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety says the agency is reviewing a Court of Appeals ruling that the former director of Alcohol Law Enforcement was fired from his most recent job as an ALE agent solely for political reasons and should be reinstated.
Spokeswoman Pam Walker made that comment in an email Tuesday, the same day that the three-judge panel of the Appeals Court agreed unanimously with an administrative law judge’s ruling that John Ledford should be reinstated and should receive back pay.
Despite what it describes as “dire warnings” from the Department of Public Safety if the court upheld the reinstatement, the ruling says it won’t “turn Ledford into a scapegoat for all that ails our body politic.”
Ledford sought reassignment from director to an agent in Asheville in 2012. He was fired in 2013.
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12:32 p.m.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals agrees that the former director of Alcohol Law Enforcement was fired from his most recent job as an ALE agent solely for political reasons and should be reinstated.
In a unanimous decision issued Tuesday, the court agreed with an administrative law judge’s ruling that John Ledford should be reinstated and receive back pay.
Despite what it describes as “dire warnings” from the Department of Public Safety if the court upheld the reinstatement, the ruling says it won’t “turn Ledford into a scapegoat for all that ails our body politic.”
Ledford sought reassignment from director to an agent in Asheville in 2012. He was fired in 2013.
The Associated Press left messages for spokeswomen for DPS and the state attorney general’s office, which represented DPS.
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