Separate Employee in New Hampshire Suspended

Most know of the controversy surrounding an Employment Security commissioner, Tara Reardon, in the state of New Hampshire. A complaint was made against Reardon in which two of her co-workers allege that she had a separate employee hire her daughter only to lay her off so that her daughter would not have to work during the summer and could instead collect unemployment benefits that are granted to unemployed individuals in the state. Reardon resigned on her own free will, stating that the environment around her with her disgruntled co-workers was not comfortable and also stating that she felt she was being attacked by some of the other employees.

Only a day after Reardon’s resignation, a deputy commissioner received notice of suspension due to allegations that are eerily familiar. The Governor of the state, John Lynch, announced that Darrell Gates has been suspended but will continue to receive pay while an investigation is ongoing. Lynch stated that the allegations made against Gates are quite serious, leading to the suspension of his position until further notice. In the meantime, Reardon will also continue to receive pay even though she has resigned and will be paid up until the end of August. She continues to profess her innocence but claims that her reasoning behind the resignation is to avoid the co-workers who are creating these “fabricated” stories and causing stress and tension for her in the workplace.

The co-workers who made the complaints state that it was not just Reardon but also Gates who had their daughters hired, had them work for a bit with part time positions, and then had them laid-off so that instead of working, they could receive unemployment benefits without having to do anything for them. The two co-workers who originally made the allegations against the employees believe that both Gates and Reardon have violated state laws due to such practices and were hoping that something would be done about the situation.

When Reardon created her resignation letter, she did not talk about the actual complaint at hand and instead she stated that several of the employees within the department were acting disgruntled and believed that the best way for her to defend herself would be to resign so that she did not have to deal with the apparent attacks that these co-workers were causing. When contacted for comment via phone and e-mail messages, Gates would not respond to any of the messages, not saying whether or not the allegations made against him are, in fact, true or false.