Ex-pro tem employee appeals dismissal

Rosita Hernandez, one of the mayor pro tem office employees who lost their jobs last week over a payroll scandal, appealed her dismissal today, maintaining that she did nothing wrong. As Hernandez's attorney, Walter A. Boyd III, said:

"Simply getting a bonus or simply getting a raise, the last time I checked, was not a violation of the law. It's only if it's unauthorized."

He added, "That's the crux of the issue we have today, is whether, in fact, it was authorized."

According to KPRC, Hernandez said former Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado was aware of the $143,000 in allegedly unauthorized bonuses she and the three other mayor pro tem employees took. Hernandez said Alvarado's initials on the paperwork were real; Alvarado has said they were forged. Alvarado's spokesman Joe Householder disagreed. "the fact of the matter is, the investigation found that these four people improperly stole $143,000 of the taxpayers' money, and they were appropriately terminated," he said.

Hernandez got $21,216 in payraises — that's a total 37 percent raise over her $57,200 base salary. That, plus $47,500 in bonuses, gave her total earnings of $125,916, putting her among the highest paid city employees. All Houstonist has to say is, if 37 percent raises in city jobs aren't unusual, we're heading down to City Hall to fill out a job application right this second.

Hernandez will be able to make her case during a civil service commission hearing April 4. It's not clear yet whether she'll ask to have her job back.