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Whistleblower Claim Should Go Forward: Hearing Officer

By Brian Maass

DENVER (CBS4)- A City of Denver hearing officer has ruled a whistleblower claim by a Senior Assistant City Attorney should go forward.

The ruling issued Tuesday by Denver Career Service Hearing Officer Bruce Plotkin came in the controversial case of Stuart Shapiro, who was placed on paid leave for nearly two years before being finally brought back to work earlier this year.

Shapiro filed a whistleblower claim against the city saying after he disclosed "official misconduct" on the part of the City Attorney's Office, he suffered numerous adverse consequences including threats of termination, lost pay and benefits and a loss of job status.

CBS4 has previously reported how the City Attorney placed Shapiro on paid leave for 19 months, during which he received two merit pay increases, even though the city gave him no work to do and would not allow him to enter city offices.

Denver's City Attorney asked that Shapiro's whistleblower claim be dismissed on numerous grounds, saying Shapiro really suffered no adverse consequences. However, in a two-page ruling handed down Tuesday, Plotkin rejected the City motion stating if Shapiro's assertions are true, they "establish retaliatory acts. The Agency's motion to dismiss is denied."

Jamal Hunter
Jamal Hunter (credit: CBS)

Shapiro's whistleblower action stems from the case of Jamal Hunter. Hunter was a Denver city jail inmate who sued the city after he said other jail inmates caused him serious injuries . Hunter claimed a Denver sheriff's deputy allowed the jailhouse assault to occur.

The city agreed to settle with Hunter for $3.25 million. At the same time, the City Attorney placed Shapiro on leave suggesting his conduct in overseeing the Hunter case might have been questionable.

After a CBS4 report on Shapiro's nearly two-year paid leave, the city put him back to work in February although administrators ordered him to work from home saying there was no office space for him.

MARTINEZ RESPONDS
City Attorney Scott Martinez (credit: CBS)

Jenna Espinoza, a spokesperson for the mayor's office, told CBS4, "The City Attorney's Office has no comment while this is an ongoing matter."

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass has been with the station more than 30 years uncovering waste, fraud and corruption. Follow him on Twitter @Briancbs4.

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