SELINSGROVE — Northumberland County is fighting a fired sheriff deputy’s eligibility for unemployment benefits.
The county is appealing the Pennsylvania Unemployment Board’s decision to award benefits to former deputy Michael Boris, of Mount Carmel, following his Jan. 13 termination from his $15.65-an-hour job for failing to keep his office computer password and user name confidential according to county policy.
A three-hour hearing was held Thursday before hearing officer Maurice Pap La Rin, who did not render an immediate decision.
Boris was fired two weeks after county Commissioner Vinny Clausi publicly disclosed that two individuals in the sheriff’s office had viewed pornographic websites on their office computers.
Boris and fellow deputy Joe Jones, of Mount Carmel, were subsequently fired by Sheriff Chad Reiner when it was determined that the porn was viewed Nov. 19 and 20 on computers by someone using their confidential computer login information.
Boris contends his firing was improper because he did not violate any policy and the county did not prove it, according to his attorney, Douglas Engelman, of Williamsport.
Boris, Jones and former deputy Thomas Drust, who was fired in March for improper use of an office computer by viewing porn, each testified that Reiner required all deputies to share their computer login information.
Reiner denied it, but admitted that some passwords were shared to access restricted databases. However, he testified he never used the databases and couldn’t say how the deputies accessed the information.
Asked by Engelman why he fired Boris after giving him a written reprimand for violating the computer usage policy, the sheriff said he later received more information regarding the violation that prompted the firing.
That’s when Engelman asked whether he was urged by Clausi to fire the deputies, raising the issue of a conspiracy that’s at the center of a lawsuit Boris and Jones have filed against the county, the commissioner and sheriff.
The former deputies say they were fired after Clausi became aware they were assisting another law agency in a criminal investigation against him.
Clausi denies any investigation was or is being conducted.
At Thursday’s hearing, Engelman asked Reiner about a discussion between him and his attorney, Tony Matulewicz, regarding an alleged phone call Clausi made to the lawyer demanding Boris and Jones be fired because of the criminal investigation.
Reiner admitted that Boris walked into his office while he and Matulewicz were talking, but declined to say more.
“That was a conversation between a client and an attorney,” Reiner replied, invoking attorney-client privilege.
A few moments following this exchange, Pap La Rin tried to focus the hearing on Boris’ eligibility for unemployment benefits.
“This is not a fishing expedition, it’s an administrative hearing,” he said.
The county’s solicitor, Benjamin Pratt, called forensic analyst Thomas Trusal as a witness to testify about finding pornographic websites on a computer accessed with Boris’ password and user name, but the request for him to testify was denied when the expert was unable to limit the evidence to Nov. 19 and 20.
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