WOMAN TELLS GILES BOARD OF HIRING, FIRING BY TREASURER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992                   TAG: 9202190335
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
WOMAN TELLS GILES BOARD OF HIRING, FIRING BY TREASURER
A Pearisburg woman, who said she was hired by Giles County's new treasurer and fired before she worked a day, told her story Tuesday night to the county's Board of Supervisors.
Jane Tabor of Pearisburg said on Feb. 5 she was offered a job by newly elected Treasurer Rick Cook and was to report to work on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Tabor quit her job with a Christiansburg department store and accepted the county job.
After she was promised the position, Tabor said she spent her own time - without pay - familiarizing herself with the operations of the treasurer's office, obtained the necessary bonding and took the oath of office as a deputy treasurer.
The same day she was sworn in, Feb. 14, Cook called her in the afternoon and told her he couldn't hire her after all, Tabor said.
"He has really humiliated me beyond words," Tabor said by phone Tuesday afternoon.
Tabor said she was invited by three supervisors to come before the board. She has been investigating what recourse she may have to counter Cook's decision. It's unclear whether the supervisors can provide her with anything but a sympathetic ear.
"They don't know what I can do," Tabor said after her meeting with the board.
Although the county provides about 50 percent of Cook's budget, the treasurer is an independent constitutional officer, responsible for the operation of his own office.
Cook, in a prepared statement, said, "I feel it is inappropriate at this time to go into the details of this matter.
"However, after an investigative review of Mrs. Tabor's qualifications and an assessment of my position as treasurer of Giles County, I feel it is in the best interest of this office to terminate her position. I'm sorry she has felt it necessary to make this issue public," Cook said.
Cook, a contractor from Narrows, defeated incumbent Treasurer Irene Odell in a four-way race in November.
Tabor, 52, has worked for Leggett department stores for 30 years. When the Leggett store in Pearisburg - where she was office manager - closed last year, she transferred to the company's store in the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg.
After Cook was elected treasurer in the fall, Tabor called him about the possibility of a job. Cook interviewed Tabor on Dec. 26, she said.
Because she lacked computer experience, she was passed over in the first round of hiring by Cook, Tabor said. But she said Cook called her on Feb. 4 and asked her if she was still interested. A longtime employee of the office had decided to leave, she said.
Cook also told her that a newly hired bookkeeper might also be leaving, Tabor said.
Tabor said Cook interviewed her again on Feb. 4 and told her the next day that she had the job. She spent Feb. 6 and Feb. 11 in the office all day learning the office's operations on her own time, Tabor said.
On Feb. 14, she was sworn in by a county deputy court clerk, and the certificate she was given stating she had taken the oath for the deputy treasurer's job was signed by Cook and Circuit Judge Duane Mink. She had earlier notified Leggett of her intention to leave her job, and the company had given her and another departing employee a retirement breakfast at a Blacksburg restaurant.
But about midafternoon on Friday, Cook called her and told her he couldn't hire her after all, Tabor said. "He told me: `If it's OK with you, we'll say you changed your mind and you wanted to keep your job at Leggett.' "
Tabor said Cook had not mentioned anything to her about her qualifications when he told her she could not have the job. "All he could say is `Mrs. Tabor, I'm sorry; this was a stupid mistake on my part.' "
The episode caused her to be "deathly sick" and she ended up in Giles Memorial Hospital on Saturday, Tabor said. "I've never been humiliated like this in my life," she said.
After talking with some lawyers, Tabor said she showed up for work at Cook's office Tuesday morning. Cook told her he did not have a job for her and gave her a statement in writing to that effect, she said.
"The people of the county should realize who they have in office down there," said Tabor, adding that she is considering legal action.
She has been offered her job back at Leggett - although she said she'll have to return several going-away gifts.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB