Paid Leave?

I just read this morning that there was a case of a police officer, who was doing "on field" security at a championship girls soccer game, and who, in his infinite wisdom when the game ended, and students ran onto the field, decided to trip them as they approached. In a couple of instances he also grabbed students by the throat.

Now I am not writing this to either chastise or condone these activities but I am writing this article to bring attention to the resultant actions that were taken because of it.

According to news reports the officer in question was placed on administrative leave with pay. Isn't that also like a reward for the action he took? I mean it's like getting a paid vacation. All too often we hear about these actions taken in the public sector where an employee does some kind of misdeed and is placed on an administrative leave with pay. We see it in the school systems with teachers, in City government with other city workers and in Federal government situations all the time.

However, in private industry this NEVER happens. The employee is simply suspended or fired, right there on the spot. Yes I will agree that in some cases the firings were unwarranted, or the employee was innocent of whatever infraction he was accused of, but the employer simply puts an end to it and lets the employe go. Right or wrong, the employer does not have to deal with it anymore.

Now if you are in a large union represented company you might have the same situation occur, and you might even get your job back and your pay back through the grievance process. But while your on suspension, your not being paid. But in the municipal sector, the employee is being paid while the investigation is going on. If the employee is proved wrong and is terminated does he have to give the money back while he was off? Just something to think about???????