COUNTY CONTINUES EFFORT TO FIRE WORKER WHO DIDN'T TAKE DRUG TEST

In an effort that could be viewed as either persistence or persecution, the
Milwaukee County Parks Department is taking another shot at firing a veteran
maintenance worker for failing to "pee in a cup."

The case of Randy Wilhelm's firing already has been to Milwaukee County
Circuit Court, the State Court of Appeals and the county Personnel Review
Board.

Wilhelm, 44, was off the county payroll from June 1996 until March of this
year, when the review board reinstated him and ordered the county to give
him back pay.

But despite being 0 for 3 in the case thus far, the Parks Department has
moved to take the matter to circuit court one more time.

"They are strictly out for revenge," Wilhelm said in an interview last week.
"It's insane. It really is."

The dispute that threatens Wilhelm's livelihood, 22 years of accrued pension
benefits and a job he loves, hinges on very divergent views of his inability
to produce urine for a drug test on June 13, 1996. Wilhelm contends he was
dehydrated that day after working for eight hours in Sheridan Park, with the
temperature approaching 90 degrees. He simply couldn't produce a urine
sample, he says.

County officials argue that Wilhelm offered no valid medical excuse for
failing to produce a sample, and that his failure to do so is the equivalent
of a positive drug test. They say he violated the county's substance abuse
policy and should be fired.

At the time of the test, Wilhelm was subject to frequent, random drug
screens because he had tested positive for marijuana in December 1995. The
tests were required under an agreement he signed to save his job.

All of Wilhelm's drug screens before and after June 13, 1996, were negative,
including one taken the day prior and one taken 12 days later.

Eight days after he failed to urinate at the Concentra Occupational Medical
Centers-South clinic, Wilhelm was called in to see Greg McKinstry, the human
resources manager in the Parks Department.

"Randy, unfortunately I have to sever your employment today," McKinstry says
on a tape that Wilhelm made of the meeting. "You didn't follow the policy."

During the three-minute meeting, Wilhelm told McKinstry at least four times
that he did not refuse to take the drug test, but that he simply "couldn't
go."

McKinstry testified in February before the Personnel Review Board that
Wilhelm did not tell him he was physically unable to urinate. He described
Wilhelm's attitude as very cavalier and said he also failed to give a reason
for leaving the clinic after being there only one hour.

According to the tape, Wilhelm attempted to give a reason. And he elaborated
before the review board.

His son was suffering from severe emotional problems and was being held in
the Juvenile Detention Center after a traumatic outburst. Wilhelm and his
ex-wife were scheduled to meet with a counselor and their son at 5 p.m. that
day to determine the course of treatment for the boy.

"I had to be there," Wilhelm said. "I love my son and I wanted to help him."

Asked about the situation during an interview last week, McKinstry said, "If
his job is that important to him, he would have stayed. He should have made
other arrangements to accommodate his personal commitments."

But the review board sided with Wilhelm on a 2-1 vote that put him back to
work in March. The board found that Wilhelm had not refused to take the test
and that his reason for leaving the clinic was valid.

In its petition asking Circuit Judge Stanley Miller to overturn the review
board's ruling, the Parks Department argues that the decision was
"arbitrary, oppressive and/or unreasonable."

"It's so ridiculous," said Wilhelm's attorney, Lynn Laber. "It's a very
warped situation where you have the county fighting an employee.

"It's really pathetic."

Since his reinstatement, Wilhelm has been cutting the grass in various parks
and preparing the pool building in Hales Corners Park for the upcoming
season. He is thrilled to be back at work, at the only job he has ever
wanted.

"I'm back on track, right where I'm supposed to be," he said. "It's
excellent. Back to the real world. It's a new lease on life."