Former Perry County highway engineer's lawsuit to federal court

Former Perry County highway engineer Doug Bishop--now public works director for the City of Du Quoin--earlier this year filed a lawsuit in Perry County Circuit Clerk claiming the county owes him $532,150 for unpaid comp time, vacation time, sick time and personal days off between the years 2000 and 2012.

Now, he has amended the complaint to include age discrimination, which takes the case out of Perry County Circuit Court and throws it into federal court.

Last week, the Perry County Board of Commissioners appointed Sam Robb as negotiator for the board--if necessary--which fulfills part of the federal guidelines.

Bishop, who served two six-year terms as highway engineer, left the county's employ when his contract was not renewed. Bishop's tenure was fraught with politics after he tried to hire his son Steve into the highway department. Bishop argued personnel and hiring were under his control. The board claimed control.

The City of Du Quoin has since hired Bishop as a certified engineer to both design projects and create checks and balances on the work of city engineer J.T. Blankinship of Murphysboro.

Bishop has hired the law firm of Winters, Brewster, Crosby and Schafer LLC.

The lawsuit spells our Bishop's tenure with the county. He was hired March 27, 2000 and assumed the position of county engineer on July 1, 2000. The complaint goes on to say he was compensated according to the salary scale used by the Illinois Department of Transportation which grew from $61,000 the first year to over $94,000 at the end of his tenure.

Even though he was "salaried," the complaint argues that by agreement with the county his non-wage benefits (sick days, holidays, personal days, vacation days and comp time at the rate of 1.5 paid hours off for every hour worked in excess of 40 hours per week) would accrue at the rate applicable to contracted hourly employees as set forth in the agreement between the county and Laborers' International Union of North America AFL-CIO Local 738 for Perry County government employees bargain unit (1998 bargaining agreement).

Four attachments to the complaint spell out what Bishop believes he is owed. The exhibits claim $410,895.78 comp time; $49,700 in vacation time not taken; $47,512.29 in sick time not taken and $24,042 in personal time not taken.