Louisiana Voice

An LSU computer instructor has sued the university for breach of contract after he received a notice of non-reappointment to work on several federally-funded grants last March.

Fernando Alegre had been employed since August 2015 as a research associate where he says he spent 100 percent of his time working on the grants.

He and the university entered into a new agreement on May 22 of this year whereby Alegre agreed to perform specific duties. LSU, however, insisted that he also perform duties outside the scope of his contract, according to his petition filed in 19^th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge.

Among the duties he was asked to perform that were not included in his contract were the installation, restoration and/or maintenance of the school’s Web pages. He claims in his lawsuit that in the past he “occasionally” volunteered to help with some IT work outside his regular working hours (per the grant), but with his new duties, he said he simply did not have the time to devote to those tasks.

Retribution by LSU was quick and severe, he says. He said the university not only breached the employment agreement with him, but at the same time, deemed that Alegre was ineligible for any employment within the LSU (statewide) system.

Even more heavy-handed, Alegre claims, LSU took its actions against him “in and effort to gain a strategic bargaining advantage over him as part of an ongoing dispute between LSU and (Alegre’s) wife, who is also employed by LSU “and whose compensation is linked to or funded by the same grant” referenced earlier.

LSU is essentially seeking to blackball Alegre from employment “without any rational or lawful basis for so doing,” his petition says, and is “seeking to prevent (Alegre) from participating in a broad range of academic and other lawful and legitimate career opportunities and paths within the LSU system in an effort to gain a strategic bargaining advantage.

Alegre’s attorney, J. Arthur Smith, III, accuses LSU of failing and refusing to comply with its contractual commitment in good faith and that the school’s actions “constitute an unfair trade practice” in violation of state law.

Alegre is not seeking any specific monetary damages other than for LSU to pay him “in accordance with his employment agreement” with the university and for the school to pay his attorney fees and court costs.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that LSU has cut an employee loose when it fit the school’s agenda. STEVEN HATFIELD was terminated with no questions asked when he was erroneously linked by the FBI to anthrax mailings. LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert said at the time that the decision to terminate Hatfield “was not reached quickly or easily.” At the same time, he gave no reason for the move. Hatfield eventually settled with the U.S. Justice Department for $2.8 million.

Dr. RANDALL SCHAFFER, who toiled in the LSU School of Dentistry, warned of the faulty design of dental implants developed by the school. LSU rewarded him by having his dental license revoked and his career ruined.

And then there are Drs. ROXANNE TOWNSEND AND FRED CERISE who were deemed expendable by the school when they offended the wonderful Bobby Jindal. But the LSU Board of Supervisors apparently saw no problem in allowing board member Dr. John F. George, Jr., to become president and CEO of Biomedical Research Foundation which was to take over the operation of two LSU hospitals or that Biomedical Research Foundation leased research labs to the LSU system for millions of dollars.

And who could forget the debacle over IVOR van HEERDEN who claimed that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ha not driven pilings deep enough which allowed levees to fail during Hurricane Katrina. He was fired mostly because LSU feared the loss of grant money from the corps. Turns out Van Heerden was 100 percent correct and it ended up costing LSU $435,000 to settle with its former coastal researcher – but only after it spent another $1 million defending his lawsuit.

Of course, none of the cases cited should be taken as indicative of employment policy at LSU.

But it is a pretty good primer for anyone who is interested in what might be anticipated over the next four years or so..