The company then made me go to Insbrook in Richmond and take a barrage of tests and talk to a "company paid" Psychologist, Dr. Hagan 804-748-8480. I was forced to sign a waiver form with the psychologist stating that I would not hold him personally responsible if I were to loose my job because of his opinion of me. Dr. Hagan ask several questions that, in retrospect, had nothing to do with the bulletin board post at all. For example, "Does your wife have a job?, Does she qualify for health care coverage?, Do you have any speeding tickets?" At the time I couldn't see what bearing these questions had to do with the bulletin board post. But now I'm sure the questions were designed to find out if my family could still get health care coverage if the company were to FIRE me. And as far as my driving record, I had a couple of tickets that I told the Dr. about right up front. It turned out he already knew about them even before he asked the question because he had a copy of my driving record in front of him. In his own words, "I was trying to see if you were being TRUTHFUL with us." It's just amazing to me that companies are allowed all this access to your personal information in the first place. Credit history, DMV record, medical records. In fact, I heard of a company in Michigan that fired a bunch of employees because they had once been smokers. The company fired them because they said that down the road the employees would be medical liabilities.

Dr. Hagan then supplied the company with a written report on me, riddled with technical errors, and deliberate misinformation. *** I have to mention here that the day before I was scheduled to see the company psychologist I received news that my grandfather had died. *** I was very close to my grandfather and very emotional about his passing. I mentioned this to the psychologist and his response was, "well you have quite a bit on your plate, don't you?" What kind of statement is that coming from a professional psychologist who is suppose to be concerned about how people are feeling? I'm sure he was "hired" to do a job, and the job was to get a report and information to support the company's desire to terminate me.

This Insbrook meeting took place April 16th, 2003. Fourteen days later on the last day of the month the superintendent of maintenance at Surry, Soney Stanley called and had me come over to Surry for a meeting. He presented me with a paper from corporate security that said they were revoking my unescorted access, in other words permanently denying me access to the plant. Since I no longer had my plant access Mr. Stanley terminated me. All this happened even though the FBI agent told them he was "dropping" the bulletin board issue. I had committed no crime, there was no misconduct at work, yet my unescorted access has been revoked and I have been terminated due to a statement that was taken out of context.

I personally know about some of the other cases at Surry involving the hourly IBEW covered workers. One hourly worker had beaten his wife into a coma and was on work release, but because the union protected him was not fired. I worked in the Instrument shop and was a salary employee without the benefit of a union for protection. Also there was s Shift Supervisor, Steve Wrightman, who was basically caught for poaching. Imagine that, a man who has the responsibility of running a Nuclear Reactor at Surry with his name in the paper for poaching. Is that TRUSTWORTHY ?, sounds more like a crime to me.... Steve still works at Surry, as a Shift Supervisor, responsible for running one of the Nuclear reactors there....

Like the DAILY PRESS's FBI PROBE AT DOMINION NUKE PLANTS article said, some were suspended for nothing more than misdemeanor traffic violations. There was a form that all salaried employees were required to sign stating that the company was going to do background checks on everyone on a 5 year basis, and they would be looking at things like credit history, driving records and domestic situations. To me this has nothing to do with making the nuclear site safer, but is an open door for the company to go on a campaign to get rid of employees for the most trivial of reasons.

People have ask me, "So why do you think the company Fired you like they did?" I worked in the Instrument shop at a nuclear power plant and there was always allot of stress. There were over 40 technicians in that shop and almost no one was happy about how management was addressing issues and problems. There was a lot of complaining and malice going on between supervisors and the technicians. And yes, I did my share of complaining. In my opinion the company grew tired if it and decided to use the old GET TOUGH policy. It's easier to 'rule by fear' than to work out very difficult issues. In fact there was a saying at Surry, "motivation through intimidation, that's the Dominion way". I think by FIRING me it was an easy way to keep the other 40 technicians in line and docile. Also, it might have partly been about saving money. Stepped out technicians, like myself, make almost three times as much as a new trainee. Think about it, the company could get three people for the price of one. Three "untrained", inexperienced trainee's with new fresh attitudes, willing to put up with almost anything. That's like a breath of fresh air to a manager. But it's not the safest thing to do at a Nuclear Power Plant...for sure !

I am an honest person who has never harmed anyone. My background and record prove this. I had worked for the company at Surry for the last 16 years and was a reliable, hard working employee as stated on my yearly performance reviews. I have been without that job at Surry for almost two years now with a family to support. I have a son who is just about to turn seven. Even though I was terminated by Dominion I qualified for unemployment. I told the VEC about the circumstances surrounding my termination and the deputy at the unemployment commission ruled that there was no misconduct at work and granted me unemployment compensation. The deputy could not get anyone from Dominion to return his calls about the situation. In all these cases the company is not talking to anyone.

In fact the very next job I got, six months after being fired from Surry, was at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. Yes, where the Navy keeps there ..."special weapons"... I got a job with a contractor there as a Radiac Engineering Technician and performed portable radiation instrumentation calibrations. The thing is though, it required I have a security clearance at the "secret" level due to the access of classified information. Well I knew Dominion had denied reinstating my unescorted access. But Dominion fell under the DOE, (department of energy), and had it's own company brand of protection and access services programs. (Basically having freedom to set up and make some of there own rules, i.e. dubbing someone as untrustworthy for getting a speeding ticker etc...) The security clearance I applied for at Yorktown was with the DOD, (department of defense), and was at the FEDERAL level.

Well guess what? That's right, I was issued a Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, the SF 312 and I signed it, the signature was witnessed by Patricia Childers, Atlantic Ordnance Command and accepted on behalf of the United States Government by David Biggers. The supporting documentation, which came with the SF 312, states the following........

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"As an employee of the Federal Government or one of its contractors, licensees, or grantees who occupies a position which requires access to classified information, you have been the subject of a personal security investigation. The purpose of this investigation was to determine your TRUSTWORTHINESS for access to classified information. When the investigation was completed, your employing or sponsoring department or agency granted you a security clearance based upon a favorable determination of the investigation results. By being granted a security clearance, you have met the first of three requirements necessary to have access to classified information."

"The second requirement that you must fulfill is to sign a Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, which is now the SF 312. The President established this requirement in a directive that states, All persons with authorized access to classified information shall be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement as a condition of access. The SF 312 is a contractual agreement between the U.S Government and you, a cleared employee........etc...etc....

"The third and final requirement for access to classified information is the need-to-know, that is, you must have a need to know the information in order to perform your official duties. ...etc...

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This is proof positive that Dominion is making up its own rules as far as access goes. Let's see, a guy caught for poaching is trustworthy where as a guy who posts a joke on a Internet bulletin board,..from his own home, on his own time is NOT trustworthy? What gives??? Like I stated above the company used me as a sacrificial pinata to keep the 40 other technicians in the shop fearing for their jobs...

As for the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station job, it was a contractor position and as soon as the workload diminished, six months after getting the job there, I was let go. Unemployed again but this time the wife was without a job too. So there were no health care benefits. When it rains, it pours....

Dominions Richmond management aside, I enjoyed my job at Surry and miss having it, in fact the reason I chose this field was because of my late grandfather. He was an electrical supervisor at a power plant, American Electric Power, a utility back in WV. I have an Associate of Applied Science in electronics and felt a great deal of pride knowing I was following in my grandfathers footsteps. My hope is to be reinstated and allowed to return like some of the others in the Daily Press article have.

So, what do I hope to accomplish with this web page? My hope is that when de-regulation finally comes to the state of Virginia, (around 2007 I think), people will be able to pick who they want to buy there electricity from. I hope this web page and the information I have provided will help people, "customers" make an informed decision who to buy from. As for me, I'll be going with anyone but DOMINION. They've already taken enough from me and my family.........

Tim

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