SCJ is suing Michael DeGuelle, the company's former state tax manager, for stealing company materials. DeGuelle says the lawsuit is in response to a "whistleblower" report he sent to the Labor Department.
SCJ Spokeswoman Kelly Semrau said the company did not retaliate against DeGuelle and filed the lawsuit to force DeGuelle to return the materials he took from the company (her full statement is printed below). DeGuelle said in an interview with RacinePost that he doesn't have any SCJ materials.
Here's Semrau's statement:
"We’re very disappointed with the allegations and are sorry that Mr. DeGuelle chose to bring this to the press," SC Johnson Spokeswoman Kelly Semrau wrote.
I can confirm that Mr. DeGuelle is no longer employed by S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. and that we have filed suit requesting return of SC Johnson materials. We believe, in this circumstance, we needed to take legal action to protect our rights.
SC Johnson adamantly denies that Mr. DeGuelle was a whistle blower and that he was retaliated against. When he complained in fall 2008 that he had been retaliated against, we reviewed his claim and concluded that retaliation had not occurred.
We welcome every opportunity to respond to Mr. DeGuelle in court but will refrain from answering any further questions related to Mr. DeGuelle in the press, pending the ongoing court proceedings. Once again, we are disappointed with the allegations. We look forward to our day in court and intend to vigorously defend ourselves.
And I believe you J wax! (Not!)
ReplyDelete"Vigorously defend ourselves"? I thought SCJ was the plaintiff? They appear to be posturing as the guilty party here? IMHO?
ReplyDeleteDoes the whistleblower have some Frank LLoyd Wright chairs that SCJ wants back ?
ReplyDeleteTaxes? I have a friend in Dollars, Taxes.
ReplyDeleteSounds like someone is doing damage control....
ReplyDeleteSemaur is telling a lie. On December 18, 2008 SCJ revoked a negative performance review given to DeGuelle admitting that it was given in retaliation by DeGuells's supervisor Wenzel for reporting the criminal activity to top management of the company in January of 2008. Kelly, you cannot change the facts. DeGuelle was a whistleblower and the company all ready acknowledged such internally by revoking an unwarranted negative performance review. None the less, SCJ continued to retaliate against DeGuelle when he informed the company on March 19, 2009 of the most serious criminal tax fraud matters. In fact, SCJ never responsed to DeGuelle informing them of the criminal tax fraud involving two amended returns on March 19, 2009, but rather terminated him on April 10, 2009. where are the family values Kelly?
ReplyDeleteLets talk about those Frank Lloyd Wright chairs should we. Truth be told, SCJ is stealing from the City of Racine again involving the chairs. SCJ should be paying personal property tax on those chairs at the fair market value of the chairs. SCJ is not doing this. Again, SCJ pays less tax so the working class can pay yet even more. When will the Johnson family have enough money that they can stop stealing from the mouths of the working poor in the City of Racine. Perhaps the Johnsons want to build another plane and building to house the plane (property tax free of course) with all the money they are taking from the working poor. Wait - they already have done that.
ReplyDeleteSCJ just needs to engage the same people Gateway uses to erase inciminating email, etc. from servers and backup systems. Next, threaten anyone who saw the material to say they never saw it. Then this crucifixion of DeGuell can continue.
ReplyDeletePost regarding Gateway is correct, the problem is it appears that this Mr. DeGuelle was smart enough to gather all the documents he needed as evidence before SCJ fired him. Why else would SCJ be taking him to court for confidential documents. The guy works in the Tax Department, its not as if he has the formula to scrubbing bubbles or some other new product.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou're talking off the top of your head. Are you a disgruntled former employee? And hoew the hell is SCJ taking from the poor. As I see it, they deserve every tax break they can get. What have you done to help sustain this city and community? I;ll bet not one damn thing. When you're ready to make the same or similar contributions that SCJ has made an continues to make to employees who live and spend their money here, let us all know. Fact is, SCJ is still here and not in Mexico; dummy!