Summary
Judge Stephen Yekel, 74, died by suicide in his courtroom on his last day in office after losing a re-election bid.
He was found Tuesday morning at Effingham County State Courthouse, with investigators believing the incident occurred late Monday or early Tuesday.
Yekel, appointed in 2022, had recently attempted to resign but was denied by Governor Brian Kemp.
He was also facing a wrongful termination lawsuit from a former court employee.
I don’t understand how that is legal. You can force someone to keep a job whether they want to or not?
Well, GA is employment at will so, unless there’s some special law for judges I don’t know about, I’m guessing the ‘rejection’ is more symbolic than anything. My best guess is that he was about to be fired anyway and Kemp didn’t want him to get away with acting like it was on his own terms. It would be good to hear a lawyer’s take on it, though.
“At-will employment” just means they’re kneecapping the unions. It doesn’t mean an individual’s job can’t be governed by an actual negotiated contract with terms different from “either party may end the agreement at any time for any reason without prior notice;” that’s merely the default when no such contract exists. Actors, for example, often have actual employment contracts so they can’t just abandon their portrayal of a recurring character without consequences.
I don’t know if there are special employment terms for elected judges (or elected officials in general) in GA either, but I don’t know that it would necessarily require a “law” (as opposed to administrative rule or even just convention) and I’m guessing I think it’s more likely than you do.
At-will has little to do with curbing union power. You are thinking of right to work laws.
At-will is, as you mentioned, the default that absent a contract either party can unilaterally terminate the employment relationship except for a reason explicitly prohibited by law, like due to being part of a protected class.
Right to work laws harm unions because they allow individuals in a workplace under union contract to opt out of paying union dues while still benefitting from the agreement, draining the union of resources so it cannot be effective in the future.
If you don’t think this curbs union power, then I can’t even think of something to say here.
Probably wanted him to win reelection so he could place a temp replacement, instead of losing the seat. I have no idea if that’s a thing for judge seats in Georgia…
Probably something about resigning in grace rather than being fired in grief.
isnt forcing someone to go into work against their wishes just false imprisonment?
I’m not sure what law would cover it, but I can’t believe this is legal.
Given the nature of the job it’s probably something to do with a duty to finish pending work or such. Much like can’t just quit the military until your contract is up or you face court marshel.
court martial
Ok, so the court’s marshel will bring you to the court martial, damn homonyms…
The marshal of the court :-)
I mean, Jury’s can be forced to do their part so I guess I’m not too surprised that the other parts of the court system can have a compulsory component
Sounds like slavery.
I think resigning has some difference from quitting?
Isn’t judge an elected position? As a voter, I’d be pretty pissed if I voted for someone and there were no mechanisms in place to prevent them from going, “whoops, nevermind! Turns out this was not for me!” Like, I’m cool with them saying that and helping create a plan to step down, but we can’t just have elected officials abandoning posts, no matter how qualified or corrupt they are.
So Nixon shouldn’t have been allowed to resign?
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be allowed to resign. I’m saying that a resignation can’t be as simple as “I quit.” Which Nixon’s wasn’t. He had to submit his resignation to the secretary of state for them to accept; possibly the only good thing Henry Kissinger ever did in his accursed life
As I understand, this judge was appointed by Kemp, then tried to resign (probably due to scandal), Kemp didn’t allowed it, then he lost reelection and offed himself.
Doesn’t look like anyone else voted for him except Kemp.
In that case, fuck me and my ignorant assuming ass