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.
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…