Several years ago I worked as the Director of Transportation for a major Texas school district. I had a department of 200 employees and an annual operating budget of over $2 million. At the start of my 12^th year in the position I got a new boss whose secret agenda was to replace me with a personal friend. After a couple of years it became apparent that he wasn't going to find a reason to fire me (excellent safety record, satisfied parents, highly-ranked department, etc.) so he turned to dirty tricks.

Out of the clear blue sky one day I got called down to the administration building and my boss announced that he had "heard" that I was selling used school bus tires and pocketing the money. I was escorted back to my office by the head of the Finance Dept and I was allowed to remove my personal items and then sent home with pay pending an investigation. The police were brought in and the Finance Dept conducted an audit of the whole operation.

After three days the police reported to the board that there wasn't any indication of any wrong doing on my part. The Finance Dept report that their audit of the past two years showed everything to be in order. I was called at home and told to report to work the next day. Never once did my boss offer any kind of apology. Of course the damage had already been done, a shadow of suspicion hung over me from that time on.

I was not able to sue because I had not suffered any "monetary loss". A couple of years later I found another job with a boss who lived by a higher ethical standard.

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