Your tax dollars pay for his salary. So why is one city of Detroit employee spending so much time at his house, instead of on the job?
Some concerned taxpayers asked 7 Investigator Heather Catallo to get to the bottom of whether this worker was really doing his job.
“Improving Detroit One Sign at a Time” --that’s what it says outside the City’s traffic sign shop on Detroit’s west side. But the only thing one of the sign shop employees seems to be improving is his down time.
Most days, the 57-year-old leaves his house in his personal vehicle around 6:45 a.m. But often, within hours, he’s back. Our cameras were rolling as he pulls his city truck into his driveway on the city’s west side, and lingers at home, sometimes for hours.
Curtis Jackson Jr. is a traffic sign investigator who earns $34,881 a year. That means he should be actively on patrol, looking for damaged signs and writing up work orders. And he’s supposed to be almost 20 miles away: Jackson is assigned to cover City Council Districts 3 and 4, on the east side.
“We want to talk to you about your work hours. Is there a reason you’ve been coming home from work so long during the day,” asked 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.
“I don’t come home,” said Jackson.
But he definitely does.
On November 1, 2016, concerned taxpayers told us Jackson was back at home at 9 a.m. Our cameras were rolling more than 3 ½ hours later at 12:42 p.m. when he drove his truck away.
The next day, Jackson arrives at his house at 11:45 a.m. and stays there till 1:46 p.m.
The day after that, he was home for an hour.
On November 8, 2016, Jackson drove home in a different city car. Our sources tell us he arrived around 9 am and stayed home 4 ½ hours.
Later that month on November 22, Jackson stopped at home in his yellow city truck to use his leaf blower in the yard.
In December, we obtained video that shows Jackson shoveling salt out of the back of the taxpayer-owned truck and into a bucket.
On December 15, 2016, our cameras were rolling once again as Jackson arrived home at 12:10 p.m. and stayed until nearly 2:00.
When we asked Jackson why he spent so much time at home, at first he denied it all.
“Is there a reason you’ve been coming home from work so long during the day,” asked Catallo.
“I don’t come home,” said Jackson.
So how does he explain all of this?
“We’ve got video of you in your city truck sitting here for a couple hours,” Catallo told Jackson.
“Well, can I talk to my lawyer before I talk to you? Because I don’t understand this. You got video tape of me? In my work truck? Coming home from work,” asked Jackson.
“Yes, and pulling the truck up, and then you go inside for a couple of hours, and then going back to work. So what are you doing here during the day instead of being at work,” asked Catallo.
“I’m at work,” said Jackson.
Jackson told me off camera that he has a medical condition that requires him to eat a healthy lunch, which is why he comes home.
But the 7 Investigators have learned, his job only allows for a 30 minute lunch break, and he never told the city before now about the condition.
“We expect for all of our workers to be on the job, doing their work the entire 8 hours for which they’re receiving compensation,” said Detroit Department of Public Works Director Ron Brundidge.
Brundidge is Curtis Jackson’s boss. He says as soon as the 7 Investigators told them what we’d uncovered, they did their own investigation and suspended Jackson without pay.
“That doesn’t represent the employees in our Sign Shop, the employees in the Department of Public Works, or the employees of the city. We take this very seriously. We realize we are here to provide services for our citizens,” said Brundidge.
The DPW Director says Curtis Jackson will be suspended for 30 days without pay, and he could face further discipline once their investigation is complete.
Note: You may have noticed that Jackson has the same name as one of our Channel 7 anchors, but they are not related in any way.
If you have a story for Heather, please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com or call 248-827-4473.
