After being fired for use a college credit card for personal items, a former maintenance worker is threatening to sue the college for wrongful termination.

Richard Quiroga, who has worked for 23 years as the college’s only electrical maintenance worker, was fired after being charged with immoral conduct, dishonesty and dereliction of duty.

He made five purchases totaling $763.47 using his work-appointed Visa card at Home Depot during August and September 2012. According to Quiroga’s notice of charges by the District, none of the five purchases were work-related, which violates City College policy.

Contrarily, he claims that nothing was deliberately purchased for personal use.

“We won’t file the lawsuit until sometime in April,” said Lanny Tron, Quiroga’s attorney. “We put the school on notice and they have 45 days to respond. If they want to sit down with us, we’ll sit down. If not, we’ll file a lawsuit in April.”

Following the charges, the Board of Trustees terminated his employment on Feb. 28, 2013. He has since received letters of support from current and former City College employees who have recognized his dismissal.

“He has no desire to push forward to make the school look bad or drain them financially,” Tron said. “But if the school leaves him no choice, he has to assert his legal rights. Above all, it’s an issue of fairness.”

Quiroga wants his experience to serve as a warning to other employees.

“If they do it to me, they’re going to do it to somebody else,” Quiroga said. “They can make up a story about somebody and it’s done.”

College officials have not commented on this matter and claimed that this is a personnel issue.

Quiroga, however, sat down for a long interview with The Channels, during which he claimed the college discriminated against him because an injury that forced him to take time off. He also stressed that his use of the credit card was unintentional and that he paid the college back immediately.

Once the District was informed of the purchases, an investigation was conducted on all of Quiroga’s past purchases. During April, May and July of the same year, breakers, load controllers, Murray products, residential light bulbs and residential light switches were purchased at Home Depot by Quiroga, none of which are items used by the college or District, according to the District’s notice of charges.

He admitted to accidentally using the credit card for personal use to Cyndi Rogers, who oversees City College cash reconciliations, on Sept. 22, 2012. Quiroga continued to make personal charges on the Visa card at least three additional times, according to the District’s Notice of Charges.

Quiroga said he realized his mistake, informed the college and fully reimbursed the District for his purchases.

The SBCC Visa card is bright yellow and orange was specifically designed this way to avoid accidental misuse. Although he said that his personal debit card was destroyed, district officials claimed that his personal card shared no resemblance with the SBCC Visa card.

City College Superintendent-President Dr. Lori Gaskin declined to comment on this story. Gyll, Sullivan and English were unable to be reached by the time of publication.