Embattled CareerSource Tampa Bay CEO is out in Hillsborough

NOLA LALEYE

Feb 26, 2018, 4:30pm

The executive committee of the workforce board of Hillsborough County voted 6 to 1 on Monday to fire Ed Peachey, news outlets reported.

Peachey will leave his post as numerous investigations continue into how the agency reported job placement numbers. Peachey also has been CEO of CareerSource Pinellas and its board is slated to consider a similar action Wednesday.

Peachey’s continued affiliation with the agencies was proving to be a distraction, board members said in a Tampa Bay Times report.

Peachey is slated to receive five months’ severance and will be paid $125 an hour while he cooperates with federal investigations, the report said. Hillsborough Commissioner Sandy Murman cast the lone dissenting vote, expressing a concern over the severance package.

In a WFLA report, the board’s lawyer said there was risk to deny Peachy severance, even if the board fires him “with cause.”

Peachey’s attorney sent CareerSource board members a letter Friday saying Peachey had been bullied by the press and public officials.

“Mr. Peachey has withstood this assault on his reputation without lashing out at those who have falsely accused him, but the time for silence has ended,” Johnson Pope attorney Marion Hale wrote to the committee Friday. “He has done nothing wrong.”