Jasper County Administrative Building in Newton, Iowa. (Photo via Google Earth)
Jasper County’s administrator of veterans’ affairs was fired late last year after three months of surveillance on her activities within the county office.
State records indicate Alyssa Wilson worked for the county from October 2021 until she was fired in December 2024 after a lengthy investigation that included employee surveillance of her work activities. She was accused of regularly taking time off from work without documenting her absences.
Workforce records indicate that in the summer of 2024, Jasper County’s Veterans’ Affairs Commission asked Human Resources Director Dennis Simon to begin tracking the time Wilson spent at work. Simon then enlisted the help of other county employees, tasking them with observing Wilson and keeping written notes on or her comings and goings.
Over the course of three months, the county allegedly compiled five pages of notes detailing instances in Wilson was believed to be out of the office during normal work hours.
Some of the notes referenced occasions when Wilson came into work three minutes late or left work five minutes early, while others documented perceived mid-day absences from the office. On Dec. 11, 2024, the county fired Wilson for work attendance issues and for conducting a home visit with a veteran without first providing law enforcement with advance notice for her personal safety.
Wilson filed for unemployment benefits, which the county challenged. She was initially denied benefits but appealed that decision. Earlier this month, the matter went before Administrative Law Judge David Steen. He ruled in Wilson’s favor after concluding the county had not fired her for any workplace misconduct that would disqualify her from receiving unemployment benefits.
Steen noted there was evidence the county provided administrators such as Wilson with flexible hours to accommodate the demands of their job, and that Wilson provided credible testimony to explain any midday absences from the office.
Also, Steen ruled, the meeting minutes of the Veterans’ Affairs Commission indicate Wilson was required to contact law enforcement prior to home visits only “when she considers it necessary for personal safety.”
Simon had testified those minutes didn’t accurately reflect the commission’s directive, but Steen found that testimony to be lacking in credibility.