Gossipy workers still out of a job

Two Hooksett town employees fired for gossiping about their boss have lost an appeal to get their jobs back.

Four women were fired in April after a closed-door vote of the Town Council. Two administrative assistants appealed their firings this month, but the council rejected their bid to be reinstated.

According to a lawyer’s fact-finding report, the women lost their jobs because one of them referred to the town administrator in derogatory terms, and because they discussed a rumor that he was having an affair with a female employee.

The women say they neither started nor spread the rumor -- nor knew if it was true -- but merely questioned why another employee seemed to be getting preferential treatment.