After years of keeping extensive records of his work hours and a positive review of his performance last year, workers' advocate Mike Travill says he is appealing the recommendation he be fired.

On Oct. 23, Travill was notified by a letter of his suspension without pay and his prospective dismissal.

During an interview this morning, Travill said Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell and Liberal MLA Don Inverarity were 'quite bang-on' when they asserted during question period Tuesday that the suspension and potential firing are politically motivated for Travill's role as the Liberals' campaign manager in last year's territorial election.

The letter informing Travill of the suspension, signed by Robert Riches, assistant deputy minister for community justice and public safety, states an investigation into his hours worked shows Travill claimed 98 days of work between 2002 and 2007, when he collected his regular salary along with honouraria for the review panel.

The letter states he was to take leave from his full-time job when he was working on the review.

'When queried, you advised that you did not put in leave because you were claiming to have worked full-time at your position while working simultaneously on the act review panel,' reads the letter.

Evidence Travill brought forward documenting his hours worked as the workers' advocate wasn't good enough, Travill said this morning.

As a result, the letter states, a total of more than 740 hours of annual leave will be taken from his existing annual leave.

Travill was informed of the investigation into his hours in August. He took no issue with it, providing his records of times he worked and letting officials know his e-mail would confirm his hours.

Told his records of hours worked weren't good enough, Travill went to get his e-mails at work, which would show the hours he worked.

'There was no e-mail,' he said. 'All the e-mails were all gone, completely wiped-off,' he said. He then inquired about having the files restored.

After a week, the e-mails still hadn't been restored.

He noted that last December, when his laptop crashed, he was able to get all his past e-mail restored when it was fixed.

'And now they can't find any of the e-mails that were there originally and the hard drive from that computer is corrupt as well,' he said.

In his appeal, Travill said, he'll take his records of the time worked with the exception of 2004, which he's been unable to find.

He'll also show that the government chose not to review the hours he worked on an annual basis and annual reviews which showed he was doing a good job as the workers advocate.

'And then, the very evidence that is there to clear me is completely in their control and it's gone missing, can't be recovered, corrupted; and even if it does come back, what will it be?' Travill asked.

'Will there be stuff missing, while there may not be stuff missing, who's gone through it?'

The evidence against him is pretty slim, Travill argued, adding the comments about his firing in the legislature Tuesday were pretty much to the point.

Two months earlier, he said, the government appeared to be looking to fill his position with a manager. The posting was later cancelled when it became evident it was illegal, he said.

'Lo and behold, a month later, I'm under suspension,' he said.

Mitchell was reprimanded several times in the house Tuesday by Speaker Ted Staffen as he brought up allegations that the termination was a political move.

'This is the unfortunate consequence of political support for a party,' Mitchell said in the house. 'How can the minister justify taking away someone's job to settle political scores? Shame.'

He was told to sit down three times and was called on to temper his remarks several times.

Justice Minister Marion Horne and the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, Glenn Hart, would only say that ministers don't get involved in personnel issues.

Mitchell argued it's an issue that needed to be raised.

'I guess it is an accusation; I'm accusing the government of playing unfairly,' Mitchell told reporters following question period.

While Staffen argued the term 'vendetta' was not acceptable in the house, Mitchell told reporters that Travill's suspension is a 'political vendetta'.

While the Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board pays for the worker's advocate position, which represents workers, it operates at arm's-length in the Department of Justice.

'His work was considered so good that the former health minister appointed him to the Workers' Act Panel Review,' Mitchell said, following question period. 'Suddenly, we get post-election; suddenly, he's told to leave.'

Although the official word on his dismissal has been a dispute over the hours he's claimed for the position, Mitchell continues to believe the move was politically motivated.

The Liberal leader told reporters that since the Yukon Party has been in power, a number of Liberal party volunteers have backed away from doing more public work.

'We have laws in this territory and this country about freedom of expression. It's a Charter right,' Mitchell said, taking issue with what he calls a 'steamroller approach' over the individual's right to choose his or her own political stripes.

Asked why it took more than a year after the territorial election to suspend and potentially fire Travill, Mitchell noted: 'I would suggest they waited until the act review panel completed their work and submitted their final invoices for the hours worked and then they did this.'

While there were no issues from 2002 to 2006 in Travill's various roles, Mitchell said it only came after Liberal MLAs questioned appointments the Yukon Party government was making.

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Todd Hardy argued the Liberal MLAs should have brought forward some evidence to back up the accusations.

'What the Liberals are doing is they're tarnishing the public service that are being connected to justice and PSC by making this kind of accusation that they'd follow through on an order like this from a minister,' he said.

The Liberals, he said, should do some due diligence and bring forward proof on the accusation.

'Frankly, it's the pot calling the kettle black, from my perspective,' Hardy said, recalling Liberal MLAs' issue over the appointments given to Yukon Party campaign manager Craig Tuton.

'Maybe the Liberals are making this accusation because that's what they would have done if they were in power,' Hardy said.

He noted those dismissed from government normally lose access to their computers and files because they are the government's computers and files.