A North Dakota jury has found that a former Workforce Safety and Insurance executive was not dismissed for acting as a whistleblower.
According to the Bismark Tribune, a nine-person jury recently ruled that James Long was not entitled to back pay or other damages for his firing from the North Dakota agency where he was employed as chief of support services. (WCxKit)
Long filed a lawsuit in September 2008 against the state of North Dakota, WSI and several officials who were part of the agency, alleging he was terminated in violation of the state’s whistleblower protection law. The list of defendants eventually was dropped down to just the state and WSI.
Allegations claim Long was fired on March 12, 2008 — after being suspended with pay since Nov. 15, 2007 — for cooperating with investigators in a felony criminal case against Sandy Blunt, WSI’s former director, and Romi Leingang, the former director of the agency’s investigations unit.
In turn, Long filed for whistleblower protection with the attorney general’s office on Oct. 19, 2007. He reported four perceived violations in the protection request: Misuse of sick leave, salary increase, nepotism and deliberate circumvention of open records law. He also reported an alleged conspiracy to oust Burleigh County State’s Attorney Richard Riha.
The Whistleblower Act, or the Public Employees Relations Act, basically protects employees of a state agency from retaliation for reporting what they perceive is illegal or a misuse of public resources.
Reports are required to be made in writing to the employee’s respective agency head, a state’s attorney, the attorney general or an employee organization, according to the North Dakota Century Code.
The charge against Leingang was dismissed, as was one charge against Blunt, who was convicted of one felony, for misspending more than $10,000 of the agency’s money.
He was sentenced to two years’ probation and 1,000 hours of community service, and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and $775 in fees and court costs.
Long, Kay Grinsteinner, the agency’s former internal auditor, Todd Flanagan, a former fraud investigator, Billi Peltz, former human resources director, and Jodi Bjornson, legal counsel for the agency, filed for whistleblower protection as part of the investigations at the agency.
Long, Grinsteinner, Flanagan and Peltz were dismissed from the agency, and Long, Grinsteinner and Flanagan sued for damages.
Grinsteinner and Flanagan settled their lawsuits for $10,000 each. Peltz did not file a lawsuit, and Bjornson is still employed at WSI. (WCxKit)
According to the verdict form, the jury claimed Long had not proven he acted as a whistleblower, and the jury did not have to go any further into decisions as to if he was fired for acting as a whistleblower.
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