Bellingham finds a solution for Municipal Court employees who were fired by judge
Five former Bellingham Municipal Court employees who raised concerns about their working conditions will be reassigned to other city departments after Presiding Judge Debra Lev fired them two weeks ago.
Six court employees, who are represented by The Guild of Pacific Northwest Employees, walked off the job in late May alleging intolerable working conditions. The walk-off and escalating situation led to an emergency closure of the city’s municipal court May 28 to June 1.
One of the former court employees left for a different job earlier this summer, while the remaining five had disciplinary meetings held with Lev and refused to return to work until the alleged safety concerns were addressed, according to Dean Tharp, the union representative for the employees. Tharp said the union was not allowed to conduct a safety inspection, so the employees remained off the job.
Lev then fired the five employees on July 12, Tharp said.
“She’s really crippled the court system in Bellingham. And it’s not the fault of the employees, and it’s certainly not the fault of the union that this is happening. We have people who are crying for help and justice and they don’t know where to go — and that’s on her and citizens should know that,” Tharp said.
But Lev said in a statement provided through one of her attorneys that the court followed the applicable laws and provided the employees with numerous opportunities to return to work or justify their absences. Lev’s statement said one of the main requests from the employees was to remove another court employee, but that action would have been improper.
“While due process was ensured by the Court, these employees were paid at taxpayer expense for almost two months while failing to even articulate any rational justification for their actions,” Lev’s statement said. “The former employees’ choice not to work led to dramatically reduced services to the public. It shifted their workload to four other Court employees, including members of two unions who remained on the job. It deprived hundreds of citizens of their day in court. These former employees made the ultimate decision not to return to work, despite repeated opportunities to do so. As such, the Court was given no choice. The Court looks forward to fully reopening to serve the public.”
Lev announced July 13 the court would be reopening and holding some in-person court calendars for out-of-custody defendants as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions end.
Withdrawing complaints
The union initially planned to contest the court employees’ terminations but instead struck a deal with the city of Bellingham.
The union had previously filed an unfair labor practice complaint alleging multiple state law violations, a grievance alleging multiple issues, a discrimination complaint with the city of Bellingham and a complaint with the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct over the situation at the city’s municipal court.
The unfair labor practice complaint was filed with the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission, which handles these complaints for public employees in the state. On June 29, the state public employment relations commission gave the union 21 days to provide more information, according to commission Executive Director Mike Sellars.
Some of the complaints were filed directly with the city, while others named the city as the employer of the court employees.
In exchange for withdrawing the unfair labor practice complaint, as well as the grievance and discrimination complaint, the city agreed last week to find or attempt to find the fired court employees comparable jobs in other city departments, Tharp said.
The city will also clear the employees’ disciplinary records, he said. Contesting the terminations and going through an arbitration process in an attempt to get the court employees’ jobs back would have been “a hollow victory for us,” Tharp said.
“We want our people to be safe and to be happy and to have economic security and a future with the city,” he said.
In a statement provided to The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood said the court employees remained city employees.
“I was sorry to learn that the employees were terminated by Judge Lev. From the outset, I have sought only one thing: healthy working conditions for our employees,” Fleetwood’s statement said.
Fleetwood’s statement said an investigation found the fired court employees had positive work histories and the city was identifying positions in other areas of city government for which they are qualified to work, and “where their skills and experiences will be very welcome.”
“I have been consistently reluctant to engage in unpleasantries with Judge Lev as we have tried to resolve this issue. All parties need to work productively together to find sound solutions. I can’t speak for the Guild or the Judge but clearly there are strong opinions on all sides. Our job is to look forward and continue the work of resolution,” Fleetwood said in his statement.
While the court employees may be finding employment within other city departments, the union still has concerns about the working conditions at the city’s municipal court, Tharp, the union representative said.
Tharp said the union has told the city it still believes the court is an unsafe place to work.
“We think the city should proceed with caution in hiring any new employees, because six months from now, we may well be right back where we started from if this judge is still sitting on the court,” Tharp said.
Jael Komac, the union president, said the union was grateful to the mayor’s office and city human resources department for supporting the employees.
“The responsibility for the failure and dysfunction at Bellingham Municipal Court falls squarely on the shoulders of Judge Debra Lev. It has completely been her choice to not meet with the Union to discuss the safety situation and working conditions and thus she has decisively kept the court short-staffed and unable to meet the needs of the citizens of Bellingham,” Komac said in a prepared statement.
A permanent injunction
Lev has asked a judge for a permanent injunction against the city of Bellingham and Fleetwood.
Lev filed a lawsuit in Whatcom County Superior Court against Fleetwood and the city May 27, alleging that their investigations of court working conditions violated the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.
An independent investigation commissioned by the city and mayor that was conducted without participation from Lev and other management members at the municipal court found evidence that supports the employees’ claims of labor law violations and a toxic work environment.
In early June, Skagit County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Yost Neidzwski granted a temporary injunction in Lev’s lawsuit, stopping the city from compelling court staff to participate in the investigation. It also stopped the city from disciplining, firing, suspending or denying employees’ access to court buildings or computer accounts, according to Whatcom County Superior Court records.
The injunction is temporary, and the case will continue to be litigated.
In early July, the Bellingham City Attorney’s Office was disqualified from representing the city and Fleetwood in the lawsuit because Neidzwski found there was a conflict of interest because the city attorney’s office represents and provides legal advice for all three branches of government. Had the city continued to represent the city and Fleetwood, it would have violated the Washington State Rules of Professional Conduct.
The case was moved to Skagit County after all four Superior Court judges in Whatcom County recused, or removed, themselves from hearing the case due to their endorsements of Lev in her upcoming reelection campaign. Lev is running unopposed this fall for another four-year term as the city’s only Municipal Court judge.
Through her attorneys, Lev filed a motion last week to hold a hearing on Aug. 11 to ask a judge for a permanent injunction.
Lev is ultimately seeking a judgment that declares her status as the sole supervising authority over municipal court personnel, as well as a permanent injunction barring the city and Fleetwood from forcing municipal court employees to comply with disciplinary investigations and the city and Fleetwood from taking disciplinary action against municipal court personnel without approval from the municipal court presiding judge, court records show.
One of Lev’s attorneys, Philip Talmadge, said they asked for the mid-August date so the lawsuit could continue moving along. Talmadge said the attorneys may push the hearing though to allow for time for discovery in the case.
Court history
The Bellingham City Council voted 6 to 1 at its June 21 meeting to have the city administration start negotiations with Whatcom County for court services, in case the city council chooses to close the Bellingham Municipal Court.
As of July 23, there had been no formal request from city government regarding the negotiations, according to Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu.
The Bellingham Municipal Court has jurisdiction over violations of the Bellingham Municipal Code, including misdemeanor criminal charges and civil infractions. The most common cases include assault, malicious mischief, theft, driving under the influence, trespassing, violation of protective orders, traffic and parking violations.
In addition to the elected judge, there is a commissioner and local private practice lawyers acting as judges pro-tem appointed by the judge.
The Whatcom County District Court handled gross misdemeanor offenses for Bellingham until 1998, when the city took on the additional caseload, according to Herald archives. In 2001, Bellingham residents voted to elect Bellingham’s first full-time Municipal Court judge, the archives show.
Lev became Bellingham’s first elected Municipal Court judge in 2002, according to the city’s website and Herald archives. She previously served as the court’s commissioner for four years and practiced law in the Bellingham area since 1990, including serving as a deputy district attorney.
