Attorney sues county
01-13-2010 The Billings Gazette
A Helena attorney has filed a lawsuit against Yellowstone County seeking payment for a review he conducted of county employment practices.The attorney, Mike Meloy, filed the lawsuit Dec. 4 in Lewis and Clark County District Court. The complaint names the county, the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office and the Montana Human Rights Bureau.
Meloy said Wednesday that he reluctantly filed the lawsuit after he received no response to his to request for payment after the monthslong review and subsequent recommendations he made on how to improve the county's employment practices.
"I haven't heard one word - a thanks or a no thanks," Meloy said. "I haven't heard anything from the county."
The lawsuit includes an attached bill from Meloy addressed to Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney Kevin Gillen dated June 11. The bill seeks payment of $22,319.62.
The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring Meloy performed the services he was hired to do, for payment of his services with interest, for payment of his attorney fees associated with the lawsuit and an order directing the state Human Rights Bureau to enforce the settlement agreement.
Gillen, who works in the county attorney's civil division, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Also attached to the lawsuit is the 42-page report Meloy wrote after reviewing the county's employment policies and practices. The review was mostly critical of the Sheriff's Office, and Meloy made several recommendations for improvement, including hiring an employment specialist to ensure the county followed all state and federal employment laws.
Meloy was hired to study the Sheriff's Office employment practices as part of a settlement reached between the county and Deputy John L. Smith. The settlement agreement called for an independent review by a third party with experience in state employment laws.
Meloy's report was made public last May. The settlement agreement that required the employment review was signed in August and September 2008.
In his original Human Rights Bureau complaint filed in July 2008, Smith alleged that he faced retaliation from his bosses because he agreed to testify in a federal lawsuit brought against the Sheriff's Office by three other deputies. The deputies allege the Sheriff's Office discriminated against them because they are Hispanic. That case is pending.
Smith filed a new complaint with the Human Rights Bureau last July alleging the Sheriff's Office has ignored the recommendations made by Meloy in his employment review. The complaint also alleges that Smith's superiors have retaliated against him.
The county has denied the allegations in that complaint, and a hearing is scheduled later this year.
A female employee in the Sheriff's Office recently filed another Human Rights Bureau complaint alleging gender discrimination and sexual harassment by her boss, Capt. Dennis McCave. That complaint is under investigation by the state agency.
Meloy said the recommendations he made to the Sheriff's Office last year were aimed at helping the county avoid such employment complaints.
"I think in the long term they could save huge amounts of money if they adopted my recommendations," he said.