By Brian Kelly
Herald Writer
Five former security guards at Community Transit have filed a lawsuit against the public bus agency, claiming they were wrongfully fired after they filed whistleblower complaints.
The discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit follows an $11.7 million claim for damages that the former guards filed against Community Transit earlier this year.
"It’s our view that they retaliated against these guys," said Timothy Farley, the attorney representing the five employees. Farley declined to speak at length about the lawsuit.
Community Transit disputes the claims raised in the workers’ lawsuit.
"They are without merit," said Tim O’Connell, an attorney for Community Transit. He added that Community Transit had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
The workers named in the lawsuit include James Sauter, a former Community Transit "employee of the year" who helped start the bus company’s security program more than a decade ago. Others in the lawsuit are Art Buckles, Robert Olson, Mark San Diego and Dennis Warnock.
The lawsuit claims CT management repeatedly tried to break up the security officers’ union, starting in 1996.
The suit also claims CT established "pass or lose your job" training that included the use of batons, pepper spray and fighting techniques. The "defensive tactics" training left three security guards with "permanent and debilitating injuries," the lawsuit claims, and the one worker who couldn’t complete the training was demoted to bus driver.
Sauter filed a whistleblower complaint in March 2002 that the mandated training was a gross waste of public money, according to the lawsuit.
The former security officers allege that Community Transit CEO Joyce Olson and other officials tried to disband the security group in retaliation for Sauter’s complaint. Work schedules for the security guards were frequently changed, and their take-home cars, uniforms and badges were taken away.
A few months later, the lawsuit alleges, CT officials approached the union to talk about changing the bus agency’s security operations. The agency later removed the employees from their jobs and signed a $5.8 million contract in February for security services with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
The agency’s attorney on the lawsuit, however, said the company denies the allegations raised by the former security officers.
"We deny any suggestion that Community Transit is attempting to break the union or intervening with their union activities in any way," O’Connell said.
And if Community Transit employees are hurt on the job, O’Connell added, those matters are covered by workers compensation.
The lawsuit was filed late last month in King County Superior Court. A tentative trial date has been set for March 2005.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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