Alleged reprisal costs Oklahoma Labor Department
Labor Department paid $200,000 settlement over ex-worker’s dismissal
PAUL MONIES
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Published: July 3, 2009
Oklahoma taxpayers paid $200,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging Democratic Labor Commissioner Lloyd Fields retaliated against an employee who backed his Republican predecessor.
Former Labor Department employee Laurie Allen settled the federal lawsuit in May, a week before it was to go to trial. Fields, the agency and his chief of staff, Mannix Barnes, denied wrongdoing in the civil case. Neither side would disclose the settlement amount at the time. The Oklahoman found the payment during a review of state financial data. The state check, called a warrant, shows a payment of $200,000 on May 15 to Allen and the Walta & Walta law firm in Hennessey. Allen’s attorney, Phyllis Walta, declined to comment Thursday, as did Bill Settle, the Labor Department’s general counsel. Supporting documents for the check show the Labor Department is paying $150,000 of the settlement as its insurance deductible. The other $50,000 came from the state Central Services Department’s risk management division. The state is self-insured, and most claims are paid through the risk management division. The insurance deductible varies by state agency, said Gerry Smedley, spokeswoman for the Central Services Department. The Labor Department’s share of the settlement was almost 4 percent of its fiscal year 2009 budget. The agency faces a cut of 7 percent, or $263,220, in the 2010 budget year, which started Wednesday. In her lawsuit, Allen alleged she was targeted for supporting Fields’ opponent, former three-term Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau. Allen, 43, quit in October 2007 after being told her asbestos position was being eliminated because of a grant reduction. In the lawsuit, Allen alleged she had been demoted and told to transfer to an agency office in Tulsa before her resignation. Allen contributed to Reneau’s 2002 re-election campaign and marched with her in a Yukon parade in 2006. Fields defeated Reneau in 2006. CONTRIBUTING: STAFF WRITER NOLAN CLAY
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