UPDATE Settlement checks were mailed on December 19, 2018. If you have not received a check by December 31, 2018, please contact the Settlement Administrator (at the below number) after January 1, 2019. For those class members who applied to but were never employed by the
Washington State Patrol, the settlement amount was $5,000. For those class
members who applied and were ultimately hired by the Washington State Patrol, the
settlement amounts will vary. The variables upon which the settlement amounts
for the class members were based are set out in the Settlement Agreement, Plan
of Allocation, and Notice to Class Members, all of which were approved by the
Court. Accordingly, the formula by which those settlement amounts, which were
calculated by the Court-appointed settlement administrator per the Court’s
rulings , is final and cannot be altered. If you have questions about how your settlement
amount was calculated, or where your check was transmitted, please contact the
Court-appointed Settlement Administrator, KCC at 1-877-853-5549. |
The information contained on this website is
only a summary.
SUMMARY
OF THE LAWSUIT
Washington state law
requires state agencies like the Washington State Patrol to give veteran
preference points to eligible honorably discharged military veterans. Washington
state and federal law also require the WSP to (a) give veteran preference
promotion points to eligible individuals who leave their employment with WSP,
serve in the military, and then return to the WSP; and (b) adjust the
servicemember-employee’s probationary period start/end date to account for
their military leave; and (c) not adjust a servicemember-employee’s military
leave in a manner contrary to the state law leave requirements.
The lawsuit alleges that the WSP failed to
follow the above-referenced laws and seeks compensation and other relief for
current and former WSP Troopers, Sergeants, and Lieutenants and for applicants
for the position of Trooper at the WSP (or their surviving spouses or heirs),
who were harmed by the WSP’s alleged violations of the laws. All of the claims
in this lawsuit – which are brought under the federal Uniformed Services
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”) and the federal Due Process
Clause of the United States Constitution – are described in detail in the
Second Amended Complaint in this lawsuit, which is available to view and
download from the Court Documents tab of this website.
CLASS
DEFINITIONS
On
June 9, 2017, the court overseeing this lawsuit – the Spokane County,
Washington, Superior Court – certified a Class of current and former Washington
State Patrol employees and applicants to the Washington State Patrol. The Class
is defined in the following manner:
(1)
individuals
who, prior to January 1, 2013, applied for employment in the position of
Trooper with the Washington State Patrol or were employed by and applied for a
promotion to a higher-ranking position of employment within the Washington
State Patrol, including a position with the rank of Sergeant, or Lieutenant;
and
(2)
individuals
who were eligible to receive a veteran preference pursuant to RCW
41.04.010(1)-(3) with respect to such application for a position of employment
or application for a promotion to a higher-ranking position of employment; and
(3)
individuals
who on one or more occasions did not receive such veteran preference in
connection with such application for a position of employment or for a
promotion to a higher-ranking position of employment.
Under
the Settlement, this Class is divided into two categories for the purpose of
determining the relief that will be provided to eligible Class Members: (1)
Employee Class Members, who were employed by the WSP as commissioned employees
before January 1, 2013, and (2) Applicant Class Members, who applied to work
for the WSP as commissioned employees but were never hired or employed by the
WSP as commissioned employees before January 1, 2013.
If
you have not been previously identified by the parties as a Class Member, you
may still be a Class Member and be entitled to receive a payment or other
benefits under the Settlement. However, if you have not already been identified
as a Class Member, you must submit a challenge to demonstrate your membership
in the Class in order to receive any payment or other benefits under the
Settlement.
A SUMMARY OF YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND OPTIONS
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Do Nothing.
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If you have already
been identified by the parties as a Class Member and you do nothing, you will
receive the payment that you may be entitled to receive under the Settlement.
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Challenge
Defendants’ Data.
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Depending on your
circumstance, you may submit one or more of three types of challenges:
* Establish
Your Membership in the Class: If you did not receive a personalized
worksheet, but believe you are a member of the Class, you must submit a
challenge to demonstrate your membership in the Class to receive any payment
under the Settlement. Details on how to
submit a Challenge are included on the How to Submit a Challenge tab of this website.
*
Challenge Data Used to Calculate Payments to Employee Class Members: If you received a
personalized worksheet and you disagree with the data, you can submit a
challenge to that data.
*
Challenge Data to Correct Hiring/Promotion Dates For Employee Class Members: If you
are not among the Employee Class Members for whom Defendants agreed to
correct hiring or promotion dates (as described in Section 10 of the Notice,
you may submit a challenge to establish your right to have those dates
corrected.
All
challenges must be submitted to the Notice Administrator by August 28, 2017.
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Exclude Yourself.
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You can exclude
yourself, or “opt out” from this lawsuit, and the proposed Settlement. This
means that you will not participate in the Settlement and will keep any
rights that you may have to pursue claims against the Defendants separately.
Any claims that you may have against the Defendants may be subject to an
applicable statute of limitations, so you should consult an attorney about
them promptly if you choose to opt out of the lawsuit. To opt out, you must submit a timely request to opt out by August 28,
2017.
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Object.
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If you are not
satisfied with the terms of the proposed Settlement, then you may inform the
Court about your views by filing a written objection with the Court in
accordance with the procedures set forth in the Notice. You may also appear
in Court to explain why you do not like the proposed Settlement. You are
allowed to object to the proposed Settlement even if you submit a challenge
to demonstrate your membership in the Class, the personnel information used to
calculate your payment under the Settlement, or your hiring or promotion
date. You cannot, however, opt out and object to the proposed Settlement. In order to object to the settlement, you
must submit your objection by August 28, 2017.
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WHAT
ARE THE TERMS OF THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT?
The proposed Settlement requires the State of
Washington to (1) pay $13 million to compensate Class Members for the denial of
the veteran preference in the WSP’s hiring and promotion process and other
violations alleged by the Plaintiffs, and also (2) to correct the hiring dates
and/or promotion dates for certain Employee Class Members who were impacted by
the failure to provide the veteran preference in the hiring or promotion
process, and for such Employee Class Members make additional payments so that
that these individuals receive increased retirement benefits. The increased
retirement benefits are estimated to be worth in aggregate up to $2 million,
and will be paid through contributions to the retirement fund.
The $13 million will be used to compensate
Employee Class Members and Applicant Class Members, as well as to pay the
attorneys’ fees and expenses of Class Counsel, service awards for the Named
Plaintiffs, and certain costs of administering the Settlement (including costs
of a professional Settlement Administrator and the hiring of a Special Master
to resolve backdating challenges). The payment that each eligible Class Member
will receive from the $13 million settlement fund will be determined by a Plan
of Allocation that Class Counsel has recommended and must be approved by the
Court. A summary of the proposed Plan of Allocation is included on the Plan of Allocation tab of this website, where you
may also view and download a complete copy of the Plan of Allocation.
Defendants will correct the hiring dates
and/or promotion dates of eligible Employee Class Members (i.e., backdating the hiring dates or promotion dates), which may
increase or improve eligible Class Members’ seniority, wages, benefits, and/or
promotion opportunities in the future.
For any Employee Class Members whom
Defendants have either agreed to correct hiring or promotion dates or the
Special Master determines that the hiring dates must be corrected, Defendants
will also correct service dates for their pension/retirement benefits. For
those Employee Class Members, Defendants will make any necessary pension
contributions for employer contributions as well as any interest payments
assessed by the Department of Retirement Services (whether the interest is
based on employee or employer contributions).
As Defendants contend that an employee
contribution must be made in order to receive the retirement benefits, Class
Counsel have agreed to reserve at least $65,000.00 – which represents the
amount of employee contributions for the 136 Employee Class Members whom
Defendants have agreed to adjust their pension service credit – of the $13
million to pay the employee share of the pension contributions; however, Class Counsel
may reserve an additional amount to pay all or some of the employee
contributions of other Employee Class Members who successfully challenge their
hiring or promotion dates. To the extent that there is an insufficient amount
in the reserve to cover the employee pension contributions for Employee Class
Members whose challenge established their right to adjusted pension service
credit, Washington State may issue a bill for the employee pension
contribution.
Finally, in the future the WSP has agreed to
provide veteran preference examination points, in accordance with and so long
as consistent with Washington state law, to the competitive examination for
promotion to Lieutenant where the applicant: (1) was called to active military
service from employment with Washington state or any of its political
subdivisions or municipal corporations; and (2) has not received the veteran
preference on any other promotional examination taken in connection with
employment with Washington state or any of its political subdivisions or
municipal corporations; and (3) the promotion to Lieutenant is the first
promotion the applicant has sought since the applicant was called to active
military service from employment with Washington state or any of its political
subdivisions or municipal corporations.
WHAT
ARE CLASS MEMBERS GIVING UP AS A RESULT OF THE SETTLEMENT?
If
the Court grants final approval of the Settlement and the Settlement becomes
effective, then all Class Members who do not opt out of the settlement on a
timely basis will give up – in legal terms, release – their right to sue
Defendants for failing to provide them with the veteran preference prior to
December 21, 2016. Even Class Members who do not opt out will not
release any claims for declaratory or injunctive relief regarding Statutory
Military Leave per year under Washington State law, RCW 38.40.060 or any claims
for monetary relief regarding Statutory Military Leave that accrued on or after
December 21, 2016. Unless you opt out of the lawsuit, you will be covered by
the Release, regardless of whether you have already been identified as a Class
Member by the parties and regardless of whether you receive a payment under the
Settlement. The full details of the Release are contained in Section XIII of
the Settlement Agreement between the parties, which can be viewed and
downloaded from the Court Documents Tab. of
this website.
THE
LAWYERS REPRESENTING THE CLASS
Peter Romer-Friedman, Esq. Michelle Leung, Paralegal Outten & Golden LLP 601 Massachusetts Ave. NW Second Floor West Washington, DC 20001 (202) 847-4400 prf@outtengolden.com http://www.outtengolden.com/
Matthew Z. Crotty, Esq. Crotty & Son PLLC 905 W. Riverside Ave. Suite 409 Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 850-7011 matt@crottyandson.com http://crottyandson.com/
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R. Joseph Barton, Esq. Ming Siegel, Paralegal Block & Leviton LLP 1735 20th Street NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 734-7046 wspsettlement@blockesq.com http://www.blockleviton.com/
Thomas G. Jarrard, Esq. Law Office of Thomas Jarrard 1020 N. Washington Street Spokane, WA 99201 (425) 239-7290 tjarrard@att.net http://servicememberlaw.com/
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THE
COURT’S FAIRNESS HEARING
The Court will hold a Final Approval Hearing
(also called a Fairness Hearing) at 10:00 a.m. on September 29, 2017, in the
courtroom of the Honorable John O. Cooney, at 1116 W. Broadway Avenue, Spokane,
WA 99260.
At the Final Approval Hearing, the Court will
determine whether the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. If
there are any objections, then the Court will consider them. The Court will
also consider whether the motion of Class Counsel for an award of attorneys’
fees and reimbursement of expenses should be approved, whether Plaintiffs’
motion for service awards for the Class Representatives should be approved, and
whether, in accordance with the Settlement, a final order and judgment should
be entered bringing the litigation to a conclusion.
Class Counsel and
the Defendants’ counsel will answer questions that the Judge may have. If you
send an objection, then you don’t have to come to Court to talk about it, but
you are entitled to if you want to. As long as you mailed your written objection
on time, the Court will consider it.
You may speak at
the Fairness Hearing only if you have filed an objection. You may appear either
in person or through a lawyer hired at your own expense. You may withdraw your
objections at any time.