PUD, former

employee settle

lawsuit for $150,000

By Chrystal Doucette

Herald staff writer

Pending cases voluntarily dismissed

GRANT COUNTY - The Grant County Public Utility District agreed to pay former employee Steven Beckett $150,000 to settle claims of wrongful termination and a Public Disclosure Act violation.

Commissioners voted unanimously Sept. 4 to authorize the settlement.

"(Beckett) felt he'd been scapegoated by his chain of command," said Beckett's attorney, Steve Lacy.

Grant County PUD Public Information Officer Rita Bjork said Beckett's employment was terminated in 2003. Bjork said she was unable to disclose the reason for his termination.

She said the PUD felt the settlement was fair.

Lacy agreed.

"I thought it was a fair settlement and I recommended it to my client," Lacy said.

Lacy said two claims were pending at the time of settlement, a Public Disclosure Act violation claim and an appeal for the dismissed wrongful termination claim, both in Grant County Superior Court.

"We had one appeal pending, and one case pending in superior court," Lacy said.

Both were settled and voluntarily dismissed, he said.

Kane said Beckett's job was to sell customers on fiber optics and manage the installation of the network. Beckett's boss allegedly told him to deliver fiber optics to a school district outside the PUD's jurisdiction, Kane claims.

His boss reportedly told him he didn't care how and didn't necessarily want to know how he got the fiber optics to the school district, Kane claims. He said Beckett allegedly understood the situation was to be kept secret.

Beckett reportedly used his family company to facilitate the process. Kane claims the same company was hired previously by the PUD before Beckett's employment, so the PUD knew who was being hired.

An internal PUD auditor reportedly picked up on what was happening and began asking questions, he said. Commissioners became involved as the PUD investigated, Kane said.

"He kept his word to his chain of command," Kane said. "He just kept his mouth shut."

As the digging for details continued, Beckett's answers allegedly became increasingly invasive, he claims.

"He thought that ultimately, his boss would step in and take care of him," Kane said.

Kane claims Beckett was discharged for being evasive and for not following the PUD's code of conduct prohibiting the installation of fiber optics outside of the PUD's jurisdiction.

Beckett was reportedly offered two sheets of paper - one allowed him to resign and the other terminated his employment, Kane said. He chose to resign.

Beckett sued for wrongful termination, claiming the PUD did not give him a fair process. The Public Disclosure Act violation claim was filed before the wrongful termination claim. Kane claims the PUD failed to respond to requests for information.

He said Beckett did not know he was being considered for termination, or he would have come clean about the situation.