The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the county prosecutors’ guild have settled a yearlong unfair labor practice dispute in which the guild accused management of violating state laws by creating a new appellate team leader position without consulting the guild and by interfering in the guild’s internal affairs and finances.
As part of the settlement, both sides agreed to attend and participate in labor relations training to help improve their relationship, and both sides made concessions related to the guild’s specific complaints.
“Cooler heads prevailed all the way around,” said Prosecutor Tony Golik. “I think it’s evidence of a good relationship that we were able to settle and agree that neither side did anything incorrect in the end.”
The settlement — signed on May 29 — follows a period of strife within the prosecutor’s office, including a crossfire of misconduct allegations and the dismissal of Alan Harvey, deputy prosecutor and former guild president.
“The settlement, hopefully, represents a movement toward improved communication and collaboration between the two sides so these kinds of disputes don’t occur,” said Mark Makler, the guild’s attorney.
In the complaint, the prosecutors’ guild alleged that when Golik hired Anne Cruser as appellate team leader to oversee the county’s cases on appeal, he effectively created a new position without notifying or bargaining with the guild, as required by state law.
Golik argued that the appellate team leader was not a new position. Mike Kinnie was the previous appellate team leader until he retired in 2011. Due to budget concerns, Golik assigned Kinnie’s duties to Chief Criminal Deputy Scott Jackson, Golik said. In 2013, he hired Cruser to fill the position.
The guild also accused Golik’s management team of interfering in the guild’s internal affairs and finances by communicating with veteran Deputy Prosecutor Rick Olson, without notice or participation by the guild, about Olson’s objection to joining the guild because of his religious beliefs.
“The issue with Rick Olson was particularly difficult because we had a long-term employee and a new guild and guild contract, and getting those parties to talk led to this interference claim,” Golik said.
Under a collective bargaining agreement between the prosecutor’s office and the guild, employees are required to be paying members of the guild as a condition of their employment.
State law, however, provides an exemption for employees who object to guild or union membership because of their religious beliefs. Those employees are allowed to donate to a charity in lieu of paying guild dues.
Olson, who is a Seventh-day Adventist, said he ultimately reached an agreement with the guild to donate money to Battle Ground Free Health Clinic in lieu of dues.
He disputed the guild’s claim that Golik or other managers interfered with that agreement.
“I met with the guild,” Olson said. “We came up with a settlement, and Golik and the county were not involved in the settlement.”
In the settlement, Golik agreed he and other managers will not communicate with guild-represented employees about the guild’s internal affairs or finances. If an employee approaches a manager about the guild’s internal affairs or finances, the managers agreed to direct the employee to guild leadership or the Public Employment Relations Commission.
In exchange, the guild agreed that Cruser is qualified for her position as appellate team leader and that she may retain the position. However, if Golik seeks to create a new team leader position in the future, he agreed to notify the guild at least two weeks before hiring someone to fill the position.
The complaint was filed with the Public Employment Relations Commission in July 2013 when Harvey was president of the guild.
Harvey was terminated May 16 from his position for insubordination, though Harvey contends the termination was retaliatory. As a result, guild Vice President Jolene Sell is now acting president.
Makler, who spoke on the guild’s behalf Friday, said he wasn’t authorized to disclose the guild’s internal process for deciding whether to file an unfair labor practice complaint.
However, Harvey said Friday that filing the complaint required a vote of the guild’s seven-member board. He said the vote to file the complaint was unanimous.
“The guild leadership and Tony’s leadership team are trying to improve their relationship,” Makler said Friday. “Rather than litigate and create more dissention, they ‘re trying to be more collaborative. The settlement on this was moving in that direction, and that’s why the guild was willing to do it.”
