HOT SPRINGS — An assistant attorney general argued in court Monday that state employees are not protected under the Arkansas Whistle-blower Act if they report wrongdoing to a federal agency.
The U.S. Office of Inspector General is not an "appropriate authority" to complain to under the act, Christopher Hart argued on behalf of the Department of Career Education, formerly the Department of Workforce Education, in an effort to get a lawsuit dismissed.
Bob L. Means, a psychologist who had worked for the state since 1971, has sued under the Whistle-blower Act, saying his contract with a division of the Career Education Department was terminated in retaliation for reporting what he saw as wasteful or possibly illegal spending.
Means' contract was terminated Aug. 8, 2008, about one year before it was set to end. He had worked at the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center.
The lawsuit has not laid out specifics of his claim of waste or fraud, except to say that the money in question was at least in part federal grant money.
The agency's director, Bill Walker, has previously denied any knowledge that Means made a report to a federal official or that any waste or fraud existed.
Garland County Circuit Judge John Homer Wright did not immediately make a ruling on whether the case can proceed. He said he would issue a decision in writing later.
Claims under the state's 1999 whistle-blower law are rare, leaving questions about how it can be used, attorneys said.
"We're treading on unplowed ground," Scott Hickam, a Hot Springs attorney representing Means, told the judge.
The act includes in its list of "appropriate authorities" state, county or municipal government departments and an "organization having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement, regulatory violations, professional conduct or ethics or waste."
"There's no mention of any federal office," Hart said.
Hickam, however, said legislators could have easily added a couple of words excluding federal agencies if that was the intent.
Means complained to the U.S. Office of Inspector General because he feared he'd be fired if he contacted a state official because of the "political nature of the leadership" of the agency, his lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says his complaint was "accepted for investigation." It's unclear what became of an inquiry, if there was one.
In the lawsuit, he is seeking reinstatement to his former position and lost wages.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 09/22/2009