California woman who lost her job after talking to auditors wins $8.7 million whistleblower case

Tamara Evans found something odd in the expenses filed by a San Diego contractor with the state’s police certification board.

The classes were reported as full to her employer, the Peace Officer Training and Standards Commission, even though they weren’t. Meeting room space has been invoiced, but no rooms have actually been rented. Sometimes the number of people teaching a course was less than the number of instructors on the invoice.

In 2010, Evans reported concerns about the auditors’ contract with the California Emergency Management Agency.

Then, Evans claimed in a lawsuit, her bosses began treating her poorly. Her previous performance evaluations became negative and she was denied family medical leave. In 2013, she was fired — a move she claims was wrongful termination in retaliation for her whistleblowing.

Last week, a federal court jury agreed with her, awarding her more than $8.7 million to be paid by the state.

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleged that Evans found government wrongdoing and faced retaliation from her employer, and that she would not have been fired if she had not spoken out.

That’s despite a 2014 decision by the State Personnel Board that rejected her claim of retaliation for the ad and found that the accrediting agency had properly rejected her.

Evans’ attorney, Lawrance Bohm, said the accrediting agency did not address the problems originally identified by Evans. The money Evans complained about was federal grant money, but most of his resources are state funds.

“The easiest way to win (the lawsuit) was to focus on the federal money, but the reality is, according to the information we discovered through the investigation, (the commission) is paying state funds the same way they were illegally paying federal funds Bohm said. “Why should we track California dollars less strictly than federal dollars?”

Bohm said Evans tried to settle the case for $450,000.

“All I know is that systems don’t change easily, and this particular system shows no signs of changing,” said Bohm, who anticipates billing $2 million in attorneys’ fees on top of the jury award.

“That’s a total payment of $10 million by the state, when they could have paid about $400,000 (dollars) and stopped doing that.”

Katie Strickland, a spokeswoman for the law enforcement accrediting agency, said in an email that the commission is “not aware of any such allegations” of misspending state training funds and called Bohm’s allegations “baseless and bottomless”.

“The board’s position on this matter is and always has been that it did not retaliate against Ms. Evans for engaging in protected conduct and that her termination in March 2013 was justified and appropriate,” Strickland said. “While (the commission) respects the jury’s decision, it is disappointed with the jury’s verdict in this matter and is considering all appropriate options after the trial.”

Bohm said the training courses are paid vacation trips to desirable locations like San Diego and Napa, where trainees can bring their spouses and hang out for a weekend while spending an hour or two in a classroom.

“Why aren’t there many classes in Fresno?” Bohm said. “I think you know the answer to that.”

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