Ruling clears way for deputies to get back pay

A long-running lawsuit against Flathead County over past wages has finally been resolved.

More than $200,000 will be paid to 34 current and former Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies after a ruling by Flathead County District Court Judge Katherine R. Curtis earlier this month.

Deputies filed suit in October 2006 to recover money never paid because their salaries were miscalculated.

“We’re ready to have the county cut us a check and get on with our lives,” Deputies Union President Dave Kauffman said.

The county was ordered to pay deputies three years of past wages based on their recalculated salaries of $206,088, plus a 15 percent penalty, bringing the total to $237,001.

That amount will be divided among 34 deputies, giving each almost $7,000. Some of the deputies no longer work for the Sheriff’s Office.

Curtis also ordered that the deputies’ attorney fees of $78,210 be paid by the county.

By state statute, deputies earn a percentage of the salary paid to their county’s sheriff.

In November 2008, Curtis issued a partial summary judgment finding that $2,000 added by the state to the sheriff’s base pay must be included in that calculation. It previously had been left out.

Although statutes had been in place for years before the suit was filed, Flathead County Chief Deputy Attorney Jonathan Smith said they weren’t very clear.

“The counties came up with several ways to interpret them,” he said, explaining how the additional money had been left out of the initial calculation.

Deputies in Lewis and Clark County filed a similar lawsuit that was decided in their favor in 2006.

Although that ruling was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court, Lewis and Clark County paid the back wages prior to the high court’s decision in favor of the deputies.

In Flathead County, Kauffman said, deputies met with county officials before the suit was filed and attempted to negotiate a resolution to the back-pay issue.

When both sides couldn’t agree, the case went to court.

Smith said, “We had different ideas on what we thought it [the law] said.”

“We argued the issues as to what the statues meant,” he said, calling the case challenging.

Although Kauffman said he is satisfied with the settlement, he added that he did feel the deputies were entitled to a larger return to account for cost-of-living increases and inflation.

“We’ll respect what the judge gave us and live with it,” he said.

There is a 60-day period during which either side can appeal the decision, but currently there are no plans to do so.

Provided there are no appeals, the county will begin to pay the deputies at the end of that 60-day period.

Reporter Melissa Weaver may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at mweaver@dailyinterlake.com