Good Decision
Eleven Hanford “pipefitters,” who have been in
legal proceedings against a federal contractor for being fired after refusing
to test known unsafe equipment at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, have had
their multi-million dollar victory from 2005 upheld by the Washington State
Supreme Court. This ruling effectively ends an 11-year legal struggle for
justice. From
the Tri-City Herald:
In
2005, a Benton County jury found that the pipefitters had been wrongfully
dismissed from their jobs at the Hanford nuclear reservation. The pipefitters
said they were targeted as whistleblowers.
Hanford
contractor Fluor Federal Services appealed the decision on several grounds,
including what it believed were procedural errors in the case and a state
Supreme Court ruling made since the jury verdict.
Eight
state Supreme Court justices agreed in the appeal decision that the jury award
was proper and that any errors in evidence presented at trial, including
testimony of other witnesses who claimed they were retaliated against by Fluor,
were harmless.
The
ninth justice considering the case, Richard Sanders, said the decision should
have gone further. In an opinion that dissented in part, he said the
pipefitters also should have been awarded out-of-pocket costs, such as attorney
travel costs, which amounted to 3 percent of the total award.
"The
decision is an important vindication for the right of workers to raise
important safety and health concerns at a federal nuclear site," attorney
Tom Carpenter said in a statement. He helped pipefitters through the Government
Accountability Project in the early years of the dispute.
"It
vindicates their interests and the interest of the public, and will resonate
throughout the Hanford site for decades to come," Carpenter said.
This is a wonderful and just decision. Click here to
read the entire case background.
-- Dylan Blaylock