Former district payroll clerk sues district

A former Bigfork School District employee has filed a complaint against the school district for wrongful discharge.

Emily Feller filed a complaint of wrongful discharge with Flathead County District court last week, alleging she was provided with conflicting, unsubstantiated and incorrect reason for her discharge. The complaint alleges the Bigfork School District failed to follow employee discipline policy, and Feller was not discharged for a good cause.

Feller began working as the school district payroll clerk in February of 2012, and was terminated in the spring of 2014.

The complaint states that when Feller was assigned to the position of payroll clerk the school district “was aware or should have been aware” that she didn’t have any training for the position.

Though she requested it, Feller was not given adequate training by the district for her job, the complaint says.

In June 2013, the complaint says, Feller was asked by her district superior to cancel three payroll payments or warrants that belonged to a previous district employee who had died. Feller had never dealt with cancellation of payroll payments before, which the district was aware, or should have been aware, court documents say. 

Feller was then advised by her immediate supervisor to communicate with the school district auditor’s office, which Feller did, and then proceeded to follow the instructions from the office, according to the complaint.

Later, Feller received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service stating the cancellation of the checks had caused a tax underpayment for the school district.

The court document says that Feller was given instructions during her employment with the school district to wait one day after payday to begin payroll liabilities payments. The document also says she was instructed by the Flathead County Treasurer that the information to process the payment couldn’t be sent on the same day, and she needed to wait a day.

The complaint says Feller had no training or experience from the district to indicate she was making late payments on behalf of the school.

In October 2013 Bigfork School District issued Feller written instructions that she should troubleshoot her own problems and not rely on the district’s software company.

In April of 2014 Bigfork Schools Interim Superintendent Russell Kinzer issued a written recommendation to the Bigfork School District Board of Trustees that Feller be dismissed form employment with the district on the basis that she “failed to perform the duties of her position and committed gross negligence by not advising her immediate supervisor of important financial issues,” the complaint says.

On May 5, 2014, Feller attended a hearing where she was discharged. During this meeting, the complaint alleges, Bigfork School District trustees provided her with “conflicting, unsubstantiated and incorrect reasons for her discharge.” The board followed Kinzer’s recommendation that Feller’s employment with the district be terminated.

The complaint alleges that the school district failed to follow its employee discipline policy by not providing Feller with any kind of progressive discipline or an opportunity to correct any deficiencies. During Feller’s employment with the school district she was never disciplined, issued a written warning or reprimanded by the school district, the complaint says. 

It also alleges that during much of her time as a Bigfork School District Employee, Feller’s immediate supervisor, Eda Taylor subjected Feller to an “unreasobaly heightened degree of scrutiny and open hostility.”