JUNEAU — A Juneau jury awarded a former state attorney almost $1.2 million over allegations she was improperly paid for over a decade and then fired when she complained about her treatment.
Joan Wilkerson, who was hired by the state in 2006 and rose to be lead attorney representing the Division of Retirement and Benefits, said she was hired at the wrong job classification, which paid less money and offered fewer benefits.
As she was promoted, Wilkerson was not brought up to that higher salary scale even though two former attorneys who held the same position were paid at that rate. Over several years, she made multiple written requests for her job to be reclassified, but those were denied.
The department gave her multiple explanations for those repeated denials, including that it didn’t have enough funding and that it doesn’t use the state’s job classification system. Instead, it relied on an unwritten performance-based promotion system.
Wilkerson said she faced retribution when she complained, including being berated at work and losing her higher-level job duties.
In September 2018, Wilkerson was terminated by then-Deputy Attorney General Ed Sniffen, which she argued was done for lodging complaints to other state agencies about her treatment at work. (Sniffen pleaded not guilty in September to unrelated sexual abuse charges that allegedly occurred in 1991.)
After Wilkerson was fired, the Department of Administration determined that her job should have been paid for at least four years at the higher salary range.
At the time of these events, Bill Walker was governor of Alaska, and Jahna Lindemuth was his attorney general.
Mark Choate, an attorney who represented Wilkerson for close to four years, said the state violated the Alaska Constitution’s merit-based hiring and classification clause for government employees. It requires employees to be hired and promoted based on objective criteria, and that they be treated equally based on their performance.
“If lawyers don’t follow the law, how can we expect anybody else to?” Choate said.
The Department of Law continues to believe that it acted according to the law, said spokesperson Patty Sullivan. She said the agency is evaluating its options and will make a decision in coming days whether it will appeal Thursday’s decision.
“This incident occurred four years ago, and it’s unfortunate how it ended,” she said. “Regardless of the outcome, the Department of Law is committed to ensuring fairness for all of its employees and is always looking at ways to improve its practices.”
A Juneau jury agreed with all four of the central arguments brought by Wilkerson. It issued its verdict Thursday, awarding her damages based partly on how much she could expect to have earned between her termination date and her anticipated retirement date in April this year.
“I am grateful to the jury for thoroughly considering all the evidence, reading the law on employees’ rights to be paid for the work they perform, and ruling the State’s highest ranking attorneys failed to follow the law and wrongfully ended my career,” she said through a prepared statement.