Yakima sheriff’s security officer files $10 million claim alleging he was fired for whistleblowing
Yakima County WA April 23 2020
Attorneys for Yakima County and a former sheriff’s security officer are in negotiations over the officer’s $10 million wrongful termination claim alleging Sheriff Bob Udell fired him because of a medical issue and for being a whistleblower.
Eric Salverda, who worked in the sheriff’s Department of Security for 20 years, filed a claim against the county in January, naming Udell and other officials as defendants. The claim is the first step toward suing the county.
“The distress he was put through was pretty hard, to not be given an opportunity to excel at his career,” attorney Fabian Valencia said, explaining the reason his client is seeking $10 million from the county.
While Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic declined to comment on the matter because it is pending litigation, county records show Salverda was fired in November 2019 for serving legal papers for a private company on county time and lying to superiors about it.
Salverda was part of the sheriff’s security department, which is made up of officers who are given special commissions to provide security and make arrests on county property, such as the Yakima County Courthouse, Yakima County Juvenile Justice Center and at the district court locations.
According to an administrative complaint, a sheriff’s deputy spotted a marked sheriff’s patrol car assigned to the security department in Grandview city limits on July 8, 2019. Deputies only patrol in unincorporated areas or communities which have a contract for the sheriff’s office to provide law-enforcement service.
Sheriff’s Lt. Aaron Wuitschick went to investigate, and found the car, assigned to Salverda, at the district court in Grandview, where it was supposed to be, the document said. But Wuitschick saw several civil court papers on the front seat and took a photo of them before confronting Salverda, according to the document.
Salverda, the document said, admitted to Wuitschick that he was out serving papers for a private company when his car was spotted in Grandview. In the document, he said it was the only time he had done that during his shift and would not do it again.
But a further investigation found that Salverda had served legal papers for the company 33 times while on duty before that incident, and did it twice more after being confronted, the document said.
Salverda also used sick days to serve papers twice, a violation of sheriff’s policy, according to the document.
Salverda was fired for using county equipment for private employment, doing private work on county time, insubordination and dishonesty, the document said.
“Your choice to conduct private business while on duty and using sheriff’s office equipment violated the trust of the sheriff and the agency,” Udell wrote in the report, addressing Salverda. “The agency incurred financial costs due to your decisions and was a direct violation of the trust of the public and their funds.”
Valencia described the process-serving as a “gray area.” He said Salverda was doing it on his lunch hour or scheduled breaks, and was not technically on county time.
In the document, Udell noted that the county pays officers for their lunch periods because they are expected to be on duty during that time.
“Our point is that he had permission to do that from his supervisor, and they still used it as an excuse to terminate him,” Valencia said. “He was doing it as his own business. A lot of officers have side jobs working with other officers.”
Valencia alleged that Salverda was fired because of a medical issues and his complaints about safety conditions on the job.
“He was made to serve with an expired (bulletproof) vest,” Valencia said. Kevlar vests have a five-year lifetime and manufacturers recommend discarding them at that point.
Valencia said Salverda brought up the issue repeatedly with superiors.
Also, he said Salverda was only granted one of several medical leave requests, and said the county did not accommodate his medical issues. Valencia declined to describe what the medical issues were, but said they would be disclosed if the matter goes to court.
