If you'll remember back in July, Governor Daniels and FSSA chief Mitch Roob were under fire over their typical handling of the planned closing of the Fort Wayne Developmental Center. You can read more about the initial lawsuit against Mitch Roob and the state in my earlier posts, but this morning brings word that a new round of legal action may be in store for the Mitch & Mitch team. Via the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:
A class-action lawsuit filed Friday by former employees of the Fort Wayne State Developmental Center against Gov. Mitch Daniels, Family and Social Services Secretary Mitch Roob and other state officials seeks monetary damages for all former employees fired by a private contractor hired to run the center from May 2005 until it closed in mid-April.
The lawsuit claims Liberty Healthcare Corp. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., was illegally hired because the state did not seek competitive bids as required by state law. All state-paid employees working at the center in December 2005 lost their jobs and state benefits, according to the suit. Four individually named employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 62, the union representing center employees, are seeking back pay, current pay, lost benefits, lost retirement income and other compensatory damages.
This comes after the Indiana Court of Appeals waved a belated legal finger at the state for their no-bid process, declaring it illegal. Unfortunately for the employees affected, the closing down of the center was essentially completed, meaning that Liberty Healthcare had already collected their big checks from the taxpayer coffers, and they appeared to be down and out on the issue of restitution. As was said at the time, by that bespectacled charmer Mitch Roob himself:
But the victory could be merely symbolic because the center closed in April after moving hundreds of residents to other state hospitals or apartments and group homes.
And the Liberty contract officially ends this month.
"We're not reopening it, so it appears to us this has no practical impact," said FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob, who has not decided whether to appeal the decision to the Indiana Supreme Court.
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