Trial accuses Hanford contractor, mayor of retaliation

Jurors heard radically different accounts of what went on at a Hanford contractor leading to the resignation of a manager who has since sued Mission Support Alliance and her boss, who also is Kennewick’s mayor.

Opening arguments were Friday in the civil trial that’s expected to last up to two more weeks in Benton County Superior Court.

Mission Support Alliance holds a Department of Energy contract worth about $3 billion to provide support services at the Hanford nuclear reservation. Mayor Steve Young works for the company as a vice president.

Julie Atwood who resigned after being told she would be fired on Sept. 19, 2013, claims Young retaliated against her after she was questioned about allegations of timecard fraud.

In a two-hour conversation, she asked an investigator why she was targeted rather than Young, said her attorney, Jack Sheridan of Seattle.

Her attorney said she told the investigator that Young does mayoral business during Hanford work hours — with his MSA salary paid by taxpayer money — and he treats women differently than men.

The investigation cleared her of timecard fraud and two other allegations, Sheridan said.

However, defense attorney Cristin Aragon of Seattle argued she wasn’t cleared, but rather, there was not enough evidence to prove the allegations.

“There were still very real problems with her behavior,” Aragon contended.

Her complaints against Young were made only to deflect attention from her, and she declined to file an official complaint, Aragon told jurors. She said the allegations are false.

Aragon said a check of the hours Young worked for Hanford found he was working more hours than were being billed to the federal government. If he left work to represent the city of Kennewick at a ribbon cutting, for instance, he would work late to make up the time, she said.

But Sheridan said there is no way to know how many hours he worked for Hanford, and he violated government policy by using a federal government computer for city work, such as sending emails.

There also was an anonymous complaint filed against Young accusing him of creating a hostile work environment, Sheridan said.

But the complaint and other paperwork, including notes taken during an interview, are now missing, he said.

The defense attorney denied there was a complaint filed against Young.

Aragon claimed Atwood “behaved as if the rules did not apply to her.”

She played politics with the DOE official she most often worked with, building a close relationship that gave her power at Mission Support Alliance, Aragon said. Mission Support Alliance worked for DOE and referred to DOE as its client.

She undermined Young and caused her coworkers to have to work harder to cover for her, Aragon argued.

Atwood often would come in late on Mondays, would be missing in the middle of a work day and would turn in work late, Aragon said.

But Sheridan said she had permission to work from home.

Attorneys on both sides discussed a last-minute trip Atwood made to Malaysia in 2013 at the invitation of her sister, who was working on a movie set.

Aragon said the only notice Atwood gave was a text message sent to a coworker when Atwood already was at the airport to say she would be out of the office. Young was not notified and did not know where she was, Aragon contended.

Sheridan said Atwood gave appropriate notice. He also said she was required to take time off because Hanford workers were under a federal government furlough.

An anonymous complaint that triggered the investigation of Atwood was filed shortly after she returned.

It accused her of abusing her relationship with an influential DOE official, of creating a hostile work environment and timecard fraud.

Atwood believed she was vindicated after the investigation and was blindsided when she was called into a meeting with the head of human resources and a company attorney and told she would be fired, Sheridan said. She resigned to try to save her professional reputation and her pension.

Young was not in the meeting and has said the termination was done without his knowledge, even though he was her boss, Sheridan said.

No investigation report was written until a year later, Sheridan said.

Atwood had good performance reviews since joining Mission Support Alliance in 2010, Sheridan noted.

Aragon said Young tried to talk with Atwood about issues, but that she would become upset.

Since leaving the company, Atwood has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety with symptoms that Sheridan said started with her firing. She has not found another job and believes she is being blacklisted at Hanford, Sheridan said.

“This is a very sad case because Mission Support Alliance made choices that destroyed someone who is a top performer,” he said.

Aragon said that Atwood has put little effort into finding another job.

Her lawsuit is asking for lost wages and other damages.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Trial accuses Hanford contractor, mayor of retaliation."