Woman wins case against employer
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

Theresa Hagman Lawson, Moorpark resident and former Washington Mutual Inc. vice president, won a groundbreaking case on Dec. 19.

The Labor Department ordered Washington Mutual to pay $1.2 million to Hagman Lawson, who had reported wrongdoings in the bank’s construction loan processing department and sued the bank after she was wrongfully terminated.

Hagman Lawson is a former Moorpark City Council candidate. She’s now applying for a seat on the city’s planning commission.

The Washington Mutual case arose from a complaint of retaliation filed by Hagman in May 2004 against her former employer pursuant to the federal whistle-blower protection laws.

“I felt like David’s little sister fighting Goliath’s bigger, meaner brother,” Hagman Lawson said.

According to Hagman Lawson’s lawyer, Marc Susswein of New York, Hagman Lawson won the first whistle-blower award of money in lieu of reinstatement under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act.

The new law passed in 2002 in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals, including those affecting shareholders of Enron and WorldCom.

The law says whistle-blowers are entitled to back pay as well as their salary and benefits at the time of their termination, and the plaintiffs are supposed to be reinstated on the job.

“Front pay had never been awarded in a SOX (SarbanesOxley) case before,” said Hagman Lawson, who won the monetary award in lieu of having to return to a hostile workplace.

Administrative U.S. Labor Department law judge Gerald Etchingham granted Hagman Lawson $643,000 in front pay and $430,000 in other compensation and attorneys’ fees. She also received $167,000 in back pay.

Hagman Lawson reported that Washington Mutual was issuing underfunded construction loans, making it impossible for borrowers to complete their projects.

“It’s not like when you go buy a house and you need a straightforward loan,” said Hagman Lawson, indicating construction contracts are complicated.

“Borrowers were getting less then what they needed to complete their projects, but they didn’t know that when they closed the loan,” she said.

Hagman Lawson said she had discussed the faulty loans with her superiors because she was concerned for the borrowers and their ability to be financially secure.

“I was also concerned about my employees because the corporate culture had changed in a negative way,” said Hagman Lawson.

Until the underfunded construction loan practices were brought up, the former vice president consistently received positive reviews and awards from customers and her employers. But the incident prompted some “alarming” confrontations between Hagman Lawson and another bank officer at Washington Mutual, and Hagman Lawson felt she was the subject of retaliation for reporting the loan issues, according to the court ruling.

The bank then decided to terminate Hagman Lawson, indicating her position had been eliminated.

Washington Mutual offered a severance package to Hagman Lawson, but she didn’t accept it because she would have had to waive her rights to legal action, she said.

The company is currently reviewing the decision and has not said whether the company will appeal the ruling or not.

Washington Mutual does not tolerate retaliation of any kind, according to spokesperson Alan Gulick. “WaMu provides each em

ployee with a written code of conduct, which clearly states the company’s high ethical standards,” Gulick said.

The company also has an “appropriate workplace conduct” policy that helps ensure that employees treat one another with respect.

“We are committed to maintaining an inclusive work environment where all employees can work together comfortably and productively. Our employees are entitled to a workplace free from any form of retaliation or discrimination,” Gulick added.