After a judge ruled that severance provisions of a former county employee’s contract are void, a lawyer for the Leavenworth County Commission is seeking to have the entire contract deemed void.
The County Commission also is asking the judge to dismiss counterclaims filed by former Human Resources Director Tamara Copeland.
The motion for a summary judgement was filed Aug. 24 by attorney Scott Ryburn, who is representing the County Commission in a lawsuit that was filed last year.
The motion focuses on a five-year contract that was approved for Copeland in September 2016. The contract included provisions that required the county to continue paying and providing benefits to Copeland if she was fired.
Copeland was terminated from her position with the county in October, and commissioners stopped paying her at that time.
In July, Senior Judge Edward Bouker ruled that the severance provisions in Copeland’s contract extended beyond the term of the County Commission that approved the contract and were an “attempt to improperly bind successor boards in matters incident to their own administration and responsibility.” Bouker ruled the provisions were contrary to public interest.
(Read more: Leavenworth Times)